Book Review – Post Office by Charles Bukowski
The Debut Novel From One of the Most Free and Authentic Writers Ever
With letters in his hands and a hangover in his head, protagonist Hank Chinaski spends the duration of Post Office (Ecco, ISBN: 0061177571, 1991) doing one of those two things in addition to sex. With a life that parallels that of creator Charles Bukowski, Chinaski toils away in the post office for years, wondering what can rebuild a broken man. And, more importantly, if any man is worth rebuilding.
Chinaski and Bukowski
Hank Chinaski and Hank Charles Bukowski can be used interchangeably, and both (or either, really) are the embodiment of freedom trying to exist in a society with an underlying sense of order permeating everything.
Chinaski appears in several other novels and short stories of Bukowski, such as Ham On Rye and Hot Water Music. Post Office doesn’t show the details of growing up in angst as Ham On Rye does, nor does it show the near-satisfied old man that Chinaski would become, as seen in Hot Water Music. Instead, the reader finds Chinaski at a crossroads, building up to something better.
A Quickly Read Diary
This is such a sparse, quick read with an odd diary-type tone that a reader may not know what to make of it as she reads. The short chapters within the sections read exactly like journal entries: not too much detail, just enough to refresh the memory for later reading.
When this format works, it works on the same grounds as other minimalistic texts, in that there's an outline painted and the details are open to interpretation and – through that – personalization. Fortunately, when it doesn't work, the offending section passes quickly.
The Grime and Dirt of Hank Chinaski
Post Office gives the reader about a decade and a half of Chinaski's life in 200 pages (with a huge font that can easily be read in three hours or less). Chinaski is the sort of anti-hero who's hard to invent in writing. He doesn't care about anything he can't fight with, drink down, or pick up.
There are parts of the book that make Chinaski morally repulsive. His faux-rape of a mentally unstable woman is the most offending section, making it hard to like the guy. However, he can also be sweet, thinking of his daughter when he had a butcher's knife to his throat and having all of his relationships end in an state of neutrality. There's rarely hatred or love in his writing, despite his actions. He's just living, and really, what more can be asked of him?
This may not be the best writing ever, but that’s hardly the point. People like Chinaski/Bukowski don't come along all that often, and to have this sort of a reference point in regard to purity and its clash with humanity is a gift that everyone should be grateful for.
Related Article: Book Review: The Selected Letters of Charles Bukowski Volume 2: 1965-1970
Post Office, Bukowski
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