Factotum by Charles Bukowski Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Factotum
Book Review: The first and special one
Summary: 5 Stars
This was the first book by Charles Bukowski that I read. I swear I hadn't read anything so full of life in my first 16 years (I sort of I believed everything he said). He could make all the events, no matter how annouying, trivial or repeated they were, sound really glamorous. My mother also read the book, and said that she found it revolting, but just couldn't let it off his hands.Since then, I have read a lot of Bukowski's works. He can somehow punch straight through all my defenses and leave me touched, happy and vulnerable afterwards, unlike anybody else. To me, he is the most credible literary character there has been in the last few decades.
Book Review: The novel as photo album
Summary: 4 Stars
The temptation when reading any of Bukowski's stuff is to look for heavy-duty meaning in it. So the advertizing blurb for the screen version of Factotum, for example, describes the film as "the story of a man living on the edge, of a writer who is willing to risk everything to make sure that his life is his poetry" (Ah, Hollywood!).* Or a reader disenchanted with the ratrace might see the novel as an indictment of cultural alienation. And then there's the old standby: Bukowski's novels are absurdist dramas that underscore the deep meaninglessness of life.
All of these are interesting and maybe even (for all I know) valuable interpretations. But it's pretty clear that Bukowski isn't concerned about such things. He wants to provide worded snapshots that give viewers glimpses into his life. The anti-hero of this novel (as of his other novels), Henry Chinaski, roams from job to job with the same lack of direction and abruptness that pre-fame Bukowski (except for his ten-year stint in the post office) did, all the time (again, like Bukowski) belting down too much rotgut wine, freeloading on too many women, and furiously writing between benders and hangovers.
The value of Bukowski's snapshots is their incredible, sometimes off-putting honesty. There's absolutely no romanticization in his depiction of Henry's picaresque anti-adventures. Within just a few pages, you can unpleasantly smell the sourness of Henry's grimy boarding rooms and his cheap booze. Bukowski gives us nothing about him to admire, or even to pity. He simply is who he is, and Bukowski seems to want us to take him as such. At times Bukowski suggests disdain for the bosses who fire Henry, or the poor 9-to-5 stiffs who live most of their adult lives at jobs they hate. But when it comes to writing about Henry, Bukowski gives nothing away, neither approval or disapproval. And this makes Henry, for all his distastefulness, utterly, uncomfortably, real.
When you think about it, this is a lot better than some deep philosophical message. Philosophical messages are a dime-a-dozen. Fiction with the immediate clarity of a photo album is rare.
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* This despite Bukowski's repeated repudiation of the starving artist myth.
Book Review: This is Buk at His Finest
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved this book as a teenager; so much that I even tried to get my high school English teacher to introduce it into the reading cirriculum. "Factotum" is the story of an unambitious young man (Henry Chinaski) who's quite happy with things the way they are, i.e. no job, no money, no steady woman in his life, etc, and the only thing he has to look forward to is a bottle of cheap wine. I can't help but to wonder if Deron Hamel was thinking of this book when he wrote "Far From Nowhere". Thanks, SandiBook Review: Too Good Too Good
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the one, folks. Read this book before you shave your privates with a box cutter. The rundown: Go out, get a job, get fired, get drunk, get with the town tramp, play the horses, go out, get a job, get fired, get with the town tramp, play the horses, etc. etc. "Factotum" is lots of fun for those who get a kick out of reading about bad behavior. Softies, go read something else.Book Review: Trite and annoying
Summary: 2 Stars
I was really disappointed with this boring and badly written book. The self pity, that he tries, but fails, to hide, really gets on your nerves. Sure to appeal to disillusioned 15-year olds. Wise up! Try Celine for some intelligent pessimism.