Book Review: If you're thinking of reading Charles Bukowski, undoubtedly begin with Ham on Rye. Any discussion or opinion of Bukowski is worthless without having read this book. Bukowski fans must read this story of Henry Chinaski's early life (from birth to age 21), and non-Bukowski fans should find more here than in any of his other novels. Reading Ham on Rye will give readers much greater insight into his other writing and his messed-up life. This is the best of Bukowski's books, he seems to have worked harder on this one than his others, and although most all his books seem at least semi-autobiographical, Ham on Rye comes closest to an actual memoir, and a painful, ugly, gritty, slab of reality it is. Chinaski's father is an angry, bitter, violent, and brutal failure (who hates drunks). The villain of the story, he sets impossible standards for Henry, continually mocks him, and beats him relentlessly. Like so many, he escapes into reading. Ham on Rye is filled with the pitiable epiphanies of Henry's life. When in the fifth grade he finds that he can write well: "So that's what they wanted: lies. Beautiful lies." In junior high he drinks for the first time and realizes, "I have found something that is going to help me, for a long, long time to come." He suffers such an extreme form of acne and boils on his face and body that he is unable to attend school, and is physically and emotionally scarred for life. He lives through the poverty of the Great Depression, at times with both his parents out of work, and sees how the system treats those at the bottom: "They experimented on the poor and if that worked they used the treatment on the rich. And if it didn't work, there would still be more poor left over to experiment upon." Of course he also discovers women and sex, although there is little he can do about it at the time. One of Henry's recurring traits is his ability to sabotage himself in everything he does. Ham on Rye ends with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and a friend going off to war. Bukowski's novel Factotum follows chronologically in the epic quest that is the life of Henry Chinaski, and is an excellent choice to read next. And for just a moment of speculation: I don't know if anyone has thought of this, but my guess is the book's title (it's not explained in the novel) comes from Catcher in the Rye. Bukowski is saying, "I'm not a catcher in the rye (if you recall that image from Salinger), I'm just a ham on rye, basic as it gets. Ham on Rye is about more than Chinaski's dog-eat-dog life, it's about economics, it's about America during a certain time in history, about people in all their desperate masks. Unexpectedly for me, there is some beautiful writing here. Despite the occasional moments of beauty, to see the underbelly of the American Dream, read Ham on Rye. [5 Stars]
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