Just finished reading 'Pulp' (1 Viewer)

Couldn't put it down since I opened the first page and excitedly enjoyed every line/word and letter. I was surprised at the amount of bad reviews it had received, and liked the change up from Mr.Chinaski.
Ham on Rye, Factotum, Post Office, Women, then Pulp. Hollywood, here I come....
 
It's certainly a change from his earlier works, however, for mine, it's a genre he didn't master. As has been mentioned, he painted himself into plot corners on occasions and I gather he struggled to complete the book over a number of years.
 
sure, it IS different.
Yet, it's as much Bukowski as any.


"Here came the waitress. She had on a mini-skirt, high heels, see-through blouse with padded brassiere.
Everything was too small for her: her outfit, the world, her mind. Her face was hard as steel. When she smiled it hurt. It hurt her and it hurt me."


(Pulp, chpt 32)
 
Just read Pulp too as it happens (this place inspired me to re-read all the novels - which I have just done - before starting the Sounes' biog) and I have to say that line above is fantastic.
 
I like Pulp. I've read it a few times. One thing I did was read all of Buk's novels in order. It's cool to see how he developed, and how the continuity held up all the way until the end. In the grand scheme of things it was like he wrote one HUGE book.
 
I haven't read Pulp. But that book's still down the line for me. I have a few waiting in the road for me before it.

And Saul, you'll enjoy Factotum and Women. I haven't read those others yet.
 
Better than Ham and Factotum.

Wow, that's really interesting.

Really... I don't mean that as a euphemism or anything.
 
i thought Pulp was a really easy and fun read. maybe a good one to take to the beach with a case of Coors Light...
 
... maybe a good one to take to the beach ...

I prefer reading it in a small cafe. maybe even at the bar.
With cold rain outside.
Did you notice how much it Rains in that book?

I wouldn't rate it over 'Ham'.
But certainly over 'Factotum'.


"Well, the rain had stopped but the pain was still there. Also, there was now a chill in the air and everything smelled like wet farts."
 
Roni, I think you are insane. Do you really think Bukowksi would be where he is today if Pulp was published in place of Factotum? Factotum is a comic masterpiece with an an edge and a character far superior to Pulp. Pulp is a curiosity, interesting only to people who would be interested in anything Buk did or touched. When put up against Chandler or Jim Thompson's books Pulp is seen for what it is: a fairly weak, sometimes amusing, genre novel.
 
I like Pulp. It was not what I had expected, but I liked it just the same. I still think Ham and Rye is my favorite. Well at least today it is anyway.
 
I plan to read Pulp in the future. For now, my favorite Buk novel is Women. That book is disgustingly graphic while being beautifully poetic.
 
Pulp is one of my favorites. I don't think its a BETTER novel than Ham On Rye, really... but its one I can read and enjoy more, mainly because it isn't so damn depressing... Pulp's humor (and overall general insanity) is what I like about it.
 
pulp, thoughts...

Liked the extensive literary and technical "disregard".
Underlining the whole point of the book, IMHO.
His attack on the literary establishment evident in the opening...
Hilarious.
Sometimes the best is "the mess"

Pulp IS messy, thank god;
For a writer w/ the huevos to do that
Especially, WHEN he did it.

Bringing back dead writers (Celine) is cool, too. :)
 
My wife's name is Roselle, when I'm annoyed at here I refer to her as Noselle. She has never asked why and only someone who has read this book would get that lame joke. I'm a big Lynch fan and Isabella
 

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