Life and Death in the Charity Ward
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Life and Death in the Charity Ward
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Narrated by:
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Will Patton
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By:
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Charles Bukowski
About this listen
A short story from The Most Beautiful Woman in Town & Other Stories
"In 1955, at the age of 35, Bukowski was rushed to the charity ward of the Los Angeles County hospital, hemorrhaging at the bright red climax to a 10-year drinking bout. He was 'dying, hemorrhaging out of my mouth and ass continually...all that cheap wine and hard living coming through and out - fountains of blood.' Bukowski's experience in the cold-hearted, bureaucratic charity ward, the dumping ground for the Underground, would inexorably begin the alteration of his life's path, if indeed it can be said that he was following a well-charted path to begin with." (Pop Matters)
Upon his survival and recovery, Bukowski began a writing career that would change American poetry and prose as we know it. This is the story of the moment when his life hung by a thread, but spun something else quite unexpected.
OBIE winner Will Patton (Remember the Titans, The Good Wife, Armageddon) recreates Bukowski in his visceral prime, along with every eye-popping character in his life, each adversary, lover, and stranger in a lost city.
©1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1983 Charles Bukowski (P)2017 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
"The dull ones would never understand Cass. To the men she was simply a sex machine and they didn't care whether she was crazy or not." Bukowski's alter ego finds himself in a slow dance with the most beautiful girl in town, who also happens to be its saddest; a tale of loss and what might have been.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Allright story
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 253
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 226
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Opening with the exotic Lady Death entering the gumshoe-writer's seedy office in pursuit of a writer named Celine, this novel demonstrates Bukowski's own brand of humour and realism, opening up a landscape of seamy Los Angeles.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Bukowskis worst.......still pretty good
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On Drinking
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- Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 142
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 120
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 119
Charles Bukowski turns to the bottle in this revelatory collection of poetry and prose that includes some of the writer’s best and most lasting work. A self-proclaimed “dirty old man”, Bukowski used alcohol as muse and as fuel, a conflicted relationship responsible for some of his darkest moments, as well as some of his most joyful and inspired. In On Drinking, Bukowski expert Abel Debritto has collected the writer’s most profound, funny, and memorable work on his ups and downs with the hard stuff.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Don't read this sober
- By Lowball on 03-02-19
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 21
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 21
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Bukowski goes off the rails as the best man at a wealthy Hollywood "zen wedding" with his singular viewpoint and sharp insights. He's the only one to bring a gift, and the only one to demand the Zen Master's ears in return. "The rich understand; they just don't do anything about it."
-
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-
Hilariously Cynical and Profane
- By Tim on 04-02-24
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Kid Stardust on the Porterhouse
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- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 18
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 14
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Story5 out of 5 stars 14
"...I managed to open the door and get up inside the cab. It had a soft leather seat and the seat felt so good that I knew if I didn't fight it I would soon be asleep." A brutal personal treatise on the need for work, even the most menial - and the need for dignity.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
All about jobs that make you wish you were dead.
- By Roderick Molasar on 01-27-23
By: Charles Bukowski
-
A .45 to Pay the Rent
- By: Charles Bukowski
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 22
Buk's vignette, based on conversations between a drug dealer and his young daughter, follows unquestionable childhood logic about family, love, and making ends meet on the other side of the law.
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Will Patton takes Bukowski to tbe next level.
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By: Charles Bukowski
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The Most Beautiful Woman in Town
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- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
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-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Allright story
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By: Charles Bukowski
-
Pulp
- By: Charles Bukowski
- Narrated by: Christian Baskous
- Length: 3 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 253
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 226
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 224
Opening with the exotic Lady Death entering the gumshoe-writer's seedy office in pursuit of a writer named Celine, this novel demonstrates Bukowski's own brand of humour and realism, opening up a landscape of seamy Los Angeles.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Bukowskis worst.......still pretty good
- By GarageGator561 on 10-29-13
By: Charles Bukowski
-
On Drinking
- By: Charles Bukowski
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 142
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 120
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 119
Charles Bukowski turns to the bottle in this revelatory collection of poetry and prose that includes some of the writer’s best and most lasting work. A self-proclaimed “dirty old man”, Bukowski used alcohol as muse and as fuel, a conflicted relationship responsible for some of his darkest moments, as well as some of his most joyful and inspired. In On Drinking, Bukowski expert Abel Debritto has collected the writer’s most profound, funny, and memorable work on his ups and downs with the hard stuff.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Don't read this sober
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South of No North
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- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 120
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 98
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 97
South of No North is a collection of short stories written by Charles Bukowski that explore loneliness and struggles on the fringes of society.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Short Story Paradise
- By Dan_Man on 06-04-18
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More Notes of a Dirty Old Man
- The Uncollected Columns
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- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 73
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 67
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Story5 out of 5 stars 67
Filled with his usual obsessions - sex, booze, gambling - More features Bukowski's offbeat insights into politics and literature, his tortured, violent relationships with women, and his lurid escapades on the poetry reading circuit. Highlighting his versatility, the book ranges from thinly-veiled autobiography to purely fictional tales of dysfunctional suburbanites, disgraced politicians, and down-and-out sports promoters - climaxing with a long, hilarious adventure among French filmmakers.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Can't get enough.
