Factotum by Charles Bukowski (2009-02-05)

Aspiring writer and professional drunkard Henry Chinaski (Read: Charles Bukowski) decides he has "too many friends in Los Angeles ... hindering my career," so he goes on the road like an inebriated, heterosexual Jack Kerouac in search of someplace he can "concentrate unmolested." Every city is the same, or rather Henry doesn't change: He finds the quickest route to skid row, finds a cheap room and a menial, miserable job for enough money to maintain his buzz, then sits at his window at night, drinking and writing and occasionally contemplating suicide before moving on to the next flop. He tries sleeping in the park in El Paso, but the sailors wrestling the alligators keep him up. Longtime El Pasoans will recognize that's not just a case of the DT's. In a bar (natch), he hooks up with Laura, who has a sugar daddy, a one-armed millionaire who takes care of her and two other women. Chinaski moves in with this impromptu family, a kept man among kept women. It's the standard Bukowski novel: You can expect lots of drinking, brawling, vomiting, gambling, skidmarks, hilariously repulsive sex acts, dead end employment, cockroaches, crabs, DIY literature, etc. etc. "Hell boils with laughter." Ladies, you might wanna skip this one, you don't come off well.

Charles Bukowski, like Henry Miller, can be credited with doing away with the picturesque myth of the starving artist. Factotum, though it may be a physically thin book, is heavy, soaked and dripping with lyrical depictions of gritty realism and coldly honest truth, which may be something about how being unemployed and poor really, really sucks.

Factotum, Bukowski's second novel, reads less like a novel than of a series of mostly short episodes that make up the life of Henry Chinaski, Bukowski's protagonist and alter-ego. Nevertheless, this is what it's pretty much about: Chinaski, circa 1944, has been rejected from the World War II draft and, unable to make something of his life by fighting, spends his time drinking, wandering whichever town he's in, having sex with a barfly here or there, doing a little writing, looking for work, getting jobs and (subsequently) losing jobs. He isn't interested in actually working at all and wants to be able to support himself by writing. This is all pretty autobiographical, as Bukowski went through the same stuff. Chinaski's inability or unwillingness to get through the day without a drink or twelve, plus his ambition to keep writing for a living as his priority, plus (again) his total antagonism toward physical labor, keeps him perpetually unemployed for much of the story. Every now and then he gets a job and makes enough money to get by.

What seems to get the story rolling a little more is his meeting different women here and there, particularly Jan, a girl with some of the same problems as himself (and for whom he seems to show genuine affection), and Laura, a gold-digger who introduces Chinaski to her rich sort-of boyfriend. Much (if not most) of Bukowski's writing is autobiographical and as I read this book I wondered if all of these characters were based on real people, if the conversations really took place, if everything Chinaski does in the novel is/was based on something Bukowski did in real life; if they were true, I'd wonder about those people, not out of shock, but out of something almost like concern or care. I don't know. Bukowski really makes these characters come alive, despite some of the dialogue being a little sparse in places. You still seem to get a feel for them, even when they're particularly horrible to one another.

That brings up something else: part of the whole rejection-of-the-starving-artist-myth-as-picturesque-thing means having to get pretty down and dirty. Factotum, like a lot of Bukowski's stuff, is grim as hell. Most of the encounters are things I'd never wish on anyone. The book can get seriously depressing and I don't recommend this book if you've been saddened by anything in your recent lifetime or are taking medication or drinking a lot.

Then again, Bukowski really succeeds in making you care about the characters once you've been around them long enough. You get the feeling that, even when Chinaski and Jan argue over this or that, they end up spending enough time together that they really do actually genuinely seriously care deeply about each other. And they KNOW it and they WANT it. They're like an old married couple, sort of, in they way they've gotten to know each other so well over time that they almost wouldn't know what to do if one of them left forever. It's sad in a way. Actually, it's sad in several ways.

That said, it's definitely worth your time to read Factotum. Some say Post Office is Bukowski's best novel, but I don't know, I think I like this one a little more. It's unforgiving and yet it's somehow redemptive, to get so real and honest and into places you've never been before, and then suddenly you come out on the other side and see that you've somehow made it. This book does that to you.

The temptation when reading any of Bukowski's stuff is to look for heavy-duty meaning in it. So the advertizing blurb for the screen version of Factotum, for example, describes the film as "the story of a man living on the edge, of a writer who is willing to risk everything to make sure that his life is his poetry" (Ah, Hollywood!).* Or a reader disenchanted with the ratrace might see the novel as an indictment of cultural alienation. And then there's the old standby: Bukowski's novels are absurdist dramas that underscore the deep meaninglessness of life.

All of these are interesting and maybe even (for all I know) valuable interpretations. But it's pretty clear that Bukowski isn't concerned about such things. He wants to provide worded snapshots that give viewers glimpses into his life. The anti-hero of this novel (as of his other novels), Henry Chinaski, roams from job to job with the same lack of direction and abruptness that pre-fame Bukowski (except for his ten-year stint in the post office) did, all the time (again, like Bukowski) belting down too much rotgut wine, freeloading on too many women, and furiously writing between benders and hangovers.

The value of Bukowski's snapshots is their incredible, sometimes off-putting honesty. There's absolutely no romanticization in his depiction of Henry's picaresque anti-adventures. Within just a few pages, you can unpleasantly smell the sourness of Henry's grimy boarding rooms and his cheap booze. Bukowski gives us nothing about him to admire, or even to pity. He simply is who he is, and Bukowski seems to want us to take him as such. At times Bukowski suggests disdain for the bosses who fire Henry, or the poor 9-to-5 stiffs who live most of their adult lives at jobs they hate. But when it comes to writing about Henry, Bukowski gives nothing away, neither approval or disapproval. And this makes Henry, for all his distastefulness, utterly, uncomfortably, real.

When you think about it, this is a lot better than some deep philosophical message. Philosophical messages are a dime-a-dozen. Fiction with the immediate clarity of a photo album is rare.
________
* This despite Bukowski's repeated repudiation of the starving artist myth.

