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Narrated by:
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Christian Baskous
-
By:
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Charles Bukowski
About this listen
One of Charles Bukowski's best, this beer-soaked, deliciously degenerate novel follows the wanderings of aspiring writer Henry Chinaski across World War II-era America. Deferred from military service, Chinaski travels from city to city, moving listlessly from one odd job to another, always needing money but never badly enough to keep a job. His day-to-day existence spirals into an endless litany of pathetic whores, sordid rooms, dreary embraces, and drunken brawls, as he makes his bitter, brilliant way from one drink to the next.
Charles Bukowski's posthumous legend continues to grow. Factotum is a masterfully vivid evocation of slow-paced, low-life urbanity and alcoholism, and an excellent introduction to the fictional world of Charles Bukowski.
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Story
Charles Bukowski examines cats and his childhood in You Get So Alone at Times, a book of poetry that reveals his tender side. The iconic tortured artist/everyman delves into his youth to analyze its repercussions.
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How did they let this pass?
- By M. Wall on 11-22-24
By: Charles Bukowski
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On Drinking
- By: Charles Bukowski
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Charles Bukowski turns to the bottle in this revelatory collection of poetry and prose that includes some of the writer’s best and most lasting work. A self-proclaimed “dirty old man”, Bukowski used alcohol as muse and as fuel, a conflicted relationship responsible for some of his darkest moments, as well as some of his most joyful and inspired. In On Drinking, Bukowski expert Abel Debritto has collected the writer’s most profound, funny, and memorable work on his ups and downs with the hard stuff.
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Don't read this sober
- By Lowball on 03-02-19
By: Charles Bukowski
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Essential Bukowski
- Poetry
- By: Charles Bukowski
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 2 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Few writers have so brilliantly and poignantly conjured the desperation and absurdity of ordinary life as Charles Bukowski. Resonant with his powerful, perceptive voice, his visceral, hilarious, and transcendent poetry speaks to us as forcefully today as when it was written. Encompassing a wide range of subjects—from love to death and sex to writing—Bukowski’s unvarnished and self-deprecating verse illuminates the deepest and most enduring concerns of the human condition while remaining sharply aware of the day to day.
By: Charles Bukowski
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The Most Beautiful Woman in Town & Other Stories
- By: Charles Bukowski, Gail Chiarrello - editor
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Bukowski's mad immortal origins, surfaced from the literary underground, have addicted legions of audiences who've recognized Bukowski as one of America's greatest realist writers and poets. Audible Studios narrator and OBIE winner Will Patton ( Remember the Titans, The Good Wife, Armageddon) gives a tour de force performance of Bukowski's greatest work in his prime.
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Vulgar - yes.
- By Bornin62 on 05-24-21
By: Charles Bukowski, and others
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On Cats
- By: Charles Bukowski
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 1 hr and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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On Cats offers Bukowski's musings on these beloved animals and their toughness and resiliency. He honors them as fighters, hunters, survivors who command awe and respect as they grip tightly on to the world around them: "A cat is only ITSELF, representative of the strong forces of life that won't let go."
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In the now
- By Sha Osborne on 01-23-21
By: Charles Bukowski
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The Rum Diary
- A Novel
- By: Hunter S. Thompson
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Begun in 1959 by a twenty-two-year-old Hunter S. Thompson, The Rum Diary is a brilliantly tangled love story of jealousy, treachery, and violent alcoholic lust in the Caribbean boomtown that was San Juan, Puerto Rico, in the late 1950s.
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i own this paperback..
- By Peter on 03-26-13
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A .45 to Pay the Rent
- By: Charles Bukowski
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Buk's vignette, based on conversations between a drug dealer and his young daughter, follows unquestionable childhood logic about family, love, and making ends meet on the other side of the law.
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Will Patton takes Bukowski to tbe next level.
- By Eddie Morra on 03-14-22
By: Charles Bukowski
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Naked Lunch
- The Restored Text
- By: William S. Burroughs
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Naked Lunch is one of the most important novels of the 20th century, a book that redefined not just literature but American culture. An unnerving tale of a narcotics addict unmoored in New York, Tangiers, and, ultimately, a nightmarish wasteland known as Interzone.
