Hot Water Music
by Charles Bukowski
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Hot Water Music is a collection of short stories by Charles Bukowski, published in 1983. The collection deals largely with: drinking, women, gambling, and writing. It is an important collection that establishes Bukowski's minimalist style and his thematic oeuvre.Tags
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A collection of Bukowski shorts. A lot like anyone would expect. Hank Chinaski Bets the races, fucks women and drinks beer and wine, then he writes about it all, laughing all the way to the lonely and depressing night.
This is the first thing I read of Bukowski's and his terse style seemed to me like a breath of fresh air. It's as if he copied Hemingway's style and then mimicked it to the point of caricature. And yet somehow I'm still saying that's a good thing.
I believe he took the potentiality of Hemingway's style and magnified it's unpleasantness in a manner similar to how Seth McFarlane exaggerated Matt Groening. Okay, maybe that analogy was pushing it but I love the way no thought or idea is too reprehensible to be included in Bukowski's conception of literature.
By the way, besides the numerous pop culture references, the thing that really got me psyched to start reading Bukowski was the excellent documentaries on him that are available on show more Netflix.
The length of his stories is interesting as well. These are more like vignettes and so it’s best to consider the whole work together and the interrelations between vignettes. show less
I believe he took the potentiality of Hemingway's style and magnified it's unpleasantness in a manner similar to how Seth McFarlane exaggerated Matt Groening. Okay, maybe that analogy was pushing it but I love the way no thought or idea is too reprehensible to be included in Bukowski's conception of literature.
By the way, besides the numerous pop culture references, the thing that really got me psyched to start reading Bukowski was the excellent documentaries on him that are available on show more Netflix.
The length of his stories is interesting as well. These are more like vignettes and so it’s best to consider the whole work together and the interrelations between vignettes. show less
Dear Bukowski, you're a sweet dude but really, all your stories are the same hullabaloo. I wish you had more variety. But then i guess people wouldn't like you as much. So in that case, keep up the good work...oh wait, you're dead.
A collection of short stories in typical Bukowski form. The rate of Henry Chinaski stories makes this collection one of note and the other stories aren't half bad as well, but of short stories, novels, and poems, I consider short stories to be Charles Bukowski's weakest point.
Brilliant selection of short stories. My favorite is the one with the beautiful woman at the track who steals all his cash and clothes after taking him to bed in a motel room.
This is required reading for any and all who appreciate Bukowski's novels because his style of writing is equally suited for short stories.
This is required reading for any and all who appreciate Bukowski's novels because his style of writing is equally suited for short stories.
The first few stories are very weak. Hope it gets better as I go along. I find this alot with Buk's short story collections, I seem to like his novels much more than his short stories.
It's Bukowski. No more to be said.
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Charles Bukowski was born in Andernach, Germany, on August 16, 1920. He came to the United States with his parents when he was three years old and spent his early years in poverty. As a young man he was a transient, doing odd jobs. He lived most of his live in boarding houses in the Los Angeles area. He attended Los Angeles City College briefly. show more He worked for the United States Postal Service for about ten years. Bukowski was at home with street people and his work contains a brutal realism and graphic imagery. He began publishing short stories in the mid-1940s. Starting with Flower, Fist and Bestial Wail in 1959, he produced poetry collections almost once a year. His following had grown by the time his collection of poetry about down-and-outers titled It Catches My Heart in Its Hands appeared in 1963. His short story collections include Dirty Old Man and Ejaculations, Exhibitions and General Tales of Ordinary Madness. His novels, with an autobiographical character called Henry Chinaski, include Post Office and Factotum. Bukowski wrote the screenplay for the 1987 motion picture Barfly. He later wrote about the filming of Barfly in his novel, Hollywood. Bukowski died in San Pedro, California, on March 9, 1994. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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dtv (11462)
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Musica per organi caldi
- Original title
- Hot Water Music
- Original publication date
- 1983
- Dedication
- for Michael Montfort
- Original language
- English US
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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- Members
- 1,411
- Popularity
- 16,633
- Reviews
- 11
- Rating
- (3.72)
- Languages
- 13 — Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian (Bokmål), Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 35
- ASINs
- 11