Search

Sunday, December 24, 2017

Pulp by Charles Bukowski

Pulp by Charles Bukowski
I’d never read any Bukowski, and he is certainly well known and referenced by everyone from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Modest Mouse. For my birthday, the Professor got me a signed first edition of his take on the noir detective genre!

Except, this novel is a parody send up of the genre, and more of a meta-spoof on Bukowski’s impending death from leukemia. This was the last novel he wrote and he died shortly after completing it. The main character, Belane, is a dark-complected parody of Bukowski himself – a drunk, a misogynist, a layabout – and he does little but bum around making mistakes and waiting for “Lady Death” or “The Red Sparrow” to find them.

Cynical, short, and unsatisfying unless you’re a Bukowski fan or scholar, I should think.

No comments: