Ham On Rye

A Novel

By: Charles Bukowski

Narrated by: Christian Baskous

In what is widely hailed as the best of his many novels, Charles Bukowski details the long, lonely years of his own hardscrabble youth in the raw voice of alter ego Henry Chinaski. From a harrowingly cheerless childhood in Germany through acne-riddled high school years and his adolescent discoveries of alcohol, women, and the Los Angeles Public Library's collection of D. H. Lawrence, Ham on Rye offers a crude, brutal, and savagely funny portrait of an outcast's coming-of-age during the desperate days of the Great Depression.

Great book!

I loved the book and I enjoyed the narration just wasn't very keen on the voice he'd make for other characters.

A must read for the chronic cynic

Christian Baskous will now and forever be the voice of Bukowski to me. He takes an already great work and turns it into something even greater. It's like he was made for this story. His performance is worth the credit alone.

If Super Bad were set in the depression

This book is so inappropriate but so so very funny. Charles Bukowski captures the mischief and preoccupations of pre-teen, teenage and young adult boys and men. while also penning a love letter clothed in hate mail to depression-era Los Angeles.
What is evident is that as much as we reverence the purity and innocence of the days gone by, some things never change. Boys will always be boys.

I read this book laughing out loud and several times I called the main character a little snot after he quickly quipped at another character. The young main character's sarcasm was well beyond his years.

I am a native Angelino and also live in the town where Bukowski penned Ham On Rye. I thoroughly loved the local references and the imagery around my beloved home town during the depression. From Clifton's Caferia to Bunker Hill to USC, this book often felt like I was on a tour of old LA led by a foul mouth, mistreated, flirtatious and misunderstood boy.

I can't tell you how much I liked this book but absolutely understand how people can be put off by the profanity and lewdness. If you can stand it, definitely give it a read.

good read

This would not be for everybody but it kept me interested all the way through.

well written but Not for the weak of heart

Very different from my usual genre. Very strong and powerful language. Raw portrayal of poverty and immigrants in the 1920-40s