Charles Bukowski's Ham On Rye

Crack open a beer and be prepared to drink towards alcoholism, sexual perversion, lonliness and the Great Depression.

Ham On Rye is a fictional memoir that follows Bukowski’s alter-ego, Henry Chinaski, as he recounts the events and people that shaped his life. The minimalist prose that Bukowski is known for is sewn together, chronicling his childhood days of abuse and exile.

Henry Chinaski’s unapologetic narrative is one of the most powerful devices Bukowski uses in many of his novels. The years he spent billigerently drunk, wasting money at the racetrack and with women, are not blamed on hardships in his past which spares Bukowski from creating a cliche story about a troubled man leading an empty life.

Instead, Chinaski marvels at the “shitting and pissing glory of humanity” while nursing a warm beer, half naked in his bed.

Cheers.