After reading a few disappoint books, I was happy to read another Bukowski. Ham on Rye is a look at the early life of his alter-ego Chinaski. Even though Chinaski is a bad ass, sometimes despicable person, I can stomach it because Bukowski is funny. You know that this is based on his life, and you can help but wonder what he did do and what he just really wanted to do. I thought it was also interesting because this was a first hand account of a child of The Great Depression.
I love Bukowski. The young life of Chinaski was full of what we find in many young lives of the literary gods we grow to love: sex, parental abuse (his father used to make him mow the lawn and if there was one blade sticking up more than the others he used to beat him up), parental neglect (hello, mom?), bullying, drinking, and so much more.
I enjoyed this very much. You will not love Chinaski, but that's the point ;).
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