Customer Reviews

Bukowski: A Life

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Bukowski did the author of this book a great service by writing about his own life in his stories and poems, because that's the only information the author thought to use in his biography. He read Buk's books, told the real names of the people, put it all in chronological order, and that's it. This book didn't offer a single minor piece of insight into a man whose live I'd like to know more about. If you are looking for a real biography from someone who has actually done their research, I recommend "Locked in the Arms of a Crazy Life" by Howard Sounes. That author did his legwork and did created a work that is actually worth something to the reader. So yes, stay as far away as possible from this book, and you will be a more complete person.

If you want to get beyond the myth, legend, exaggerations and scandals of Charles Bukowski, Neeli Cherkovski's "Bukowski: A Life" is the place to start. This is the first, the original Bukowski biography, the seed from which all others blossom. Cherkovski, a friend, champion and at times co-conspirator is the only Bukowski biographer to cut through the illusions and deceptions of a public image and show Bukowski raw and human. If the book at times reads like a memoir, well it should. It is worth noting that Neeli Cherkovski was the only Bukowski biographer invited by Bukowski's wife, Linda, to attend and speak at the dedication of the Bukowski Archives at the Huntington Library, 2006. If you are looking for the true Bukowski, Cherkovski's "Bukowski: A Life" is a must read...

I think what interests me about this biography more than any other writing of Bukowski is that Cherkovski was actually there. Neeli Cherkovski didn't just run in the same circles as bukowski or know him peripherally, he was an integral part of bukowskis' support system and a friend. One must keep in mind that anything Cherkovski has to say about bukowski is going to be much more accurate than a writer who did "research".

I suppose I deserve this. I bought this book at the behest of a Barnes and Noble employee. She said it was the best Bukowski biography she's read. Well, I found the book less than agreeable and I am now suffering through a severe case of buyer's remorse. Corporate literati ...strike again.

Since I already have Ham On Rye, Post Office, South Of No North, and numerous volumes of Bukowski poetry, this biography really is obsolete. It seems like Cherkovski pasted together snippets of the Bukowski collection, and added some of his own limited insights, placed the whole conglomeration between a cover and shipped it off to market.

Anyone who has read even a limited amount of Bukowski's work will find nothing new in this biography. Save your money and purchase Buk's poetry. I recommend Bone Palace Ballet, or The Night Torn Made With Footsteps.

The stuff in this book will only be valuable to people who don't know Bukowski's work or who can't get enough Bukowski. It simply offers nothing new at all. Everything here can be known by reading Bukowski himself. As Bukowski said himself in a letter to Bob Howington, he couldn't read it, it gave him a headache, and Howington should "use the damn thing for a doorstop."

This book happens to devote two full pages describing Bukowski's friendship with writer Steve Richmond. There are, unfortunately, fifteen (15) errors.. gross material mistakes within the text of just these two pages. These include misquotations, mistitled publications, reported acts by myself and others which simply didn't happen, etc.If you don't give damn whether or not you are reading the truth about Charles Buk, then buy this book, because this novel disguised as a biography is infinity squared distant from the truth of Charles Bukowski.Luckily, an excellent Bukowski biography is coming down the pike: LOCKED IN THE ARMS OF A CRAZY LIFE by Howard Sounes.Neeli Cherkovski's WHITMAN'S WILD CHILDREN does include a fine chapter re Bukowski, but for whatever sad reason, Cherkovski's attempted full length Bukowski biography remains the phoniest book I've ever read, notwithstanding its lovely printjob.Steve RichmondFebruary, 1999

Being a reader of Bukowski for many years, I found this book's strength to be that it cut through the mythologized tales of drinking and offered a very intimate and sensitive look at a modern legend.

Frankly, not having known or been discussed in this book, I liked it. I wasn't alive (for much of his lifetime) and really, seeing a little more about him (in novel fashion) proved to be fascinating.

Bukowski was an American writer. He is shown in this book with his scars, dirty clothes, and kinda lewd persona. He's real from the beginning whereas it took an awful lot of alcohol, etc. until Hemingway was near as (like those of us mortals....)

This might not be a critically perfect biography. It might have needed more research, etc. BUT.... speaking form the perspective of an educated general fan, it is worthwhile, though I don't kow if I'd buy it-- the other biography is probably more of a keeper.... This is a good story, though.....

Buy the poetry more than any bio. though!!!

Whether you are a fan of Charles Bukowski or have never even read him, this biography of his life and work exemplifies one of the greatest American poets and prose writers of the twentieth century. Neeli Cherkovski does a brilliant job in presenting Bukowski's work and moreover the man himself. Clearly one of the best biography's I have ever read.

This is a minor reworking of Cherkovski's earlier book, Hank, the Life of Charles Bukowski, which has been out of print for a while. It's great that this fine book is available again. If you love Bukowski, you will love this book. Cherkovski and Buk were buddies and the intimacy of their relationship informs every word of the text. I'm reading it for the second time right now and loving every page.