Tales of Ordinary Madness

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Summary: A man who wrote beyond good and evil
Review: It's Bukowski. who the hell am I to critique.

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Summary: A Bad Trip
Review: Page 200 Read it It will change your lif

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Summary: But we have to explain why we're mad ...
Review: Salvador Dali was quoted "The only difference between me and a madman is that I am not mad." Bukowski is mad. Crazy and angry. Then again, perfectly sane and rather sedate. This book is a series of short stories which are part auto-biography and part fiction (most combining elements of both.) Bukowski writes from the gut with vividness and candor that will most assuredly guarantee this book will never make it to any high school reading lists. Look at it like this: you walk into a bar one night because you are bored out of your skull. You sit next to a man who talks your ear off. He's a veteran alcoholic and social deviant but you find his talk strangely intriguing. Soon you realize you've spent four hours talking to this nut and you've been thoroughly entertained. You aren't sure which of the stories he's told you are true, and it doesn't really matter. It's been a good night. Now you can go back home and face your wife. Life is good.

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Summary: One Can Only Pity Him
Review: Some of the stories contained in this collection are comical as has been mentioned. However, for the most part the stories come off as vulgar, crass, and lacking artistic direction. I was continually reminded of the proverbial "hack" typing away at his typewriter while reading this collection. Now if you happen to like rape, bestiality, references to crap, gambling, horse-races, alcoholism, and smoking cigarettes then this may just be the book you are looking for. After reading through these stories one is continually reminded how pathetic and lifeless a human being can become and for what? Why is Bukowski a sad, broken-down, hack? Well, he never tells us and one can only surmise that it's because he is naturally lazy or lacks motivation. Anyway, I won't completely knock him because some of his writing seemed to show promise but it was undeveloped promise that needed more refinement and a touch of class.

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Summary: "Big tits and ass and eyes like the sky after a good rain"
Review: The great Charles Bukowski was obviously drunk out of his mind when he pounded out these stories, but if you sift through the pornography that constitutes most of the book you will find some genuinely inspired poetic brilliance. ( Really! It's there! )

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Summary: Jackass: The Book
Review: The longstanding question of what someone will say to get attention has finally been answered. Charles Bukowski has crafted a novel with all the hideous ugliness of a movie like Buffalo '66 but with none of the underlying artistic skill or creativity. It is a remarkable bit of irony that Bukowski is a so-called poet, but we learn this in the pages of a book that should never have been written, much less published. The book jumps from one pointless and often disgusting story to another with no rhyme or reason and leaves you wondering why you just read it all the way through.

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Summary: Yuck me out
Review: This book disgusted me. This book aroused me. This book yucked me out. This book made me laugh. This book made me sad. This book was well written. This book was nowhere I've ever been. This book made me want to date Bukowski. Even if he is dead.

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Summary: if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen
Review: this is one of the greatest writers of our time, a view of the harsh reality that most are to apathetic to see. If you don't understand it, read on. he's usually talking about you.

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Summary: A complete letdown.
Review: What really amazes me about this book is that it is the second half of a book originally published as one large selection of Bukowski's short stories. I have read the collected first half which is called "The Most Bueatiful Woman In Town And Other Short Stories" and liked it emensily. However with this book everything fell apart and I did'nt even read the last few stories. Strange indeed. I guess my first experience with Bukowski was fresh and new. Now my second experience was just putting up with a boring drunk. This could quite probably kill any desire to read more of Bukowski.

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Summary: wish i could give this book a 6 rating
Review: wish i could give this book a 6 rating
not easyt stuff to digest but i think its the top of the form of all hank's short stories. hoepfully the rest of our lives never experience what he writes about