Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski (1982). I am writing this review a week after finishing the book because I was both angry and depressed after completing it. I wonder if Bukowski knew he would have this impact on his readers. He is one of those rare authors with the power to transcend time and space, engaging readers in what feels very much like a private conversation. In any case, I have to say it: this is a very good book. It is disturbing, provocative, and depressing, but fun and worthwhile to read nonetheless.
It appears to be based on Bukowski’s own life, growing up during the Great Depression in the 1930s in the USA, when H. Chinaski was in school and his family was struggling due to his father’s unemployment. The book ends with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, marking the start of WWII.
In Chinaski’s childhood, two main themes come up repeatedly: his father’s beatings with a razor strap and, at school, the recurring themes of fights, sports with other kids, and his discovery of wine, which would play a role throughout his life. The first time he tries alcohol is when he and a friend sneak into the neighbor’s cellar to steal wine.
Chinaski likes sports, but it seems his excitement does not stem from sportsmanship so much as from the violence and harshness of physical contact, which attracts him. Growing up in a violent home with an unloving and abusive father, he projects this violence into the world. Sometimes playing football or fistfighting, Chinaski often goes home with a black eye or a skinned elbow.
After finishing high school, he gets a job from which he is fired within a week. Eventually, he attends a tuition-free college, where he meets people who later become friends.
At some point, he realizes college is not for him. A friend suggests joining the army, but Chinaski sees no point in it. His reasoning is that the people wanting to send him to war have no personal interest in him. Loneliness and alienation are constant in this book. He believes people make no sense, talk no sense, and, to some extent, he is right. He is just brutally honest. People and their normal lives are boring. The only things that give life any meaning are sex and alcohol.
The cover of the edition I read features a drawing of a kid in a fighting stance, similar to the figure on Charles Bukowski’s grave. This image of the fighting kid is an excellent visual representation of the novel. H. Chinaski must live a hard and violent life. Though he doesn’t fully understand why he has to fight, he feels he has to win nonetheless.
I am still reading more of Bukowski’s works, particularly Post Office and Women. I like both so far, but I’m unsure if I will write a review. Yes, I like Bukowski, but I’ve realized his books are packed with a range of emotions, and it takes time to untangle all the thoughts I have after reading them. Perhaps someday, I will review Bukowski again.