In FACTOTUM, Charles Bukowski follows his alter-ego Hank Chinaski through a sequence of 19 menial jobs. For each, Buk shows how Hank gets, experiences, and then loses a job, while the core activity in his life is really boozing.

Take, by the way, this description of FACTOTUM. Then, replace the subject of menial jobs with the subject of strangely worshipful women. What you get is a decent description of WOMEN, Buk's hilarious novel about the mature and successful Chinaski. For this reader, Bukowski's ability to write in such parallel structures is almost eerie.

In FACTOTUM, Bukowski presents the young Chinaski, who is just beginning to define himself as a writer and to gain some recognition for his work. In contrast, Chinaski is an established poet in WOMEN and pursued, to his incredulous delight, by attractive but crazy women, who feed his verse. While WOMEN is hilarious, the humor--in my opinion--isn't really there in FACTOTUM. Instead, this novel is a story about sly but self-destructive integrity, with the young Chinaski willing to live a very marginal existence, since this is the life that makes sense to him. I don't think Bukowski is writing with a message. Even so, young Hank is "just saying no" to work until he achieves the work that he wants.

Once again, Bukowski uses a very clear and direct style in this novel. In fact, I don't remember a single striking metaphor or simile in FACTOTUM. In a way, his writing is the opposite of his poetry (I'm reading THE ROOMING HOUSE MADRIGALS), with Bukowski seldom, if ever, pulling a wry or melancholy or thoughtful subtext out a short poetic narrative. Instead, the style in FACTOTUM is straightforward while the voice is consistently that of an alienated boozer who has "realized everything is a hoax" (page 61).

FACTOTUM is amusing but not hilarious. It is also occasionally grim, especially when Bukowski lets Hank test bottom and, oh, say, soil himself. This is an easy read and a good novel but not for the squeamish.

Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) was an underground writer of poems stories, and novels who has exerted a fascination over me for many years. He is best known for his portrayals of the shabby, dingy side of Los Angeles. His reputation has grown subsequently to his death. Many of his works originally were published by a small publishing house, Black Sparrow Press which specialized in unusual writers, A few years ago, Black Sparrow was purchased by a HarperCollins which continues to maintain Bukowski's works in print and to publish posthumous works.

Last year, an independently-produced film of "Factotum" was released starring Matt Dillion and Lili Taylor. The movie sparked substantial interest in Bukowski and in his novel. Earlier Bukowski movies include "Barfly" (1987) and the documentary "Bukowski: Born into This" (2004).

Bukowski's novels are autobiographical in character and feature an alter-ego named Henry Chinaski. Factotum (1975)was Bukowski's second novel and was written when he was already on the path to success as a writer. He had left the life he described in the book behind almost three decades earlier. As a result, the book gains a great deal by a measure of artistic distance.

The word 'factotum" means "A person having many diverse activities or responsibilities" or "a general servant". These definitions, particularly the second, capture much of the spirit of the novel. Chinaski is a young man, down and out, who has been rejected for the draft during WW II. In short, fast-moving chapters, the novel chronicles Chinaski's search for work crossing back and forth throughout the United States.

The novel is gritty, raw and tough. Chinaski is hardly a hero as he loses one dead-end job after another and throws away the few possible opportunities that come his way. Chinaski is solitary and anti-social. He drinks heavily and plays the horses. He takes up with women and generally drops them as quickly as he meets them. He leads the life of a drifter, loner, and outsider.

Without prelude or introduction, the book opens as Chinaski arrives "in New Orleans in the rain at 5"o'clock in the morning" and is quickly accosted by "a high yellow sitting on the porch steps swinging her legs". He goes through a series of jobs and shabby hotels before embarking on a journey that takes him to Texas, Los Angeles, his hometown, New York City, Philadelphia, St Louis and, finally back to Los Angeles. At the end, we see Chinaski, frustrated and angry fantasizing over a dancer in a burlesque house.

Chinaski loses a litany of jobs, including working as a janitor, window washer, shipping clerk, baker's helper, assistant in a dog buscuit factory, and similar ventures. He either quits, or, more often, is fired for absenteeism, attitude, fighting, and drinking. He has affairs with a variety of women, the most prominent of whom in this book is Jan, with whom he has an on again off again relationship punctuated by alcohol, horseracing, fighting, and Jan's affairs with other men.

Chinaski is an aspiring writer, when he is not drinking or otherwise occupied, and the book includes a scene in which a short story is accepted for publication. Writing and reflection are used, as is so often the case, as a way to understand and distance oneself from a shabby, difficult life. There are many lively, funny scenes in Factotum. Chinaski does not ask for sympathy and gives none. The story is toughly and unapologetically told. The book gives the impression of an individual deeply down on himself and on others who sees himself as fighting and carrying on simply to live his life for what it is.

Bukowski is a vulgar, raw author who will not appeal to everyone. But I continue to be taken with him and with Factotum. The book exerts a pull that I can't shake off.

Robin Friedman

Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) was an underground writer of poems stories, and novels who has exerted a fascination over me for many years. He is best known for his portrayals of the shabby, dingy side of Los Angeles. His reputation has grown subsequently to his death. Many of his works originally were published by a small publishing house, Black Sparrow Press which specialized in unusual writers, A few years ago, Black Sparrow was purchased by a HarperCollins which continues to maintain Bukowski's works in print and to publish posthumous works.

Last year, an independently-produced film of "Factotum" was released starring Matt Dillion and Lili Taylor. The movie sparked substantial interest in Bukowski and in his novel. Earlier Bukowski movies include "Barfly" (1987) and the documentary "Bukowski: Born into This" (2004).

Bukowski's novels are autobiographical in character and feature an alter-ego named Henry Chinaski. Factotum (1975)was Bukowski's second novel and was written when he was already on the path to success as a writer. He had left the life he described in the book behind almost three decades earlier. As a result, the book gains a great deal by a measure of artistic distance.

