‘I guess the only time most people think about injustice is when it happens to them...’
Charles Bukowski’s series of semi-autobiographical novels that feature his alter ego Henry Chinaski won’t be for everyone. They are nihilistic, often deprived and unrelentingly bleak. That being said, if you’re into that kind of thing, there are few better writers out there at expressing disenfranchisement and the absurd facade of societal values…
Henry Chinaski is a tough kid with a tough life. His father is violent and abusive, his classmates find him baffling and he has acne so bad that it renders his appearance ‘monstrous’. Through it all, Chinaski clings to his tough guy persona and the transformative power of literature in order to survive.
Ham on Rye is Bukowski’s fourth Chinaski novel, but it serves as a prequel to the three that came before it. Charting in excruciating detail the horrific abuse that Chinaski and by extension Bukowski suffered at the hands of his father, Ham on Rye can be a difficult read. It also serves as a powerful coming-of-age story that acts as a darker version of The Catcher in the Rye – it features the same tortured teenage musings, the same bewilderment about the ways of the world, just with way more drinking and fighting.
As perhaps Bukowski’s most gruelling and brutal novel, Ham on Rye is undoubtedly a tough read. It’s also one of the most essential works from one of modern America’s most electrifying writers. For that reason, I loved it.