- By . on 02-22-21
By: Charles Bukowski, and others
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Hollywood
- By: Charles Bukowski
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- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 372
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 330
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 325
Bukowski's alter ego, Henry Chinaski, returns, revelling in his eternal penchant for booze, women, and horse-racing as he makes the precarious journey from poet to screenwriter. Based on Bukowski's experiences when working on the film Barfly, the absurdity and egotism of the film industry are laid bare in this deadpan, touching, and funny glimpse into the endless negotiations and back-stabbings of la-la land. Hollywood is an irreverent jaunt that serves up the beating heart of Hollywood with razor-sharp humour.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Christian Baskous channels Butkowski.....
- By robert on 03-05-18
By: Charles Bukowski
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Hot Water Music
- By: Charles Bukowski
- Narrated by: Christian Baskous
- Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 149
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 134
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 134
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.
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5 out of 5 stars
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If you like Bukowski...
- By Amazon Customer on 09-08-19
By: Charles Bukowski
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Women
- A Novel
- By: Charles Bukowski
- Narrated by: Christian Baskous
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 909
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 796
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Story4 out of 5 stars 793
Low-life writer and unrepentant alcoholic Henry Chinaski was born to survive. After decades of slacking off at low-paying dead-end jobs, blowing his cash on booze and women, and scrimping by in flea-bitten apartments, Chinaski sees his poetic star rising at last. Now, at 50, he is reveling in his sudden rock-star life, running three hundred hangovers a year, and maintaining a sex life that would cripple Casanova.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Don't start your Bukowski journey here
- By Lucca ate your Lunch! on 03-19-14
By: Charles Bukowski
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On Cats
- By: Charles Bukowski
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 1 hr and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 77
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 64
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 64
On Cats offers Bukowski's musings on these beloved animals and their toughness and resiliency. He honors them as fighters, hunters, survivors who command awe and respect as they grip tightly on to the world around them: "A cat is only ITSELF, representative of the strong forces of life that won't let go."
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5 out of 5 stars
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In the now
- By Sha Osborne on 01-23-21
By: Charles Bukowski
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Factotum
- By: Charles Bukowski
- Narrated by: Christian Baskous
- Length: 5 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 795
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 681
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 681
One of Charles Bukowski's best, this beer-soaked, deliciously degenerate novel follows the wanderings of aspiring writer Henry Chinaski across World War II-era America. Deferred from military service, Chinaski travels from city to city, moving listlessly from one odd job to another, always needing money but never badly enough to keep a job. His day-to-day existence spirals into an endless litany of pathetic whores, sordid rooms, dreary embraces, and drunken brawls, as he makes his bitter, brilliant way from one drink to the next.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Enjoyable
- By Lucca ate your Lunch! on 12-26-13
By: Charles Bukowski
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Ham on Rye
- A Novel
- By: Charles Bukowski
- Narrated by: Christian Baskous
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,521
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,224
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,215
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.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Men's version of Virginia Woolf
- By Lucca ate your Lunch! on 12-09-13
By: Charles Bukowski
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Post Office
- A Novel
- By: Charles Bukowski
- Narrated by: Christian Baskous
- Length: 4 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,605
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,411
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,406
"It began as a mistake." By middle age, Henry Chinaski has lost more than 12 years of his life to the U.S. Postal Service. In a world where his three true, bitter pleasures are women, booze, and racetrack betting, he somehow drags his hangover out of bed every dawn to lug waterlogged mailbags up mud-soaked mountains, outsmart vicious guard dogs, and pray to survive the day-to-day trials of sadistic bosses and certifiable coworkers.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Not his best, but still Bukowski
- By ibillinsly@gmail on 02-05-18
By: Charles Bukowski
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Unmasked
- My Life Solving America's Cold Cases
- By: Paul Holes, Robin Gaby Fisher
- Narrated by: Paul Holes
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,053
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,769
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Story5 out of 5 stars 2,767
I order another bourbon, neat. This is the drink that will flip the switch. I don’t even know how I got here, to this place, to this point. Something is happening to me lately. I’m drinking too much. My sheets are soaking wet when I wake up from nightmares of decaying corpses. I order another drink and swig it, trying to forget about the latest case I can’t shake. Crime solving for me is more complex than the challenge of the hunt, or the process of piecing together a scientific puzzle. The thought of good people suffering drives me to the point of obsession.
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2 out of 5 stars
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I gave it the old college try
- By Hobbes on 05-06-22
By: Paul Holes, and others
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Charles Bukowski
- Locked in the Arms of a Crazy Life
- By: Howard Sounes
- Narrated by: Howard Sounes
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 67
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 62
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 62
The American writer Charles Bukowski (1920-94) developed a cult following for his simple and vivid poems, stories and novels based on his experiences as a hard-drinking postal worker in Los Angeles. His classic books include Post Office, Women and Love Is a Dog from Hell. In this engrossing biography, studded with excerpts from Bukowski's writing, Howard Sounes tells the true story of Bukowski's life in the same punchy style as his subject.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great biography
- By Nazariy Telyuk on 01-29-20
By: Howard Sounes
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The Proud Highway
- Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967 (The Gonzo Letters, Book 1)
- By: Hunter S. Thompson
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 27 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 152
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 130
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 131
Here is the private and most intimate correspondence of one of America's most influential and incisive journalists - Hunter S.Thompson. In letters to a who's who of luminaries, from Norman Mailer toCharles Kuralt, Tom Wolfe to Lyndon Johnson, William Styron to Joan Baez - not to mention his mother, the NRA, and a chain of newspaper editors - Thompson vividly catches the tenor of the times in 1960s America and channels it all through hisown razor-sharp perspective.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Biography
- By GanjaPlanta on 11-14-14
The performance is awesome. The reader can really impersonate the various characters in the book present
The fucked-up-ness of low class existence
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