The word 'factotum" means "A person having many diverse activities or responsibilities" or "a general servant". These definitions, particularly the second, capture much of the spirit of the novel. Chinaski is a young man, down and out, who has been rejected for the draft during WW II. In short, fast-moving chapters, the novel chronicles Chinaski's search for work crossing back and forth throughout the United States.

The novel is gritty, raw and tough. Chinaski is hardly a hero as he loses one dead-end job after another and throws away the few possible opportunities that come his way. Chinaski is solitary and anti-social. He drinks heavily and plays the horses. He takes up with women and generally drops them as quickly as he meets them. He leads the life of a drifter, loner, and outsider.

Without prelude or introduction, the book opens as Chinaski arrives "in New Orleans in the rain at 5"o'clock in the morning" and is quickly accosted by "a high yellow sitting on the porch steps swinging her legs". He goes through a series of jobs and shabby hotels before embarking on a journey that takes him to Texas, Los Angeles, his hometown, New York City, Philadelphia, St Louis and, finally back to Los Angeles. At the end, we see Chinaski, frustrated and angry fantasizing over a dancer in a burlesque house.

Chinaski loses a litany of jobs, including working as a janitor, window washer, shipping clerk, baker's helper, assistant in a dog buscuit factory, and similar ventures. He either quits, or, more often, is fired for absenteeism, attitude, fighting, and drinking. He has affairs with a variety of women, the most prominent of whom in this book is Jan, with whom he has an on again off again relationship punctuated by alcohol, horseracing, fighting, and Jan's affairs with other men.

Chinaski is an aspiring writer, when he is not drinking or otherwise occupied, and the book includes a scene in which a short story is accepted for publication. Writing and reflection are used, as is so often the case, as a way to understand and distance oneself from a shabby, difficult life. There are many lively, funny scenes in Factotum. Chinaski does not ask for sympathy and gives none. The story is toughly and unapologetically told. The book gives the impression of an individual deeply down on himself and on others who sees himself as fighting and carrying on simply to live his life for what it is.

Bukowski is a vulgar, raw author who will not appeal to everyone. But I continue to be taken with him and with Factotum. The book exerts a pull that I can't shake off.

Robin Friedman

Factotum by Charles Bukowski is not so much a conventional novel as it is a collection of vignettes. It chronicles the life of Henry Chinaski, author Bukowski's alter ego, as he drifts from job to job in the America of the 1940's. While his contemporaries are overseas fighting the Germans and the Japanese, Henry remains stateside with a 4F draft classification given him because of unspecified mental health issues. Henry is not proud of his draft status nor is he ashamed. To him it is simply another reflection of who he is. And that attitude is emblematic of the unapologetic tone that characterizes this unusual book from beginning to end.

Though most of the vignettes transpire in Los Angeles, Chinaski's experiences in several other American cities, including but by no means limited to New York, New Orleans and Miami, are also included. Just as fish must swim and birds must fly, Henry Chinaski has to do the things he has to do. What are these mandatory activities? Quite frankly they are drinking, shacking up with various women and writing...in roughly that order. The countless menial jobs he takes and rapidly loses are of no interest to him whatsoever. He views each of them as a diabolically cruel imposition on his time.

Factotum is a fast, easy read containing numerous interesting scenarios, some funny, some tragic, almost all profane. At no time does the author offer up any apologies for his alter ego's lifestyle and therein lies the book's major strength.

The recently released Matt Dillon movie, though set in the present day, is very true to the novel's unflinching tone.

This is perhaps Bukowskis best book, an antiKeroucian look at an unsettled lifestyle and the stark reality that no matter where you go the same problems and same miserys follow you.However in saying that Bukowski avoids slipping into serious self pity and concentrates on giving us a realistic picture at life at the bottom of the ladder sprinkled with self mocking and an unwavering belief of drunken self gratification. Henry Chinski is an alien. His parents of old fashioned Germain stock, think hes a degenarate, women find him an ugly soul yet are fascinated by his deep rooted arrogence and his fellow workers find him a man to challenge hate and follow in equal measures. What Bukowski brings to literature is a brutal and candid honasty. He glamerises nothing yet through his brutal poetrayal of life, under all the muck, cheating and endless boreing hours we find out what makes people tick. The little things, the querks that make life bareable, the self made ideals that people find to have the strengh to carry on (false or not). Bukowski's message basically comes to that its all nonscience anyway. Man has created a society that snuffs out thought, produces mechanical animals and throws them on the scrap heap.The worst drunk is no worse thwn the most successful buinessman. His is a world of no Gods, no rewards and no final answers. So why the hell read such depressing idealogy. Basically why not. Bukowski puts himself before us and thats it. His methods are not to be copied, he has no goals. All he has is a realisation that he can't do any better no matter what he does. So with a sarcastic self paroding swish he stumbles through our minds laughing at the people who dont get the joke. His style is simple and flowing. His manner is is aimless and no book ever made such an impression on seventeen year old reader. Life is not what you are told it is ,its an appreciation society for whoever wants no answers. A masterpiece.

When it comes to putting down on paper how it feels to be a loner, and yet not alone.How it feels to be on the brink of madness from the mundaneness of life . Well then nobody does it quite like Bukowski. The beauty of his work is that you are unsure where the boundaries between fiction and fact are. Sure we know that his main character 'Henry Chinaski' is just his own alias. But Bukowski when asked whether his work is completely autobiographical would say ' No, I write fiction . Which is reality improved upon.
I can assure the first time reader , of Bukowski's work that you are in for a treat (as well as a few shocks). Bukowski lived life on his terms , and you may not like the moral universe he created for himself , but he didn't take the easy route , and you got to respect that.
So go ahead buy it. But watch out. For a drunken loser who liked nothing more than to nurse a bottle of the ole Grape , the man was prolific. And once you read a little Bukowski you just gotta have some more.
P.S. Oh by the way , it would have been nice for Charles to have written his life life in clearly defined episodes but unfortunately (probably on purpose) he did not .So if you are not careful you will read the story of an old lecher before you read about the boy. Try Ham and Rye (Henry Chinaski's early years), that starts the mayhem that was Bukowski's life.