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Delightful rendition
- By csk on 10-11-12
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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
- By: Hunter S. Thompson
- Narrated by: Ron McLarty
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
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In Las Vegas to cover a motorcycle race, Raoul Duke (Thompson) and his attorney Dr. Gonzo (inspired by a friend of Thompson) are quickly diverted to search for the American dream. Their quest is fueled by nearly every drug imaginable and quickly becomes a surreal experience that blurs the line between reality and fantasy. But there is more to this hilarious tale than reckless behavior, for underneath the hallucinogenic facade is a stinging criticism of American greed and consumerism.
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Ron McLarty?
- By Ryan T. Nichols on 07-03-08
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Skeleton Crew
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Stephen King, Matthew Broderick, Michael C. Hall, and others
- Length: 22 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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The master at his scarifying best! From heart-pounding terror to the eeriest of whimsy - tales from the outer limits of one of the greatest imaginations of our time! Trucks that punish and beautiful teen demons who seduce a young man to massacre; curses whose malevolence grows through the years; obscene presences and angels of grace - here, indeed, is a night-blooming bouquet of chills and thrills.
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Excellent narrators for classic King collection
- By Sheryl McCallister on 04-07-20
By: Stephen King
Bukowski being Bukowski
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I wanna switch and I wanna Add Great Works of Great Men (Dostoevsky and the like) and the Lessons they taught us about life and struggles, ups and downs, Goods and Bads.. Rights and Wrongs.... pls, take the time and follow me here. are we to look at Bukowski, seeing the piece of Shit he is(or is he?) giving us a life in print of the perspective of the road less traveled... maybe we get a Grab/view of someone who doesn't buy into the workaholics dream, the perspective of a man not consumed with buying and induging (or maybe he just can't afford it,lol) the fella that doesn't need to work his life away, as he is content, lavishing in booze and Sex for his release from the standard ever directed press of life and time( what is the proper way?)....
ok.. maybe he is content with Females and freedom of time, maybe he isn't concerned with Defining himself with this position (yeah, in America maybe society see's this as Credulous and Undefined) do we Crucify this Man for his lack? ....
I think, I wanna say. as the great writers gave us all the, ins and outs of Right and Wrong, why then because its Offensive do we disallow a Prominent Word-Smith to speak his own mind (OK, so we don't let the kids read it... I know kids who watched "50 shades of Grey" how is that less direct then Bukowski) like it or not... Doesnt this guy really belong with the Greats... for the Good of having all the Basis Covered... and GDit if his Damn Writing isn't Spectaculer, it's for each man to fill in, so
for my take, Bukowski, as sour and unliked by Hard Working Americans as he is... holds the unlike Genius Spot IMO.....
look every Great MFer can't just be tackling Virtue style morals.... the unliked Sons Of Bitches hold the sour Spots, but, as unlike as they are they are still needed ( and in my opinion)they Remain just as profound....
I think at this point I'll Bring in the disliked but revered Deogenes the Master Greek Stoic he held a Very Unlike Position in Greek Society. but, had the like of the great Alexander seeking out his Wisdom... dirty and uncouth doesn't mean Stupid and unintelligent...if any positionI held I'd Say known by Bukowski or not he help a Epicurian position, that of loving pleasure and shunning labor... do you a solid if your on the reading Classic works tip... let Bukowski give you your understanding of Discust...
people can and should get these life lessons, less they fumble and fuck up, when they arrive at life's end having been bogged by the other side they never understood (the Less Virtuous) and just studied Chekov and read Austin....
Virtue isn't always being Prim as a Rose, it's knowing the proper way to be .. how can one know the proper way nvr having actually understood the other side
hope this helps...
I'll always be pushing for a understanding of Bukowski
Bukowski is "The Dirty Old Drunk Man"
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He writes like Cormac McCarthy .. if he were kicked in the head by a horse .
