Women is a 1978 novel written by Charles Bukowski, starring his semi-autobiographical character Henry Chinaski. …
Hilarious at first, becomes a slog to finish
4 stars
This is the first Bukowski novel for me. It was quite funny, particularly in the first half with Lydia and the unhinged insanity of that character. I enjoyed how honest and down to earth Bukowski’s writing style is. There are many women I’ve known who behave like the ones in the novel, which I got a kick out of. The problem is, there’s only so many combinations of promiscuous woman, alcohol, and self loathing writer that I can take before the shtick gets old. But I can’t complain too much, because I really did enjoy the novel overall. I wouldn’t recommend this to super uptight people though. When looking at negative reviews for this book, I somehow find that it’s usually men who morally grandstand and rail against the antics of the drunken womanizer Chinaski, more so than women themselves; maybe these guys think it’ll help their chances of getting …
This is the first Bukowski novel for me. It was quite funny, particularly in the first half with Lydia and the unhinged insanity of that character. I enjoyed how honest and down to earth Bukowski’s writing style is. There are many women I’ve known who behave like the ones in the novel, which I got a kick out of. The problem is, there’s only so many combinations of promiscuous woman, alcohol, and self loathing writer that I can take before the shtick gets old. But I can’t complain too much, because I really did enjoy the novel overall. I wouldn’t recommend this to super uptight people though. When looking at negative reviews for this book, I somehow find that it’s usually men who morally grandstand and rail against the antics of the drunken womanizer Chinaski, more so than women themselves; maybe these guys think it’ll help their chances of getting laid if a woman sees their scathing review on Goodreads, I have no idea. It’s like they put their Reddit fedora on and tip it extra hard before they start typing away about a book they missed the entire point of, but that’s implying it’s done in good faith. I get it though, the book is kind of a bareback experience. It’s raw and in your face. And I guess there isn’t much of a point to it, but it’s not some mean spirited incel rant against women either, as some might suggest. While the book exaggerates female behavior (scene with Tammy right before she’s meant to board a flight, unzipping and zipping her bag repeatedly for no reason and getting to the airport with minutes before takeoff, saying “we have plenty of time” for example), it’s always not too far off the mark from how SOME women behave. That’s where the humor comes from, in my opinion. This will always be a controversial book, but it’s worth reading just for the comedic appeal. I wasn’t particularly fond of Chinaski’s character, but I understand him. He’s completely self absorbed, he’s like an exaggerated version of the worst type of man. It’s easy to become a variant of that man if you just give up and stop caring. The characters all feel like hyperbolic caricatures or archetypes of people you’ve likely met in real life before. Most people are too uncomfortable observing and describing these types of people as honestly as Bukowski does here. I’m not sure how similar Bukowski was to Chinaski in real life, but I imagine there’s a lot of parallels to some of the stuff here (especially all the cynical monologues). Around halfway through the novel, things start to get old, there’s not enough variation in the same plot cycling around aimlessly and the ending is utterly shit. But I still liked it, maybe even loved it. I might even read it again, or at least certain chapters.