I have mixed feelings about this author. On one hand, I am genuinely mad that none of my friends ever told me about Bukowski or his alter-ego Chinaski. I love this guy and am thrilled to learn he runs throughout most of Bukowski's novels. One of my favorite lines of prose from him was, "Frankly, I was horrified by life, at what a man had to do simply in order to eat, sleep, and keep himself clothed." The other side of me is glad that no one turned me on to Bukowski before now so I have at least one good author left to explore. Though I'm sure there are more out there left to discover.

Somehow I had never heard of bukowski and, when one of my FB friends had put a notice that they finished it, I thought it was a mystery book. Nope!

What drew me in were the very short chapters. His style reminds one of Hemingway and Hammett. You don't get 3 pages of flowery description and allegory here!

I stuck with it and finished it. Overall, I enjoyed it and will try another.

Factotum (1975), by Charles Bukowski (1920-1994)

The novel was author Bukowski's second, and it centers on the degenerate life of Hank Chinaski, Bukowski's alter-ego. The story traces Hank as he consumes copious amounts of alcohol, interviews and changes jobs with regularity, either through quitting or being fired--I lost count of how many--and screws women, most of whom are alcoholic whores. A stark review might be: Having to work sucks but it finances the drinking; and women are necessary for sexual gratification.

This is not a pleasant book. It describes skid row life around World War II in places like Los Angeles, St. Louis, New Orleans, and Miami as failed writer Hank Chinaski moves from job to job and rented room to rented room, mostly drunk or with a hangover--with classical music in the background. What is pleasurable about the book isn't the story; it's Bukowski's ability to develop the characters and his writing style. The fact that I didn't like Chinaski--but wished he'd straighten out so I could like him--suggests that the author knew how to paint him. Examples:

"I got into bed, opened the bottle, worked the pillow into a hard knot behind my back, took a deep breath, and sat in the dark looking out the window. It was the first time I had been alone for five days. I was a man who thrived on solitude; without it I was like another man without food or water. Each day without solitude weakened me. I took no pride in my solitude; but I was dependent on it. The Darkness of the room was like sunlight to me. I took a drink of wine."

"That was all a man needed: hope. It was the lack of hope that discouraged a man. I remembered my New Orleans days, living on two five-cent candy bars a day for weeks at a time in order to have leisure to write. But starvation, unfortunately, didn't improve art. It only hindered it. A man's soul was rooted in his stomach. A man could write much better after eating a porterhouse steak and drinking a pint of whisky than he could ever write after eating a nickel candy bar. The myth of the starving artist is a hoax. Once you realized that everything was a hoax you got wise and began to bleed and burn your fellow man...."

"When I got back to Los angeles I found a cheap hotel...and I stayed in bed and drank. I drank for some time, three or four days. I couldn't get myself to read the want ads. The thought of sitting in front of a man behind a desk and telling him that I wanted a job, that I was qualified for a job, was too much for me. Frankly, I was horrified by life, at what a man had to do simply in order to eat, sleep, and keep himself clothed. So I stayed in bed and drank. When you drank the world was still out there, but for the moment it didn't have you by the throat."

A conversation with his live-in girlfriend:

Jan: "We sat here all day and evening yesterday. You told me about your parents. Your parents hated you. Right?"

Hank: "Right."

Jan: "So now you're a little crazy. No love. Everybody needs love. It's warped you."

Hank: "People don't need love. What they need is success in one form or another. It can be love but it needn't be."

Jan: "The Bible says, `Love thy neighbor.'"

Hank: "That could mean to leave him alone...."

At a job:

"I wasn't very good. My idea was to wander about doing nothing, always avoiding the boss, and avoiding the stoolies who might report to the boss. I wasn't all that clever. It was more instinct than anything else. I always started a job with the feeling that I'd soon quit or be fired, and this gave me a relaxed manner that was mistaken for intelligence or some secret power."

Later, at another job:

"...There were always men looking for jobs in America. There were always all these usable bodies. And I wanted to be a writer. Not everybody thought they could be a dentist or an automobile mechanic but everybody knew they could be a writer....But most men, fortunately aren't writers, or even cab drivers, and some men--many men--unfortunately aren't anything."

And my favorite line: "Every man is a poet."

I liked this book for the reasons expressed, but I must admit I wouldn't want a steady diet of Bukowski. I will read more of his work--in occasional sprinkles, over time.

For reference, a factotum is a handyman, a jack of all trades; assistant, man Friday, gal/girl Friday; gofer; or as Wikipedia says, "...a general servant or a person having many diverse activities or responsibilities. The word derives from the Latin command (imperative construction) fac totum (`do/make everything')."

