Visceral Bukowski: Inside The Sniper Landscape Of L.A. Writers (Paperback)

~ (Author), Digby Diehl (Foreword) "He was bored, and he ordered the waiter to bring me another glass of red wine..." (more)
Key Phrases: wormwood review, meat school, record execs, Charles Bukowski, Steve Richmond, Los Angeles (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

As serious books on Charles Bukowski go, this is up there with them. Essential for Bukowski readers everywhere. -- Beat Scene

Pleasants offers a strikingly rich portrayal of Bukowski, a poet who was "alive and glowing in his place in time." -- Los Angeles Times

Product Description

VISCERAL BUKOWSKI by Ben Pleasants is a memoir of a 20-year friendship with deep insights into the personal life of Charles Bukowski and the city of Los Angeles. Here are clear chapters on childhood friends, Bukowski’s flirtation with Nazism, how Pleasants and Bukowski together rediscover John Fante, adventures in Hollywood, the women, the jobs, the booze and the writing; the way it really happened without the fiction.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 231 pages
• Publisher: Sun Dog Press (October 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0941543382
• ISBN-13: 978-0941543385
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,412,380 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars talent and tragedy, March 22, 2005

By	Gloria Gonick (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This lively biography by Ben Pleasants deftly captures the engaging yet off putting braggadocio of Charles Bukowski, hero the so-called "Meat Poets" of the sixties and seventies. Wild episodes of drinking, gambling and womanizing seemingly drove and energized his writing.
While illuminating Bukowski's life in and around Los Angeles, Ben Pleasant's challenge of old buddy and loyal fan while official biographer brings him uneasily face to face with his subject's gusto for outrageous womanizing, drunkenness, as well as his tragic, intermittent enthusiasm for Nazism. Nevertheless, the author's long-time intimacy gave him a ring-side seat at the antics which animate this intriguing life story. Bukowski served as one of the lights of mid-twentieth century "hip" literature and this book affectionately declares, despite its unsavory aspects, his sincere commitment to his work be honorably documented.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fine close-up memoir, August 4, 2008

By	Brian D. Hackert "Mister B" (Peterborough, NH) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I liked this book and felt it expanded my understanding of Buk as a person and writer. It is not a biography, though, but a series of anecdotes and interviews intertwined with the writer's own life story. It's a nice close-up view of Bukowski, kind of like being there with him, which was enjoyable. For a real biography, one would have to start with the Howard Sounes book and not this one. Some people have characterized this work of Pleasants as character assasination, but I didn't see it that way. This is a good supplement to the Sounes bio Locked In The Arms Of A Crazy Life.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Strange Brew, September 1, 2007

By	Jam Econo (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews

Ben Pleasants has long been a important person in the L.A. writing scene. In addition to being a literary journalist, he is also a poet and playwright of some note. He also was a long-time friend of Charles Bukowski, which, combined with his skills as a writer, would seem to make him extremely qualified to take on a book such as this. Qualifications aside, what he has turned out is a very strange product indeed. Mixing tales of Bukowski's life, examinations of his writing, and stories of other writers Bukowski knew (including first and foremost Ben Pleasants himself), Pleasants creates a disjointed tapestry that can be fascinating at times and equally unsatisfying at others. While sections such as the ones that examine topics like Bukowski's fascination with Nazis are compelling, those that delve into his writing seem to miss the mark. Though the subtitle of this books shows that Pleasants' is not just writing about Bukowski but trying to place him in the larger "landscape" of the Los Angeles literary world, many of these chapters too seem to meander about, moving far away from Bukowski without ever pulling the story back together. Overall, though, this book has enough interesting new material to make it worthwhile for the hardcore Bukowski fan. Also, I'm a bit hamstringed here by the Amazon rating system. I would like to give this book three-and-half stars but am forced to choose between three and four. So give this book another half star beyond my rating.

I want to state that I know and have worked with Ben Pleasants professionally. I do not think this has affected my review, but I feel I should be open about these facts.