Factotum by Charles Bukowski Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Factotum
Book Review: Chinaski's Work Blues
Summary: 5 Stars
This book brings to mind Post Office though Chinaski finds himself in less stable circumstances. The title refers indirectly to a worker who has had many occupations yet is a master of none. He seems to only stay with a job for about a month or two and then moves on to another one in another city without any aim other than drinking and womanizing. The menial jobs simply fund his habits. His sour outlook on living in gentle seem to touch on the very cords of drunken and sober reality. People move along like ants at some absurd tasks and very rarely do people question why this is so. Bukowski's books are generally in the vein of Factotum yet this particular novel seems to go well after reading Post Office.Book Review: Chinaski's odyssey
Summary: 4 Stars
"Factotum," the novel by Charles Bukowski, describes the wanderings of aspiring writer Henry Chinaski across the United States during the World War II era. Categorized as "4-F," Chinaski doesn't serve in the military and instead wanders from city to city, from one odd job to another. Along the way Bukowski describes his run-ins with the police, his sexual adventures, and his drinking.I found "Factotum" to be episodic and to lack the focus and impact of Bukowski's excellent novel "Post Office," also featuring Chinaski. But "Factotum" is still a good read with some really stunning passages. Bukowski seems to be deromanticizing the "myth of the starving artist," which he calls a "hoax," in this book. I only wish that "Factotum" featured more about Chinaski's vocation as a writer; I found the parts of the book that focused on his identity as a writer to be the most interesting parts.
"Factotum" is particularly interesting in its context as a novel of the World War II era which deals with the U.S. homefront, but in an entirely unromantic and detached way. Bukowski's prose is often quite vivid; one encounter with a rather scary prostitute is a particular gem of Bukowski's raw, in-your-face style. Overall, a solid work by one of America's most distinctive writers.
Book Review: Complete Charles
Summary: 5 Stars
I have read almost every published piece of work by the master and in my opinion this is by far the most complete novel he has ever written. I have to say if is one bad thing about this book it is trying to put it down after reading a few pages. This has got to be the rawest, close to the bone book bar American Physco to have ever been written.Book Review: DISTURBING DEPRESSING GRAPHIC: I LOVED IT
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought Ham & Rye and Factotum in the same purchase, before I had ever read any Bukowski. READ HAM ON RYE FIRST. I happened to read them in order by complete accident, and it was a very pleasant surprise when I cracked open Factotum and found more of what I loved about Ham. Factotum is about Henry Chinaski in his high school years and beyond. He is brilliantly self defeating, much like the real life personality of his creator, Charles Bukowski. It's hard to see any hard line where Bukowski ends and Henry (aka Hank) begins. Both novels are simply wonderful, raw and engaging. Highly recommended. If you enjoy Bukowski's novels, I suggest you pick up some of his poetry as well. "Love is a Dog From Hell" is a trip, also very highly recommended. You'll be hooked.Book Review: Disappointed...
Summary: 2 Stars
I guess the moral vacuum is par for the course, but it was hard to enjoy for me...