Factotum by Charles Bukowski Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Factotum
Book Review: It will never leave my mind
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book 7 years ago when I was somewhat "living the life", and it resounded deeply in my heart. I will never forget turning the pages, hoping it would never end. Truly one of the classics of 20th century American fiction.Book Review: It's a breeze!
Summary: 5 Stars
I read it in like, two days. And it stays with you, too, it's the kinda book you tend to remember days later and recite bits of it like you telling your friends a joke. Some of the anecdotes here (and for thos emong you that don't like it, it's a tad heavy on the anecdotal tone, mind you) are priceless. Amusing!Book Review: Postwar America,menial jobs and endless booze
Summary: 5 Stars
This is perhaps Bukowskis best book, an antiKeroucian look at an unsettled lifestyle and the stark reality that no matter where you go the same problems and same miserys follow you.However in saying that Bukowski avoids slipping into serious self pity and concentrates on giving us a realistic picture at life at the bottom of the ladder sprinkled with self mocking and an unwavering belief of drunken self gratification. Henry Chinski is an alien. His parents of old fashioned Germain stock, think hes a degenarate, women find him an ugly soul yet are fascinated by his deep rooted arrogence and his fellow workers find him a man to challenge hate and follow in equal measures. What Bukowski brings to literature is a brutal and candid honasty. He glamerises nothing yet through his brutal poetrayal of life, under all the muck, cheating and endless boreing hours we find out what makes people tick. The little things, the querks that make life bareable, the self made ideals that people find to have the strengh to carry on (false or not). Bukowski's message basically comes to that its all nonscience anyway. Man has created a society that snuffs out thought, produces mechanical animals and throws them on the scrap heap.The worst drunk is no worse thwn the most successful buinessman. His is a world of no Gods, no rewards and no final answers. So why the hell read such depressing idealogy. Basically why not. Bukowski puts himself before us and thats it. His methods are not to be copied, he has no goals. All he has is a realisation that he can't do any better no matter what he does. So with a sarcastic self paroding swish he stumbles through our minds laughing at the people who dont get the joke. His style is simple and flowing. His manner is is aimless and no book ever made such an impression on seventeen year old reader. Life is not what you are told it is ,its an appreciation society for whoever wants no answers. A masterpiece.Book Review: Some people would call it "failure"
Summary: 4 Stars
"Factotum" written by C.Bukowski is trivial literature. The books protagonist, Henry Chinaski, is an alcoholic whose addiction determines his life. To afford women, alcohol and housing he has to accept a bunch of jobs. He is moving a lot, hunting jobs. Which goes together with starting new affaires. Often the women have the same way of life like him. Classical music plays an important role in his life. It stands in contrast to his shabby everyday situation. " Suckingsounds filled the room as my radio played Mahler."(p.37). It seems as if Chinaski wants to escape from his gloomy life into a better one. " I kept handorinting shortstories by the score, got drunk, listened to Beethoven's Fifth, Brahm's Second..."(p.65). Although the style is repetitive, it is interesting, because the reader is given an insight of what problems an alcoholic has to face. It is also worth reading because it is not a typical story about the American Dream but it shows the other side, which some people would call "failure". Reading it attentive it is obvious that the protagonist is not unhappy with his situation.Book Review: THE book for intelligent people in horrible jobs!
Summary: 4 Stars
In this book, the bard for the self-educated-but-under-employed speaks definitively! Rarely have hilarity and pathos intertwined so well. At one moment, Henry Chinaski's confrontation with Hugh the Janitor will bring on convulsions of laughter; then, the masterful descriptions of poverty and alienation will provoke serious thought. Many readers like Bukowski for the subjects that he writes about, such as women, alcohol, and gambling. This work proves that it is HOW he writes about them-- with insight, humor, and passion-- that places him in the ranks of great writers.