Factotum
(Charles Bukowski)
Factotum, Bukowski's second novel, tells the continuing story of his alter ego (and anti-hero) Henry (Hank) Chinaski, a low life and desperate drunk stuck in a kind of civilian catch 22 between sanity and work. More episodic than his previous novel, Post Office, Factotum flows past the reader like a wasted life, each day melting into the next as bad jobs and bad women are lost and replaced with worse ones. While this may sound depressing, due to Bukowski's skill at always managing to find humour in even the worst situations, it very rarely is and the book is probably one of the most page turning novels I have ever read. Witness Hank (a life long hater of clothes "they are terrible things, cons, like vitamins") discover the magic pants while working at a clothing warehouse. Each chapter, though a step on a downward spiral, is rarely without hope, even if it is nothing more than having enough money to get another bottle of wine. If you have never read any Bukowski then Factotum would be an excellent place to start, it is more readable than Post Office and less obviously misogynistic than Women (though one could argue that neither are). If nothing else it is an insight into a world that few writers (exceptions Nelson Algren and John Fante, both Bukowksi favourites) have bothered to explore. A sort of hymn to longing and loneliness, the book can be read as a dramatisation of the fallacy of the American dream where only alcohol offers solace from the pain of continuous failure. Excellent!
Resumos Relacionados
- Factotum (factotum)
- Women
- Factotum
- Post Office
- Burning In Water, Drowning In Flame
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