An unfiltered semi-autobiographical novel about navigating the challenges of growing up in a dysfunctional family during the great Depression, “Ham on Rye� is gritty and uncompromising. It explores themes of alienation, the brutality of adolescence, and the longing for identity. The dark humor in it all is that life is mundane as a ham on rye sandwich. Bukowski doesn't shy from depicting the uglier aspects of life, giving readers a visceral and uncomfortable experience. The novel also delves into the impact of societal expectations and norms on an individual, particularly one who doesn't fit the conventional mold. Ham on Rye is raw, honest, storytelling. ( )

Charles Bukowski is one of my favourite of the twentieth century. Bukowski black humour, nihilism, maybe, humorous without principles, living an early life of darkness shaped by his father and getting beaten up by everyone. It was a great read. I laughed a lot, and finished the book in 2 days ( )

I enjoyed the hell out of this book. A must read. ( )

I adored this book. I haven't read the Beats seriously since I was in my early twenties; my few attempts to return to the well have been unsatisfying. But this book was magnificent. Somehow I hadn't read it before, even though I've got Mockingbird Wish Me Luck on my limited shelves.

I'd forgotten all about that outsider spirit that I used to have - the sense that society didn't really want much to do with the likes of me and that most people lead pretty narrow, constrained little lives and it takes serious energy, effort and insight to break out of that - but this book brought it all back. I was never tough, but I was gay and smart and passionate about literature and I really did feel like I was on the outside looking in at society.

The narrator and protagonist, Henry Chinaski, is a brilliant character. He's acerbic and misanthropic and absolutely uninterested in taking any conventional wisdom for granted. He tells his life story like he's an alien - baffled at everything he sees. The prose is witty, clear, energetic and has tremendous momentum. Every single character is unhinged, although Chinaski only likes the ones who are aware of it.

There's every chance reading this book has just happened to coincide with the beginning of my midlife crisis, but the evidence against that is I can see how little this "outsider" story applies to today. I don't think that what young people today need is to get in more fights and dabble in fascism. Nor do I find myself yearning for this simpler time. Instead, I am struck by the fact that a brilliantly specific setting - in this case a specific time, but in many other books it's a place - lends a universality to literature. The pervasiveness of the mood of the time (this book is mostly set in the Depression) is brilliantly realised. The characters seem to be both aware that they are living through something but also just getting on with the business of living. One day great literature will be written about now (if we make it far enough into the future), how we marched toward climate catastrophe, the rise of fascism and/or irreversible inequality with a simultaneous sense of outrage and resignation. ( )

I was encouraged to read this by a friend who I respect greatly. He's an incredible film director and prolific musician and all around badass. He ( )