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A factotum is someone who does all kinds of work, and Henry is a newspaper gopher, subway poster remover and applier, auto parts store clerk, dog biscuit factory oven worker, women’s dresses shipping clerk, potential libretto writer, bakery coconut man, hotel loading dock worker, fluorescent light fixture shipping clerk, art supply store shipping clerk, LA Times janitor, potential Yellow Cab driver, and more. Typically, after several days he rubs his bosses or coworkers the wrong way for his perceived superior attitude, when it's really only that he doesn't like people (“I was a man who thrived on solitude”) or tires of whatever soul-destroying work he happens to be doing (“I was horrified by life and by what a man had to do simply in order to eat, sleep, and keep himself clothed”) or succumbs to wanderlust (“Packing was always a good time”). All the while he is living in a series of seedy apartments, while drinking constantly and turning out scores of hand-written short stories that he sends off to literary magazines, almost going through the motions but never quite giving up the idea that he is a hitherto undiscovered “writer”--which might be part of his self-directed irony: “Baby, I'm a genius but nobody knows it but me.”
Because of his views on work, Henry would rather stay in bed and drink. He also does plenty of drinking away from home, of course, as once with an old friend when he wakes up in jail arrested for having caused a traffic jam without remembering any of the details. He spends as little time as possible with his weak and soft mother and his unpleasant father, who says things like, “My son is a God damn no good drunk” and “How the hell are you going to make it?” and charges him rent and clothes washing fees to stay in their home. Interestingly, he only masturbates when he's in his family home. He is not immune from considering getting a gun and putting himself out of his misery. He’s often attracted to and occasionally lucky (?) with members of the opposite sex. He listens to classical music on the radio, and the likes of Mahler and Beethoven perform the soundtrack for some funky filthy sex and debauchery and conflict. I sense a homophobic vibe, as Bukowski shows Henry turning down a couple offers of sex from creepy men and dryly remark that his sudden spate of apartment cleaning must be due to his “turning fag.”
Bukowski writes memorable lines, about--
--charisma:
“I always started a job with the feeling that I would soon quit or be fired and this gave me a relaxed manner that was mistaken for intelligence or some secret power.”
--romance:
“Great lovers were always men of leisure. I fucked better as a bum than as a puncher of time clocks.”
--human nature:
“For each Joan of Arc there is a Hitler perched at the other end of the teeter totter.”
He is a master of the vivid grotesque description, like:
“The people swarmed up out of the subway, like insects, faceless, mad. They rushed upon me and into and around me with much intensity. They spun and pushed each other. They made horrible sounds.”
And
“I was given instruction by a toothless elf with a film over his left eye. The film was white and green with spidery blue lines.”
And
“The large bed was covered with stuffed animals. All of the animals looked surprised and stared at me.”
The audiobook reader, Christian Baskus, is the ideal Bukowski/Chinaski, perfect.
The novel ends with Henry out of work, out of love, and alone, impotently taking in a vigorous strip tease act: “I couldn't get it up.” Rather than closure, it feels like Bukowski just decided to stop his tenuously linked series of work and love anecdotes. There isn’t a clear climax and resolution to the novel so much as a petering out. Nonetheless, I can’t help it: I want to read more!
Working, Drinking, & Loving in Seedy WWII-era USA
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I’ve been listening to the Buk’ audiobooks for going on seven or so years. I’m not sure how many dozens of times I’ve heard them each but it’s been a few.
And Christian Baskous is masterful in his performances.
As far as the writing, the story, etc., you either love Bukowski or you don’t. I can’t imagine there’s much in between.
Yes, he’s a womanizer. Yes, he’s a drunk. Yes, he has a foul mouth. Yes, he’s a layabout.
But it is his honesty about his flawed humanness that we love. He was the first to admit he was a big hunk of sh—.
We also love the humor and the big middle finger to fakers and fascists and upper middle class scum.
Bukowski isn’t blue collar … he’s no collar.
He is the working man’s Proust.
The degenerate’s Shakespeare.
The hopeless schlub’s Tony Robins.
If you’re unfamiliar with Bukowski’s work, give him a whirl.
You never know.
He might just wake you up to a number of hypocrisies and pointless rituals you didn’t know irked you.
Better yet, he might caterwaul a tale of desperation and woe that feels like a comfortable old flannel shirt you can wear against the cold cruel world.
Peak Bukowski
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Bukowski really kicks Mickey Mouse to the curb.
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Dang that's it
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Enjoyable
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Amazing!!
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Bukowski BS
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