Ham on Rye

An amazing read. Can be considered semi-autobiographical. Raw and untamed.

Lectura obligada

I can recommend the book.

Nicht umsonst steht auf seiner Grabinschrift „dont try“! Es soll niemand auf die Idee kommen den Meister zu kopieren, so die Intension seiner Witwe! Dieses Buch war meine erste Berührung mit Charles Bukowski und seit dem hat er, für mich die meisten Schriftsteller, in den Schatten gestellt! Er schreibt intelligent, humorvoll, smart und ohne Floskeln. Seine Story lässt ein Schmunzeln, nachdenken, schaudern, Mitleid verspüren und den klugen Menschen dahinter erkennen. Ich habe dieses Buch in drei verschiedenen Sprachen gelesen und jedesmal hat es mich berührt.

In the first parts of the book, when Henry still had 6-8 years, the story sound a little unrealistic and over sexualized in some occasions. But while the caracter grows up it turns to be an interesting topic. The discover of this sexual part of life by kids in the beginning of a premature puberty. But it's aborded without any idealization, in a disturbingly crude and realistic way. Somehow, I identify my teenager self with little Chinasky, and I think that probably every man do too, what makes me sick (like I sad, it's disturbing).In general, the book is about Henry's childhood and adolescence, always with that disturbingly crude and realistic tone. It made me reflect of this period of life in so many ways and, consequently, about society, power and culture. Some subjects really got my attention, like: poverty; paternal violence; education system; sexism, especially the men's side (this because, as it's a first person narrative, every woman is described in an explicitly deformed way, so we never really know what they are coming through, but, despite that, we start seeing the sick culture that makes male kids and teenagers represent women in such deformed ways); something that we normally reduce to "bullying", but the book exposes as an issue of socialization, as the lack of a feeling of belonging to a group, as being rejected by the ones around you; and, as a result of this environment, loneliness. Loneliness as a way to survive, as closing yourself to the world.The sexism is something you can really see all the time. It seems like that isn't a relationship between a male and a female that is healthy. To the eyes of this boy, women are nothing but flesh. He actually uses this word all the time, normally followed by white (white flesh), in a very racist way. And I don't think that's tell us about the author (maybe it does, but I don't think that's the point). Again, I think the interesting thing is that it tells us about the way sexism get in the heads of males so young. The only time a female gets attention in the story is when she's hot and pleasuring a male, and that look disturbingly close to the reality. All interactions of males and females just doesn't look right in this book, what forces you to reflect about this subject. I don't know if I could even read this if I wore a woman, but, for a male, i think it's a painful true that could really help someone to look to his own life, see sexism expliced and that it isn't bad only for woman.The first healthy interaction Henry have with a woman is when a nurse takes care of him in the hospital. According to him, she "was the first person to give me my sympathy. It felt strange". He compares her to other womans he talks about during the book, despite all of them had his attention for being hot and this nurse isn't attracting. She got Henry for being nice. And in this occasion the boy shows that his representing of woman is of a sexual toy, saying that she wasn't hot but "there was something about her. She wasn't constantly thinking of being a woman". It seems to me that, the truth is, for the first time, Henry saw a woman not as "hot flesh", but as a human being, that's why it seems that she wasn't trying to be a woman.It also made me reflect so much about poverty, capitalism, consumerism and stuff. Henry is taught since ever that to win in life he needs to be a good consumer, to be part of the economic system. That's why people really exists. "Wealth meant victory and victory was the only reality". His father had a strategy: "the family structure. Victory over adversity through the family. He believed in it. Take the family, mix with God and Country, add the ten-hour day and you had what it needs". But Henry never felt like it. "I wanted someplace to hide out, someplace where one don't have to do anything. The thought of being something didn't only appall me, it sickened me. [...] I would rather be a dish washer, return alone to a tiny room and drink myself to sleep" (p. 192). In one of his thoughts Henry asks: "what were doctors, lawyers, scientists? They were just men who allowed themselves to be deprived of their freedom to think and act as individuals" (p. 274).The character has so many problems related to self esteem, due all the reject received from life. To society's parameters he was bad in everything. Even his appearance, full of acnes, is repugnant in everybody's eyes. If on the one hand he felt sick about society, in the other he introjected that when he looked to himself: "I was like some jungle animal". In the story he deal with the paradox of feeling like he's the only one who see how sick life and people are (what makes he feel like he is a illuminated human between a bunch of idiots), but, at the same time, of feeling sad because of rejecting. So, one time he feels like he know what nobody knows, the other he thinks the opposite: "everybody knew something I didn't know" (p. 194), like talking and dancing. He tries to respond the reject of everyone rejecting the whole world back, but you can clearly see that he's in pain.This book is really great. You may get a little depressed and start drinking more then usual.