Love is a Dog From Hell
by Charles Bukowski
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Book Summary Information
Author: Charles BukowskiEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-06-05
ISBN: 0876853629
Number of pages: 312
Publisher: Ecco
Book Reviews of Love is a Dog From Hell
Book Review: The laughter of the mutilated who still need love
Summary: 5 Stars
It's hard to think of a person less likely to
achieve posthumous fame than Charles Bukowski.
His poems don't scan or rhyme, they're imposs-
ible to memorize and the stories that they
tell repeat themselves like a whisky drinker
around 1:30 in the morning. In fact, you could
write a decent-sized essay on why nobody
should ever remember Bukowsky.
And yet. . .
There have been two movies based on his life
and work. His name hasn't exactly become an
adjective: 'Bukowskian' doesn't scan any
better than his poems, but he is certainly a
reference point in the literary imagination of
our time. If someone says "he's a Charles
Bukowski kind of guy" you get an image, bright
and clear like it came from cable TV.
So why? Why hasn't this guy been consigned to
the trash heap of misanthropic/misogynistic,
narcissistic drunks with no sense of rhythm?
Well, for staters, look at the title of this
review. There are enough people who see them-
selves as 'the mutilated who still need love'
to forgive any poet who came up with a line
like that.
Then there's this, from a poem about people
who call him asking for advice about a
literary career:
...they think I have held back my
secret.
I don't write out of
knowledge.
when the phone rings
I too would like to hear words
that might ease
some of this.
that's why my number's
listed.
Now that last poem, called 462-0614
is the one with the bookmark in my copy
of Love is a Dog. Little stuff like that,
small marks of compassion and vulnerability
that you have to dig for, that's a big
part of why we're still reading him today.
In a more general, story-telling sense he is,
like Billy Collins, the master of the double-
back and bite-you-on-the-butt technique of
spinning a very short tale and that's a very
addictive quality in a poet.
Of course, another reason that we're
reading Bukowsky today is that John
Martin out of Santa Rosa, CA sold his
collection of first editions and founded
Black Sparrow Press to publish guys like
this.
So, if you keep a few volumes of poetry
beside the bed, here's one to keep whenever
you need to be reminded that mutilation
leaves scars and that under the scars, the
mutilated need love too.
--Lynn Hoffman, author of THE NEW SHORT COURSE IN WINE and
the forthcoming novel bang BANG from Kunati Books.
Summary of Love is a Dog From Hell
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