Book Review – Ham On Rye by Charles Bukowski

A Decadent Coming-Of-Age Story With an Anti-Hero for the Ages

May 9, 2009

As a fictional memoir covering Bukowki's Hank Chinaski, Ham On Rye serves as a tome of explanation and unorganized insurrection towards both his detractors and followers.

Defending the late Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) and his rebellion against societal norms is a lost cause, and while his abuse of alcohol, women, himself, and humanity in general have often gotten him slagged as a misogynistic wino with no karma left to burn, the freedom and honesty of his writing in 1982’s Ham On Rye (Ecco, ISBN: 006117758X) goes unmatched and worthy of praise.

Simple, but Far From Stupid

The book may be a quick read, but it’s anything but a light read. Bukowski manages to be smart without being academic, offensive without being alienating, and able to write in a way that somehow lacks both the fluff and the stilted language/situations of minimalistic prose. His style has always taken a backseat to his tales, giving (good) directions, but never a reason to pick up a book and turn the pages. However, with Ham On Rye Bukowski is able to turn a well-lived life into a well-written story.

Between this and his collections of letters, the world could someday understand Bukowski and the world as he saw it, laughing from the barstool near the corner, feeling all the weight of, as he would describe it, “the pissing and shitting glory of humanity.”

A Protagonist of Despair

Most likely a play on J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Bukowski’s Ham on Rye sees an anti-hero growing and dealing with the turmoil of life. Hank Chinaski goes through the same qualms as Salinger’s Holden Caulfield: hostility through sexuality (and vice-versa), a slap in the face of a torn nation (Bukowski and The Great Depression, Salinger and WWII), and alienation as a way of life.

Salinger’s (perhaps lack of) emphasis on personal growth is turned into Bukowski’s emphasis on ignoring the reasons he/Chinaski grew up tough, mean, and odd. This could have easily ended up a stale story of a broken home and a broken country paralleling and splitting the life of what would become a broken boy, but Bukowski focuses on the scenes and people he was surrounded with. Were he real, Chinaski himself would probably ponder the effects of the distress around him, but in the end he would have concluded that he didn’t care, and cracked another beer.

Graphic, but Real

Amidst the sad and awkward climb into adulthood, Chinaski encountered numerous situations where he bit down hard and threw a punch, whether or not he was going to win. This leaves many a situation where profanity is slung, women are lusted after, children are beaten, sexual perversion is normal, alcohol is taken by the gallon instead of the bottle, and hope is generally non-existent.

Despite the nature of Bukowski’s subject matter, his clear style and authentic feelings of dejection show a boy growing into a man, regardless of anomalies and distortions within his life.

The copyright of the article Book Review – Ham On Rye by Charles Bukowski in American Fiction is owned by Ryan Werner. Permission to republish Book Review – Ham On Rye by Charles Bukowski in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.