Love is a Dog From Hell by Charles Bukowski Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Love is a Dog From Hell
Book Review: Ordinary and Obvious
Summary: 5 Stars
I heard Bukowski on a late night community radio show complaining about "a whore who took my poems". That's how I was introduced to him. Bukowski was overly ordinary, in my opinion, and extremely obivous. From what I heard about him from an ex-hippy co-worker, he deprived himself of typical white suburbia lifestyle -either circumstancially or just because he was most lazy person on this earth to achieve any material goals. In this collection, he goes on and on about the women he had sex with, women he would like to have sex with and his fetishes with utmost honesty. That is admirable. He himself wasn't. He wrote sometimes because his publisher pushed him to do so. In some poems, he admits to it. He was a dirty old man, starred at "upskirts...legs and strawberry lipsticks" of 13 year old school girls waiting at bus-stop. He wrote a poem about it neverthless. He wanted to commit suicide. We read about it too.And, almost 9 out of 10 times, it never fails -he is sipping some kind of brew, his gastrointestinal problems followed by the heavy drinking, bitching about some random woman, listening to classical music and pondering why he is writing...bunch of drivel. But, it's great! Bukowski enunciates the lonesome,decapitated and boring side of humanity. It's worth a read. I only wish there were more "poetry" such as this.
Book Review: A Great Collection -- from a Great Poet!
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the most renowned poets of the 20th Century came not from the Academia but rather from the dive bars in Los Angeles. Charles Bukowski began to unleash his gutteral cry in the mid-50's. By the time he died of Leukemia in 1994, he was approaching legend status. Bukowski was the king of skid row poets. He was a drunk living in flophouses, working in factories, fighting, cursing etc. He wrote in a raw, hard hitting style. There is no effort to hide the warts and blemishes here. He wrote in a savagely frank manner on his life and the society that revolved around him.
He eventually became famous enough to befriend Hollywood types like Sean Penn. He wrote a screenplay called "Barfly" which starred Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway. It was partially autobiographical.
Bukowski produced many thick volumes of poetry for the Black Sparrow Press. One of my favorites is "Love Is A Dog From Hell". This includes poems that were written from 1974 through 1977. It fills up over 300 pages. Bukowski was a prolific poet in spite his personal problems with booze and gambling.
His poetry will not be for everyone. He is dirty, crude and has an almost absolute reliance on free verse. He is pretty graphic when it comes to sex and booze. . Poem titles include "sex pot", "moaning and groaning", "The Six Foot Goddess", "problems about the other woman", etc. Several poem titles wouldn't even make it past the epinions filter.
Bukowski goes straight for the jugular. This is not poetry for the meek at heart. He is, however, very funny and very direct. Some of the poems will resonate with near brilliance. Bukowski did have the ability to cut some very clean lines. At times, he can be deceptively clever. There is even rare poignancy. "One for old snaggletooth" is a mean title but pays tribute to his ex-wife: "she has hurt fewer people/than anyone I know,/and if you look at it like that,/well,/she has created a better world/she has won."
A poem like "quiet clean girls in gingham dresses" expresses a longing for a more settled life. He only knows prostitutes, pill poppers and neurotic women but he holds out hope for finding someone better. It concludes: "I know she exists/but where is she on this earth/as the wh***s keep finding me?"
Toilets, hookers, race tracks and roaches exist in this world, newspapers are blankets and mice eat moldy bread on the table, fist fights occur in alleys outside bars. It is not for everyone but adventurous readers who want direct, raw emotional intensity may greatly enjoy this verse. Two other quick Amazon picks are the collected poems of Mark Strand and The Losers' Club by Richard Perez
Book Review: Broken Hearts are not just for a**holes!
Summary: 5 Stars
Bukowski has so many books of poetry that it almost staggers the imagination; if one were to rank them in over-all quality, i would have to say this is in his top five. But with Bukowski that is really leaving out a lot of books; he has over forty just of poetry alone! But getting back to the book at hand, this is definitely one of his best. Written as his early to mid 70's underground cult hero/legend status was firmly rising to a peak, this collection shows him to be as much the sensitive sufferer in the battlegrounds of love as anyone, despite his persistently negative reception among critics as nothing more than a drunken, vulgar boor. AS good an introduction to his work as any. Book Review: Simply a Great Book
Summary: 5 Stars
i am not a big reader of poetry, but i really like this book. i discovered it at a low period in my life and, believe it or not, it really made me feel better. i have gone back to it at other times and it never fails me. to me, this is bukowski at his best.Book Review: Quintessential Bukowski
Summary: 5 Stars
This book was my "primer" on Bukowski. It is a must have. You can "hear" the wretching and "smell" the vomit! Love, indeed, is a dog from hell.