Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski

​I think this book would have made a stronger impact if I read it as a teenager, but I am also glad I didn't read it then because Bukowski's semi-autobiographical novel follows the life of an angry, lonely kid, Henry Chinaski making all sorts of bad decisions (from the point of view of my middle class upbringing).

Bukowski's writing was sometimes tedious, and at other tines powerful, and containing a real energy. An example is:

"There was no fear of the drill anymore. There never had been. Only an anger. But the anger was gone. There wasn't even a resignation on my part, only disgust, a disgust that this had happened to me, and a disgust with the doctors who couldn't do anything about it. They were helpless and I was helpless, the only difference being that I was the victim." (On page 149)

Bukowski rarely uses adjectives with nouns and adverbs. He also sticks to short sentences to prevent energy from dissipating. I have noticed that Bukowski likes repeating a few key words (anger, disgust, helpless) or phrases (including the way he starts sentences, eg. there was) to create an internal rhythm that adds to the paragraphs energy with each repetition.

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