World War II, America and Henry Chinaski. This is Factotum. Charles Bukowski brings his alter ego, Henry Chinaski, back to life in this phenomenal work and with it, he puts himself and society on trial.
A lot, perhaps too much, has been said about Bukowski and his work. While I truly enjoy his short stories the most, Factotum, along with post Office, are among my favorite books written by American authors. Bukowski's writing is simple and straight-to-the-point, and Factotum is no exception. Filled with short, sometimes paragraph-like chapters, the writing flows smoothly, gently sneaking under your skin, and before you know it you start to care and you start to see the world through Chinaski's eyes. A world, which, for the most part, has not improved over the past sixty years. Perhaps his truths are universal. One thing hit me in particular: Chinaski goes to the American Cancer Society, only to be given an appointment three weeks later. He mentions that all his life he has been told to catch cancer early, but when it comes to it, he is told to wait three weeks. Last year I went through pretty much the same thing, only to have to wait for an appointment for over four months. Fortunately, it was not cancer, but if it was...what is the point.
Anyway, back to Factotum. Chinaski, being a "4-F" as he states, was exempt from the draft which left him behind, free to look for a job and settle down. Only the restless soul is incapable of settling down. A struggling writer, (writing several short stories by hand each week, which shows great inspiration and capability) he does not have much else to live for. Submerged in booze, smoking, and having sex, he kills time between odd jobs, while waiting to be discovered. However, this is not the point of the story. The story itself is the loose journal of a man struggling with himself and the changes our society was undergoing at that time. Chinaski was not a man who knew what he wanted. As long as his basic needs were met, (Booze, cigarettes, sex, and the occasional meal) he was happy -- relatively happy, or rather unconcerned with the world. He mentions the war in the terms of there being less people applying for the jobs, yet it does not make the jobs easier to get. He chooses jobs which require minimum effort, be it physical (when possible) or mental (always), because he cannot be bothered. Considering his arrest record, he knows he cannot get a "good" job, for they require a background check, so he settles for the other jobs -- shipping clerk, janitor, warehouseman, factotum.... He drinks during the day, he writes at night, he fights at bars, and he drinks more. When he has money, he buys a good whiskey; when he doesn't, he settles for a rotgut wine. He treats women the same way he treats his bottle -- as long as he can get it, it's good. His women, with the exception of a few random "quickies", are not much different than him, only less inspired. Chinaski lives this way because he chooses to, because he cannot be bothered. And why should he.
How many of us wasted years and perhaps decades chasing after something that seemed important to us, yet it really wasn't? How many of us do something we hate or dislike only for the sake of "appearances"? We are all guilty of that. As a society, we look down on the bum standing at a corner, holding a fifth wrapped in a paper bag; we look down on the men who move from place to place, unable to hold jobs, unable to start a family, the men who do inferior work. How many of us ever stopped to think why...to see if they maybe chose to do that, if they have a reason. Chinaski had two years of college, yet he worked as a janitor. It was not from laziness, it was a conscious choice. He did not have faith in the system, he did not want to be part of the system; he simply wanted means of making some money to fulfill his needs. Factotum is a portrait of a broken society, of an era of broken dreams. Factotum is not the "great American novel", but it is a novel full of timeless truth, full of humanity. Chinaski may be dirty and drunk, but he does what he wants, he pursues his dream. He is not trying to change the world, and he does not want the world to change him. Where Kerouac goes on and on for pages about "beauty", Bukowski delivers a short sentence, but always hitting the nail straight on its head, keeping it simple, raw and gritty -- sometimes poetic, sometimes disgusting -- but that is what life is after all.

Bukowski followed the coming of age of Henry Chinaski covered in Ham On Rye with this rather sordid look at his young adulthood. Chinaski leaves home in LA and wanders across WWII era America drifting from meaningless job to meaningless job and flop house to flop house. There's a deadpan delivery as he relates his tale of drifting, drinking, whoring and losing job after job without seeming to care that gives the story an air of desperation and acceptance of a downward trajectory that seems inevitable to him.
Despite what sounds like a depressing story, reading factotum is like witnessing a train wreck. You can't look away even as you're shocked by what you see. Credit that to Bukowsi's sharp prose style and acerbic wit. I also enjoyed the portrayal of an already seedy downtown Los Angeles of the 40's.

World War II, America and Henry Chinaski. This is Factotum. Charles Bukowski brings his alter ego, Henry Chinaski, back to life in this phenomenal work and with it, he puts himself and society on trial.
A lot, perhaps too much, has been said about Bukowski and his work. While I truly enjoy his short stories the most, Factotum, along with post Office, are among my favorite books written by American authors. Bukowski's writing is simple and straight-to-the-point, and Factotum is no exception. Filled with short, sometimes paragraph-like chapters, the writing flows smoothly, gently sneaking under your skin, and before you know it you start to care and you start to see the world through Chinaski's eyes. A world, which, for the most part, has not improved over the past sixty years. Perhaps his truths are universal. One thing hit me in particular: Chinaski goes to the American Cancer Society, only to be given an appointment three weeks later. He mentions that all his life he has been told to catch cancer early, but when it comes to it, he is told to wait three weeks. Last year I went through pretty much the same thing, only to have to wait for an appointment for over four months. Fortunately, it was not cancer, but if it was...what is the point.
Anyway, back to Factotum. Chinaski, being a "4-F" as he states, was exempt from the draft which left him behind, free to look for a job and settle down. Only the restless soul is incapable of settling down. A struggling writer, (writing several short stories by hand each week, which shows great inspiration and capability) he does not have much else to live for. Submerged in booze, smoking, and having sex, he kills time between odd jobs, while waiting to be discovered. However, this is not the point of the story. The story itself is the loose journal of a man struggling with himself and the changes our society was undergoing at that time. Chinaski was not a man who knew what he wanted. As long as his basic needs were met, (Booze, cigarettes, sex, and the occasional meal) he was happy -- relatively happy, or rather unconcerned with the world. He mentions the war in the terms of there being less people applying for the jobs, yet it does not make the jobs easier to get. He chooses jobs which require minimum effort, be it physical (when possible) or mental (always), because he cannot be bothered. Considering his arrest record, he knows he cannot get a "good" job, for they require a background check, so he settles for the other jobs -- shipping clerk, janitor, warehouseman, factotum.... He drinks during the day, he writes at night, he fights at bars, and he drinks more. When he has money, he buys a good whiskey; when he doesn't, he settles for a rotgut wine. He treats women the same way he treats his bottle -- as long as he can get it, it's good. His women, with the exception of a few random "quickies", are not much different than him, only less inspired. Chinaski lives this way because he chooses to, because he cannot be bothered. And why should he.
How many of us wasted years and perhaps decades chasing after something that seemed important to us, yet it really wasn't? How many of us do something we hate or dislike only for the sake of "appearances"? We are all guilty of that. As a society, we look down on the bum standing at a corner, holding a fifth wrapped in a paper bag; we look down on the men who move from place to place, unable to hold jobs, unable to start a family, the men who do inferior work. How many of us ever stopped to think why...to see if they maybe chose to do that, if they have a reason. Chinaski had two years of college, yet he worked as a janitor. It was not from laziness, it was a conscious choice. He did not have faith in the system, he did not want to be part of the system; he simply wanted means of making some money to fulfill his needs. Factotum is a portrait of a broken society, of an era of broken dreams. Factotum is not the "great American novel", but it is a novel full of timeless truth, full of humanity. Chinaski may be dirty and drunk, but he does what he wants, he pursues his dream. He is not trying to change the world, and he does not want the world to change him. Where Kerouac goes on and on for pages about "beauty", Bukowski delivers a short sentence, but always hitting the nail straight on its head, keeping it simple, raw and gritty -- sometimes poetic, sometimes disgusting -- but that is what life is after all.

