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The Daily Dose/June 18, 2011
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Notes from around The Human Experience...
CAPSULE BOOK REVIEW: Ham On Rye By Charles Bukowski: Reading, of course, has its pleasures. Among them is discovering new authors. A subcategory is discovering new authors that are well-known and highly respected that you have never heard of.
This tends to make us feel a wee bit inadequate until we realize there are lots of books and lots of writers out there and it is impossible to expect someone, even someone as reasonably well read as us here at the Writer's Shack, to be familiar with every writer of note. Still though, we were surprised at the depth of respect for Bukowski, and at our ignorance, though we do cut us some slack because Bukowski is largely known as a poet.
Oh Yeah: Then there is the pleasure from reading a book that even within the first few pages is plainly one of the best books you have ever read. Ham On Rye was that good.
The Knowledge That I Didn't Have The Courage To Do What Was Necessary Made Me Feel Terrible: Ham On Rye is a novel, though the life of the main character, Henry Chinaski is based on Bukowski's own life. It starts with Chinaski's earliest memory, being a misfit under the dinner table in his native Germany around 1920, and the next thing Henry knows he is living in Los Angeles.
Dry, Technical Matter: We were introduced to Ham On Rye during a recent visit to the Huntington Library outside of Los Angeles. There, in the same room as a Gutenberg Bible, was a page of Bukowski's manuscript, the page which chronicled Henry's first beating by his father. We were so moved by it that we made a mental note of the book's title, and when we saw it in the library gift shop, we bought it.
You Want Trouble? Park It. I'm Trouble: Chinaski's childhood was not to be envied, unless your that kid in that prize winning photo who has a vulture standing behind him waiting to die. Then you might envy a poor kid growing up in Depression- era Los Angeles. Henry spends a lot of time getting beaten. By his father. By his friends. By his classmates. So it's hardly a surprise that Henry spends a lot of time trying to kick other people's asses.
To Me, These Men Who Had Come Into My Life Were The Only Voices That Spoke To Me: Bukowski does a good job of writing from the point of view of whatever age he happens to be. His writing is simple, concise and meaningful from the start, but it picks up depth as he grows, particularly - and this cannot be a coincidence - when he gets a library card and starts to read and do some writing of his own. The tactic is as subtle as it is brilliantly executed.
I Don't Think Any Of Us Are Getting Laid:Even though it's a novel it is semi-autobiographical. Still, it is hard to tell what events really happened and which are made up. Which is all right. It's a novel, not a memoir. For example, there was a sequence where Henry and some of his buddies are hanging around and Jimmy suggests they all go to his girlfriend's house just for funsies. He had a key. So they go and within a few minutes of arriving Jimmy had jerked off the family dog, wizzed in the milk carton and was about to do something to the Jello when the girlfriend walks in.
Part of you wants to think no, no one would jerk off the family dog. Whiz in the family milk carton? Sure, we could see that. And, if we were feeling suitably mischievous, we could see doing something similarly hilarious to the family dessert. But whacking off Fido? Then you realize the Hindus are probably right when they say "Everything has happened; everything will happen" and you concede that, especially considering the circumstances, yeah, somebody probably did whack off a dog.
I Made Practice Runs To Skid Row To Get Ready For My Future: Not only was Jimmy a pervert, he was mean, too. Later he's checking the mail and he gets in his neighbors mailbox because the same key that open his family's mailbox also opens his neighbor's mailbox and he opens a letter that contains a check, reads the letter and then rips everything up.
Walking Home I Had The Medal In My Pocket. Who Was Col. Sussex? Just Some Guy Who Had To Shit Like The Rest Of Us: Henry is so disillusioned that when he does, finally, have some success - winning an ROTC competition because he "hadn't cared enough to be nervous" his victory means nothing to him and Henry throws his medal into a storm drain.
Standard Internet Disclaimer: Though Gaylon is fairly well read he is not Einstein for Pete's sake and is not a professional book reviewer. Reviews are based on his own personal tastes, are completely subjective and not measured against established literary standards. He has a habit of re-reading selected favorites and books that were published as early as the 20th century.
We Interrupt This Program For A Word From The Ratings Department: Following Is The Official Writer's Shack Capsule Review Rating scale:
EX - Excellent; as good as the medium can produce in every respect.
VG - Very Good. Well worth your time.
GD - Good. More or less worth your time.
AR - All Right. Not completely without merit.
SP - Nothing of substance; a steaming pile, utterly without merit.
Final Rating: EX. Poignant, insightful and very, very funny, Ham On Rye ranks up there with our all-time favorite books, Creation and Lincoln, both by Gore Vidal, Thoreau's Walden, The Lord of the Rings and some others.
VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN, UNLESS YOU'RE A WOMAN: Susan B. Anthony is fined $100 on this date in 1873 for having the nerve to vote in the 1872 United States presidential election. Anthony declined to pay her fine and the government, rather embarrassed, never tried to collect it.
Thought For The Day: The problem was you had to keep choosing between one evil and another, and no matter how you chose, they sliced a little bit more off you, until there was nothing left. At the age of 25 most people were finished. A whole god-damned nation of assholes driving automobiles, eating, having babies, doing everything in the worst way possible…Charles Bukowski, Ham On Rye
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Of the nineteen nations on the Standard and Poor's Sovereign Rating List that have AAA ratings, three - Guernsey, Isle of Man and Liechenstein - have populations under 100,000.
Today's Stumper: In the 1872 US presidential election, Horace Greeley, who lost to Ulysses S. Grant, received over 2.8 million popular votes, but zero electoral votes. Why? - Answer next time!
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