book review: run with the hunted

Run With the Hunted: A Charles Bukowski ReaderRun With the Hunted: A Charles Bukowski Reader by Charles Bukowski

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

[…]

meanwhile

I take showers

answer the phone

boil eggs

study motion and waste

and feel as good

as the next while

walking in the sun.

p. 250, ‘claws of paradise’

I’m new to Bukowski, but I like contemporary American poetry. A lot of the reviews already written on Bukowski have analysed him better than I can. He’s sad. He’s incredibly real to point of being frightening. How can a life with feelings like that be tolerable?

This anthology brings a wide variety of his work together. The collection is also arranged so that there is a chronological progression through the life of his work. Even though there are different narrative voices, Bukowski so clearly comes through all of them.

While I appreciate the talent of his words, this collection was hard for me to get through. It may have been the womanizing, the raping, or the drinking, but I couldn’t handle Bukowski all at one. I loved the poetry sections, and even though I occasionally wanted to read more of a particular story, I don’t think I will.

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