Bukowski followed the coming of age of Henry Chinaski covered in Ham On Rye with this rather sordid look at his young adulthood. Chinaski leaves home in LA and wanders across WWII era America drifting from meaningless job to meaningless job and flop house to flop house. There's a deadpan delivery as he relates his tale of drifting, drinking, whoring and losing job after job without seeming to care that gives the story an air of desperation and acceptance of a downward trajectory that seems inevitable to him.
Despite what sounds like a depressing story, reading factotum is like witnessing a train wreck. You can't look away even as you're shocked by what you see. Credit that to Bukowsi's sharp prose style and acerbic wit. I also enjoyed the portrayal of an already seedy downtown Los Angeles of the 40's.

Bukowski's work here is effective for two reasons; the honesty and the hilarity of his voice. The bumming/drinking/gambling story wasn't new in 1975 and today even less so. But despite the eventually repetitive on-the-job and then losing-the-job musings, there is a open clarity and gasping laughter following Bukowski and his alter-ego's adventures, however small.

I think for all practical purposes, Factotum is a much more concise, effective and ultimately more entertaining work of prose than even Kerouac's "On the Road." The movie, on the other hand, is a little on the weak side.

Factotum comes in a little sparse and comes to drag in the final third, but its such a quick read, you hardly notice. The "inhuman fury" of a prostitute, wondrous pleasures of using the bathroom and quiet solitude of simply walking off the job every day are all here for you to discover. I say read it.

Chronicles Bukowski's picaresque quest to define himself--without letting the world shove its own definition of him down his throat. Reality blurs into fiction that blurs into autobiography, but never sentimentality. If I had to bet, I'd say, like everything else, it's 99.9999% true. Despite the pain, there's a lot of humor here, Rabelaisian, roaring when you least expect it out of the sad muck he finds himself mired in. I refuse to watch the movie; the actors are just too pretty. There's a reason why Buk had a wrinkle-scarred face that looked like the side of a glaciated mountain. If the director couldn't understand that much, it means he didn't get anything right.

I finished this with a friend last night. I think Bukowski needs to be read out loud to be fully enjoyed and this was an enjoyable read. The main character reminds me so much of one of my brothers that I felt at home with him right away.

Bukowski certainly falls down on a lot of fronts, but for raw stories of real life (if life on the margins), I think he gets it right. This is only my second Bukowski book, having read "women" 20 years ago, but it was fun and I will probably be picking up more.

I just finished rereading Women two days ago and rebreezed through Factotum today. Between the two it's hard to say which one I enjoy more. The one thing for certain is that Factotum is a not-so-guilty pleasure. For L7 square types like me, it's fun to careen through Bohemia atop the words of Bukowski. He may not be the world's greatest writer, but his works are consistently a good time and incredibly engaging. These joyous and tragic remembrances of his time coming up are a wonderful diversion from daily life--especially for those of us too cowardly to live in harmony with our convictions. Concerning the film adaptation, which included scenes from three short stories as well, I think Matt Dillon did an excellent job. I realize some folks didn't like him as Buk but I thought he pulled off the role exquisitely. In my view, a great book and a ton of fun.

I just finished rereading Women two days ago and rebreezed through Factotum today. Between the two it's hard to say which one I enjoy more. The one thing for certain is that Factotum is a not-so-guilty pleasure. For L7 square types like me, it's fun to careen through Bohemia atop the words of Bukowski. He may not be the world's greatest writer, but his works are consistently a good time and incredibly engaging. These joyous and tragic remembrances of his time coming up are a wonderful diversion from daily life--especially for those of us too cowardly to live in harmony with our convictions. Concerning the film adaptation, which included scenes from three short stories as well, I think Matt Dillon did an excellent job. I realize some folks didn't like him as Buk but I thought he pulled off the role exquisitely. In my view, a great book and a ton of fun.

This is pretty typical Bukowski. As with most of what he wrote its supposed to be loosely based on his real life experiences. If you can get beyond his annoying habit of trying to convince you of how tough he is and exagerrating if not out and out lying about the frequency of his sexual encounters and the quality of the women involved then its a good quick read for a laugh. The best stuff in this is his humorous accounts of working various disposable menial jobs. Bukowski is very funny, a fact which seems to get lost in the shuffle by the lame hipsters who comprise the bulk of the fans of his work.

Every employer's ultimate nightmare Bukowski, brutally and often hilariously, describes the endless dead-end jobs he held to pay for roof, food, and booze, taking care to notice the rough poetry of faceless people on the social low-end, making a case for why (as Stendhal wrote somewhere) a proper poet should be a poor poet.
In books like "Women" Bukowski often ends up rambling on forever on the same subjects, but in "Post Office" and "Factotum" he stays much more focused and economical. "Factotum" is the book that even people who can't stand Bukowski often like.

This book brings to mind Post Office though Chinaski finds himself in less stable circumstances. The title refers indirectly to a worker who has had many occupations yet is a master of none. He seems to only stay with a job for about a month or two and then moves on to another one in another city without any aim other than drinking and womanizing. The menial jobs simply fund his habits. His sour outlook on living in gentle seem to touch on the very cords of drunken and sober reality. People move along like ants at some absurd tasks and very rarely do people question why this is so. Bukowski's books are generally in the vein of Factotum yet this particular novel seems to go well after reading Post Office.

