Jack of all trades master of none

No author I’ve ever read captures the sheer nastiness of the world like Charles Bukowski. Factotum follows the daily work and life of Bukowski’s alter ego, Henry Chinaski. The book makes the day-to-day life of the lower class in the mid 1900’s incredibly interesting—breaking up the boring days of work with nights of drinking and debauchery, sometimes mixing the two. Bukowski deals with the issues of the time such as World War II, random sexual encounters, and his own alcoholism.

If you’ve ever wanted to know how bad the life of an alcoholic can be, reading Bukowski is the next best thing to being one yourself. Alcohol seemed to ruin his life, giving him health problems and causing him to be fired from jobs due to crimes he committed while drunk. Everything went wrong for Bukowski but he became a part of contemporary American literature, writing fantastic and gritty poetry and prose drawn from his own experiences. If you have any interest in mid Twentieth century low-lifes, Bukowski’s Factotum could be just what you’re looking for.