Book Review: Women is one of Charles Bukowski's better books, I'd pick this as his third best, maybe fourth. As with all Bukowski, I think he's best read by young men between the ages of 17 and 27, and the young women who can get through it (it's no secret that many women are repulsed by this guy -- see "pig" comment below). Women takes place after Henry Chinaski has become famous and women are flocking to him. Unlike before. Almost all the women are somewhat crazy and usually beautiful.
How does Bukowski do it? Seems that someone unafraid to show his disgusting side and who spends so much time on the misogynistic side of the fence, should be extinct by now. Face it, the man can be a pig. Two answers appeared while reading this book. First, he has life and energy in his writing. His writing is so alive that it sweeps the reader along, even while describing something we generally wouldn't want to hear about. He seems also to work hard at telling the truth, at least as he sees it, or perhaps he works hard at making us think he's telling the truth. There's an effort at truth telling in there somewhere. He puts effort in making his writing easy to follow. No one ever had to go back and reread a Bukowski paragraph to see what he was getting at. I appreciate that. I'd love to see Woolf or James translated into Bukowski.
Second, in Women, more than his other books, I was aware of Bukowski sharing his philosophy in the interludes between plot telling. It's easy to skip over those points because plot seems to be what he's really giving us. But between the plot points (usually bedding women), Bukowski shares his ideas on women, but also love, writing, authors, work, and much more. And these interludes were actually more interesting than the plot, for me. Who knew? Maybe all that plot is just a way to trick us into listening to him while he sits at the bar pontificating. Except he doesn't like bars.
He thinks lawyers and doctors are the most overpaid spoiled members of society, followed by garage mechanics. John Fante is his favorite writer. Canada feels calmer and less false than the U.S. This is Bukowski, so everything has to be taken with a grain of salt, but some of his lines are worth pondering and some are incredibly funny: "Love was for guitar players, Catholics and chess freaks." What does that even mean? Everyone knows guitarists get more than their share of love and chess players almost none. And he shares his philosophy of writing:
"I write fiction."
"What's fiction?"
"Fiction is an improvement on life."
"You mean you lie?"
"A little. Not too much."
So when you're reading Bukowski and wondering how much is true, there you have it. If you like Bukowski, you'll like this. If you hate Bukowski, you'll really hate this. Otherwise, take a chance on Women. [4 Stars]
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