"Factotum," the novel by Charles Bukowski, describes the wanderings of aspiring writer Henry Chinaski across the United States during the World War II era. Categorized as "4-F," Chinaski doesn't serve in the military and instead wanders from city to city, from one odd job to another. Along the way Bukowski describes his run-ins with the police, his sexual adventures, and his drinking.
I found "Factotum" to be episodic and to lack the focus and impact of Bukowski's excellent novel "Post Office," also featuring Chinaski. But "Factotum" is still a good read with some really stunning passages. Bukowski seems to be deromanticizing the "myth of the starving artist," which he calls a "hoax," in this book. I only wish that "Factotum" featured more about Chinaski's vocation as a writer; I found the parts of the book that focused on his identity as a writer to be the most interesting parts.
"Factotum" is particularly interesting in its context as a novel of the World War II era which deals with the U.S. homefront, but in an entirely unromantic and detached way. Bukowski's prose is often quite vivid; one encounter with a rather scary prostitute is a particular gem of Bukowski's raw, in-your-face style. Overall, a solid work by one of America's most distinctive writers.

Most people will not be able understand Bukowski. They will read the funny stories, think he's a masochist and a drunk and leave it at that. But what can be discovered here is our generation's greatest writer. Factotum is not the best of his books if read first but is an amazing addition to understanding the development of his writing and his insights into our society. It's a part of his live that can't be missed. All of Bukowski's work is autobiographical. His alter ego is Hank Chinaski and all his books cover a period of his life. I suggest you read Post Office first, and then read Women. These are the periods when his character is fully formed and you can get completely taken by his stories and his odd live. Post Office covers the time when he works at the post office and drinks and writes all night and women covers the time when he was starting to get some publicity for his work. You'll understand these periods better later on but they are the most amusing books and a good start to get you into his writing. Then read ham on rye and follow it with Factotum. Ham on Rye tells the tale of his childhood. Its the book that opens your eyes to why he behaved/wrote the way he did and you soon start to see the tragedy of his life. You'll understand the human suffering he went through and how it enabled him to experience life differently and thus write with more honesty and insight then anyone has before. And you start to understand how human the previous books really were and he becomes a true inspiration for contemplation of our post modern existence. Then read Factotum which shows the young, still ambitious, still rejected man who still has a hint of hope. You see the Bukowski that had the freedom to roam around and had more of that young man's foolish heart. Before he was really broken and tried to live a normal life by working at the post office. And you have arrived full circle!!! I know this commentary doesn't tell you much about what you'll discover but it's better if you arrive there on your own. Once you've read a few of his books - rent the bukowski documentary! One word of caution: Reading and understanding Bukowski will change your live. Change the way you look at society and the world around you. And you'll have a blast along the way.

Charles Bukowski is the real deal. He tells it like it is for most of the 99% who were not born into wealth or who got lucky breaks because of their families 'good names' - plus he's funny and tender towards women and animals. Read him - you might learn something!

"Factotum" written by C.Bukowski is trivial literature. The books protagonist, Henry Chinaski, is an alcoholic whose addiction determines his life. To afford women, alcohol and housing he has to accept a bunch of jobs. He is moving a lot, hunting jobs. Which goes together with starting new affaires. Often the women have the same way of life like him. Classical music plays an important role in his life. It stands in contrast to his shabby everyday situation. " Suckingsounds filled the room as my radio played Mahler."(p.37). It seems as if Chinaski wants to escape from his gloomy life into a better one. " I kept handorinting shortstories by the score, got drunk, listened to Beethoven's Fifth, Brahm's Second..."(p.65). Although the style is repetitive, it is interesting, because the reader is given an insight of what problems an alcoholic has to face. It is also worth reading because it is not a typical story about the American Dream but it shows the other side, which some people would call "failure". Reading it attentive it is obvious that the protagonist is not unhappy with his situation.

Factotum was my very favorite bukowski. I ate this book up.
If you're new to Bukowski, this probably has everything you need as an introductory to his work.
If you're already a fan, read this book!

Cheers and a grin

This is the one, folks. Read this book before you shave your privates with a box cutter. The rundown: Go out, get a job, get fired, get drunk, get with the town tramp, play the horses, go out, get a job, get fired, get with the town tramp, play the horses, etc. etc. "Factotum" is lots of fun for those who get a kick out of reading about bad behavior. Softies, go read something else.

Factotum by Charles Bukowski is about Henry Chinaski who travels through the U.S. accompanied by alcohol, sex and dead-end jobs. Chinaski is an alcoholic who has no goals in life and therefore has a state of mind that can be simply described as a sad carelessness or just indifference. Chinaski loses his jobs because he drinks or does not take any responsibility. He also drifts from one relationship into another but fails to manage to maintain a stabile one due to his egoism and lack of responsibility. This non-developing way of life is well pictured by Bukowskis simple, realistic and true style of writing but it failed to grip me and would not evoke the desire to read it again.The plot is too monotonous, there is no development in the story and one could start reading right in the middle of the book and would not miss anything important. The book ends where it starts.

Factotum is Bukowski at his raw, low, hillarious best. It's a shame and a wonder that this outstanding novel isn't required reading in American Literature courses in our universities. What a great companion piece it would make to On the Road, showing as it does the darker, far more real side of life on the bum.
Bukowski was the real thing, a true original, a writer of great and compassionate voice. His work is often brutal but never less than completely, utterly human.
He was as good as Celine, Hemingway, Fante, Kerouac, Hamsun -- and even better to many, many devoted readers. Read Bukowski right now. You must.

The quality of Bukowski's poetry is questionable. His short stories are very sharp, very desperate, very amused. Tthe short stories are what Bukowski did best, while his novels are of very uneven quality.

