A book a day: Charles Bukowski: pipe music

Many say Bukowski was misogynist; The truth is that it was many things: alcoholic, violent, depressive, misogynist … but, of course, never a communist. What we cannot deny is that it was also deeply hilarious.

This was the first book I read of the good Chinaski, when I was 18, and of course I loved it. Even today, when rereading it, it is still one of the few who manage to get a laugh. Bukowski was probably an insufferable person, with whom it would be impossible to live together, but Chinaski, his alter ego, is a tipazo: occurrence, spontaneous, charismatic, someone with whom he would have wanted to have some beers.

The stories of this book present to endearing protagonists: decadent poets, passionate women, drunks, cynical gigolós, exhibitionists, etc. They are very short stories, just a few pages, which start from simple premises. Bukowski does not need too many words to achieve extraordinary results: sometimes through an unexpected turn and, others, simply through ingenious occurrence. In addition, it does not bother to decorate the phrases or recharge the descriptions; Everything is direct, with brief dialogues. The strong point, as I mentioned, is humor and the scathing phrases that populate these stories.

Among my favorites, there are the most crazy stories: a man who lace the penis with a vase with whom he intended to have intercourse; Another that does not support jealousy when seeing your partner dance as possessed with others; A guy obliged to deal with everything that entails the death of his father when, in reality, what does least care is his father; and even a couple who decides to solve food shortages by resorting to human flesh. As you can see, the issues are as varied as unlikely.

However, beyond the apparent nihilism with which most of the protagonists face their experiences, these scenarios portray the lives of people who live to the limit, marginalized, decadent and, at the same time, as human as anyone.