The Buk Book: Musings on Charles Bukowski [Paperback]

Jim Christy (Author), Claude Powell (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1997

This book offers a unique look at the phenomenon of Charles Bukowski, the battered and scarred postal clerk, odd-jobs man, and lowly factotum who became the best-known "underground" writer in the English language. His work—raw, crude, heartbreaking, and hilarious—has inspired imitators, emulators, sycophants, and detractors. This book chronicles the man, the myth, and his work.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A brisk and spirited toast to the 'dirty old man' of American letters." -- Vancouver magazine

About the Author

Jim Christy is the author of The Long Slow Death of Jack Kerouac. Claude Powell is a photographer who was also a friend of Charles Bukowski.

Product Details

• Paperback: 88 pages
• Publisher: ECW Press (March 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1550222953
• ISBN-13: 978-1550222951
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,424,122 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hank In A Nutshell, December 24, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Buk Book: Musings on Charles Bukowski (Paperback)

"The Buk Book: Musings On Charles Bukowski" is filled with every shade of Bukowski. While really more of a compact biography than a volume of "musings," Jim Christy's relaxing, yet tight documentation provides us with glimpses of an even more outrageous Buk than we had imagined.

As a confidante and drinking buddy, Claude Powell's contribution of twenty-four photos, depicting Buk mostly in a dishelveled alcoholic state, create a compelling visual component. Pictures not likely to be found in a Black Sparrow publications any time too soon.

Jim Christy's chronological text is smooth and refreshingly unrehearsed. He slides cleanly through the years spanning from Bukowski's birth in Andernach,Germany on August 16,1920, to acquaintance Gundolf Freyermuth's April 1994 recollection of a physically "dimished" figure, but one still capable of laughing with "malicious delight." It was several weeks after Freyermuth's visit to San Pedro, when Bukowski succumbed to the lady featured in his last novel "Pulp." Death, even if you're Charles Bukowski, has the last say.

Along the way Christy drizzles in a handful of tense situations, a teaspoon of riot scenes and humored accounts of mayhem squeezed from the days and nights in the life of Charles Bukowski.

If you are new to Charles Bukowski, or if he's been burning inside your brain for a while, this book will be received well by either party.

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing. nothing new here in a "Me Too" Buk Book., March 13, 2011

By 

Medicine Hat - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Buk Book: Musings on Charles Bukowski (Paperback)

I was not impressed with this thin book of anecdotes of Charles Bukowski. You get very little content here as the author's short time spent with Bukowski is just a glossing over of the mans life.
The book covers a very short time period where the author and photographer/friend Claude Powell spent drinking and talking about Buk's life.

Basically, you get some accounts of his past experiences and some pictures of Bukowski drunk.
I gave two stars because the pictures by Claude Powell were good and kind of funny. There is much more thorough material out there than this short book. I recommend you try the Howard Sounes biography "Locked in the arms of a crazy life" or "Bukowski in Pictures" which is a supplement by Sounes with many good pictures and text that didn't make the biography.

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but uneven, July 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Buk Book: Musings on Charles Bukowski (Paperback)

I enjoyed this book but felt like the author, who states that he spent a lot of time with Buk, decided to throw together this uneven, short book to make a few bucks. The only pictures appear to be from a single night in the early 70's, and appear to be pictures Buk probably didn't expect to ever be published. Enough whining...it did offer some good insights into the genius of Buk!