This said, the three novels of Bukowski's trilogy (Factotum, Post Office, Women) are his best novels and factotum is the best of the three. Women was written and published in the late 1970s when Bukowski or his alter ego Henry Chinaski was already an establihsed professional writer. Post Office covers the years in which he Bukowski had a sort of regular job and regular life.

Factotum is the story of the young Bukowski, the Bukowski that was rolling from a job to another, from a town to another, from a woman to another, in an impressive collections of failures--failed jobs, failed relationships, failed everything all told with a considerable amount of irony.

It's a very interesting read, to say the least. Five stars.

This was the first book by Bukowski that I read. I thought it was great. Bukowski realy knows what pain is. The main character, Chinaski who is Bukowski's most famous character, was someone I felt true simpathy for.
This book was fast paced. I had never flown through a book so quickly before. Wonderful book.

From the first page where Hank is strolling around New Orleans, you knew you were in for one helluva ride.

Sometimes, Bukowski disguts me as a person. However, there is no denying the infinite sadness stemming from his childhood and the depths he goes to cover that sadness by his heavy drinking and wandering.

Factotum is for the everyman. And in some way, I think we all can relate somehow/someway to good 'ol Buk.

Bukowski has great images of the downtrodden and the lowlife but he offers little in the way of anecdotes for inhumanity except maybe drinking and bumming. After awhile one gets the feeling that being a victim is his excuse for affirming authenticity. Of course writing for him is a salvation though after awhile all these biographies of the down and out read the same. He gives some great graphic depictions of alcoholism but to me this doesn't equate with greatness in and of itself. I would add that full blown alcoholism is much worse for suffering than bukowski depicts. It is not some bohemian romance to see the end result of dependence as i do in healthcare. However, I think bukowski conveys quite chillingly the inhumanity that helps drive people to it.

This was the first book by Charles Bukowski that I read. I swear I hadn't read anything so full of life in my first 16 years (I sort of I believed everything he said). He could make all the events, no matter how annouying, trivial or repeated they were, sound really glamorous. My mother also read the book, and said that she found it revolting, but just couldn't let it off his hands.
Since then, I have read a lot of Bukowski's works. He can somehow punch straight through all my defenses and leave me touched, happy and vulnerable afterwards, unlike anybody else. To me, he is the most credible literary character there has been in the last few decades.

italians begging for nickels in the palozzo... most jobs are as satisfying and rewarding. for most a glimpse into the world of meaningless expenditure of energy. the gentility rubs its nose while dog biscuits and coconut are shoveled. on the banks of lake superior the ice bergs still float in during the month of june. a good book is just as rare. robert pinsky says that bukowski is pretty good for childs lit. i say tht pinsky should stick to being lauerate and let someone else write the news/poetry.

This is probably the best book by Bukowski. It covers it all and I was really sad when it was over. It's like having a dinner guest charm the pants off of you, then they leave. His words are heartfelt, each word seems to have a life of its own, like its been fermented in guilt, sorrow, ecstasy, intoxication and lust, then etched onto the page with a dull knife.

This is a surprisingly interesting story of the authors young alter ego's travels as a young drunk. He moves back and forth across the country, finding new jobs and quitting them when they get in the way of his drinking, schmoozes women everywhere he goes, and basically adds nothing to society. Reminds me of Henry Miller's Tropic of ... books, but Bukowski doesn't come off as such a self absorbed jerk as much as someone just completely lacking ambition. Much easier to read too.

I identified with this book the second I opened it and I can still remember how it captivated me, how I hoped it would go on forever, how the main character was so much like me in every way imaginable...you must read this wonderful book.

A classic book of the damned poet Bukowski. Not for people with a weak stomach or prudes. Chinaski (the alter-ego of Bukowski) hops from one job to another, one woman to another, and is steadily drunk.
Some exceedingly realistic moments of the narration make you think that Bukowski has really been in that situation, or that he has a supreme imagination.
Although a little repetitive at times, this book is a necessary read for people interested in the nature of the human soul.

The novel "Factotum" by Charles Bukowski is about an alcoholic whose life consists of moving, finding and losing jobs, alcohol and sex. The protagonist Henry Chinaski drifts from one US American metropolis to another. There he finds a job and a woman, loses the job and leaves the woman and the town again and again. But Henry Chinaski does not seem to care since Charles Bukowski writes in an emotionless and direct way. Bukowski uses short and simple sentences, written in a colloquial language. The book is a first person narration, interesting in its own way but very repetitive. Probably a good book for young people who want to read a "different" book and get to know another side of the American life-style.

While this book supplied some material for both Barfly and the movie of the same name, one of the things that makes it unique to me is how it expresses a WWII America where so many men had gone to war that one man ends up taking on all jobs. Bukowski's style was at its best here, focused razor sharp. He does take some wish fulfillment liberties but it's possible it's intended as jab at good ol' Henry Miller. Lots of hilarious scenes, and a terse poignancy in the fate of an alienated wanderer.

I found the book fascinating for its detailed description of life on the mean streets.

It was very raw and seemed quite real. But it was a very gritty book and was a hard read. Anyone who calls this a humorous book didn't read it.

Charles Bukowski is wicked awesome. It's another book about Henry doing exactly what Henry does. I think it's a love it or hate it kinda thing. Chances are, if you hate it, you're a bafoon. Did I spell bafoon correctly?

Any honest man will be a genious as bukowski proves time & time again no matter what the subject.He is inspired by waking ,amazed to see that life will continue to take a chance on his survival.He survivedfor this & this alone the task of getting it done. It is a sham to pit books against eachother so READ this.....END

I was really disappointed with this boring and badly written book. The self pity, that he tries, but fails, to hide, really gets on your nerves. Sure to appeal to disillusioned 15-year olds. Wise up! Try Celine for some intelligent pessimism.

I just reread this book over the weekend after watching the film. Normally I hate movie versions of books that I like, but this Factotum is one of the exceptions to that rule. I thought they did a good job with the film and portraying Bukowski's voice. Rereading the novel confirmed my thoughts.