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Charles Bukowski: Locked in the Arms of a Crazy Life Paperback – May 2, 2000

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4.1 out of 5 stars 41 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Grove Press; 1st Paperback Edition edition (May 2, 2000)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0802136974
  • ISBN-13: 978-0802136978
  • Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.9 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #461,285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsA good bio of a great writer
By A Customer on May 8, 1999
Format: Hardcover
Here's a story kiddies, please bear with me:
Years ago I was a struggling, naive graduate student in English at a major southern university. Like a fool, I decided to write a master's thesis on Charles Bukowski. The department chair stuck me with a professor who was supposedly the resident expert on contemporary American literature. From our first conversation it was clear that the man not only had no respect for Buk, but hated his work and hated the very notion that anyone would want to do graduate level work on him. He dismissed the idea with a sniff, saying, "He's marginal and unworthy. No one has written a book on him." I am sad to report that I let the bastard get the better of me. The thesis went unwritten.
Well, that was a decade ago and since then there have been several very fine books written about Bukowski. Three excellent volumes come readily to mind: Neeli Cherkovski's seminal biography, "Bukowski: A Life"; Gay Brewer's Twayne volume, "Charles Bukowski"; and Russell Harrison's "Against the American Grain." All are top notch in their own way.
Now we have Howard Sounes' worthy addition to this list, "Charles Bukowski: Locked in the Arms of a Crazy Life." This new biography works well as a compliment to Cherkovski's more intimate work (Neeli and Hank were good friends and the closeness of their relationship informs every page of the text). Sounes' book is more flamboyant, to be sure, and paints Bukowski in darker colors than does Cherkovski's. Both portraits are quite valuable and, even more important, both are very good reads.
I'm still waiting, though, for the definitive Bukowski biography to emerge, a book that combines a true scholar's rigor with a novelist's eye for detail.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsMost definitive account of Bukowski's life
By joryword@bluebonnet.net on September 26, 1999
Format: Hardcover
Thi extensively researched book reads like a novel of Bukowski's life . I was swept up in the gripping narrative. I knew Bukowski and we were close friends for 20 years, so it was like reading an account of my own life. There were fotos I'd never seen before, of Hank and his family, of his girlfriends in later years, and a lot of information about Bukowski that Sounes discovered during his research. I was very impressed with the book and recommend it to anyone intersted in Bukowski's extraordinary life. Sounes did not spare him, but he was fair and objective. I came away with the feeling that I had gone back in time and relived those days of poetry and booze and women, the race track, the hard years at the post office. It's all there, brilliantly recreated by Howard Sounes.
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4.0 out of 5 starsas I suspected, the myth & the man were miles apart
By Johnny Roulette on November 17, 2001
Format: Paperback
Howard Sounes Buk bio is not nearly as detailed or as informative as his Bob Dylan bio, but it is far and away the best work on Bukowski I have thus far encountered. The reason for the lack of access is simple enough. A writer, by sheer necessity, is a solitary figure. He must spend the majority of his time alone. Most writers are also paid liars. Also, given that most of Bukowski's early loves & friends are dead, as is Bukowski himself, it would be difficult to come by much in the way of useful firsthand information. That being said, I feel that Sounes did the best he could with what was available. The Dylan bio would have more info just because a musician generally has to work closely with many other people. Bukowski had only to work closely with his publisher, John Martin.
I've suspected for years that Bukowski was about half the man he claimed to be. Sounes has confirmed my suspicions. He was a jealous, sometimes violent lover. He was guilty of more than his fair share of back-biting & backstabbing. He wasn't even the constant drunk he portrayed himself to be(trust me on that one...there's no strike against him for that). What he was was an occasionally great and always prolific writer of verse and prose. Sounes exposes many an untruth in Bukowski's account of his own life. He also makes available one of the best and most comprehensive collections of photographs ever presented of Bukowski, including photos of his chief muse, Jane.
I advise reading this book if you want the truth about Bukowski, not the myth. This won't help feed any hero-worship. It is well-researched and beautifully written in an easy, flowing narrative, not unlike Bukowski's sparse style of storytelling.Read more ›
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3.0 out of 5 starsNew bio good, but not great.
By Mark Begley on June 7, 1999
Format: Hardcover
Howard Sounes' new Bukowski biography is much better than Cherkovski's BUKOWSKI: A LIFE, or Steve Richmond's self-serving SPINNING OFF BUKOWSKI; but it's still not great. He does dispel some of the Bukowski mythology (which Bukowski himself was the main promoter of) that has grown over the years. Unfortunately, he dwells too much on Bukowski's sex life, which can be read about in two fat Bukowski books (in every Bukowski book really) WOMEN and LOVE IS A DOG FROM HELL. This would be a good introduction for the uninitiated, but for Buk fanatics it's nothing new. Try Gay Brewer's wonderful CHARLES BUKOWSKI, for a more in depth (though somewhat academic) look at what Bukowski is important for: HIS WRITING! And for Bukowski's publishing history the forthcoming DESCRIPTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE PRIMARY WORKS OF CHARLES BUKOWSKI by Aaron Krumhansl, will be indispensible.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsGood read

This was a really interesting and easy read. Buk is my favorite writer. If you love his work then this book is for you.

Published 10 months ago by Karen webb
4.0 out of 5 starsAn original

Good read. Learned a lot about this unique individual

Published 12 months ago by Kenneth L. Summers
4.0 out of 5 starsenjoyable read

interesting study of a self centered hero

Published 20 months ago by Bobbie Johnson
3.0 out of 5 starsCharles Bukowski: Locked in the Arms of a Crazy Life

Charles Bukowski was a unique voice in literature with cross-overs from everything from Beats to Punk of Parisian avant garde. Read more

Published 21 months ago by Donna
1.0 out of 5 starsVery Disappointing

I was hoping for something new with this biography, instead I read about fifty pages and 98% of that had been included in the documentaries or previous articles I had read. Read more

Published 22 months ago by Nathan Willis
4.0 out of 5 starsadds depth to Bukowski's persona

We who read Charles Bukowski know the persona he projected through his work. Some focus on his drunken exploits. Some focus on his integrity. Read more

Published 23 months ago by Da Ba Ba
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat book

Well written and thought provoking without any preaching. Well researched and lively. A lot of insight into the man, his demons and his evolution. Highly recommend.

Published 23 months ago by Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 starsYou love to hate him

Or is it, you hate to love him. Either way, his prose is excellent and he really gives it to us as he sees it.

Published 23 months ago by Barbara I. Marshall
2.0 out of 5 starsRather read Bukowski himself

Bukowski's works are already autobiographical, and if you read them in the original you'll get the same information but written with the wit and wildness of the Man himself. Read more

Published 23 months ago by Cap'n Mike
5.0 out of 5 starsGreatness is Bukowski

A tremendous book about a tremendous talent. Bukowski was,and remains, a singular voice in American literature. This book shows the man and the legend were not that far apart .

Published 24 months ago by Amazon Customer

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