Post Office (1 Viewer)

[beerbelly666]

another fine novel by bukowski. but i found his marriage to the texan heiress to be a bit over the top. that was a bit hard to believe. that portion of the novel didnt come across as inspired writing. but the rest of the novel was spectacular. bukowski's humor is brilliant. like when faye shows him her new boyfriends painting and he says "i didnt say anything". lollll. and his self therapy where the psychatrist says "if you want to study the scheme i would declare you crazy".

its just a very audacious novel. i loved it. i have WOMEN to read next. though i might read something else before that.

 

[yojimbo]

I really liked Post Office too, very funny and honest, that's the two qualities i think bukowski excels almost every other writer. Also, the compassion, i think usually we don't hear that about his work, but that episode with his co-worker at post office, it actually surprised me when i read it (bear with me, at time i had just watched barfly and read a couple of poems, lol), it showed a great of deal of humanity, also at the same time that bit showed the indiference most people display towards other people's suffering, since he was the only one who seemed to want to help him. Finally, this book really stands because talks about something usually we don't see in books, the everyday existence of the everyman, lifetimes completely used up just for the sake of work, powerful stuff.

 

[mjp]

i found his marriage to the texan heiress to be a bit over the top. that was a bit hard to believe.

You realize that really happened, right?

 

[beerbelly666]

hey mjp, i didnt know it really happened. i havent read up on bukowski too much. i only know about the chinaski character. i always thought the ease with which he found female partners was always a bit exaggerated. and i also find it amazing how someone who got laid so often could be so unhappy.

yojimbo, that part where he tried to help his big co worker was great. i work in an office and once a guy's father died. the guy was not a particularly open person and nobody even went up and consoled him or anything. not a word was exchanged with him. some of the senior guys arranged a flight ticket for him, thats all. and there was another college whose father had a heart attack and not many people called her up or asked her how he was.

sorry to go off topic.

 

[Ponder]

i havent read up on bukowski too much. i only know about the chinaski character.

---->>> https://bukowskiforum.com/index.php?threads/dispelling-bukowskis-myths.72/

 

[Gin Soaked Boy]

and i also find it amazing how someone who got laid so often could be so unhappy.

Tell that to Charlie Sheen

 

[roni]

[...] i didnt know it really happened.

"The Day I kicked Away A Bankroll"

[...] i always thought the ease with which he found female partners was always a bit exaggerated.

There was no ease in getting female partners.
Only the period described in 'Women' (1970-1976) was like that.

He was unattractive to the girls from early age on and he suffered from that (see 'Ham on Rye'. His first fuck wasn't before he was 23 and that was a whore.

The 'Post Office'-period covers over 10 years and how many women did he have in the novel (aside from occational one-night-stands)?
3 - that isn't many, is it?
('Betty' aka 'Jane Cooney Baker', the Texan aka 'Barbara Frye' and the mother of his child aka 'Frances Smith'.)

Basically the novels are quite accurate. Of course not in every detail. The stories are far more 'pushed' for the audiance. But there's still a lot of real happenings in them too. Read one of the biographies, it's amazing to see, how much of his writing isn't 'just literature', but a part of his own life.

[...] and i also find it amazing how someone who got laid so often could be so unhappy.

read again, see what kind he got and you'll know.

 

[christopher]

Only have 20 pages left.
I cruised through this one as well.
I cannot believe (well, I guess I can) how easy his writing is to read. Its so flowing.
I have to say that I enjoy Women more, but, I'm a pervert, so, that's to be expected. haha.

 

[christopher]

I can't pass a mail carrier anymore without visualizing Bukowski.
Awesome.

 

[therman.merman]

Only have 20 pages left.
I cruised through this one as well.
I cannot believe (well, I guess I can) how easy his writing is to read. Its so flowing.
I have to say that I enjoy Women more, but, I'm a pervert, so, that's to be expected. haha.

Women was definitely better than this. I consider Post Office to be one of Bukowski's weakest works.