Charles Bukowski - Post Office - Review

 

This is Bukowski's debut novel, written and published in 1971 when the author was 51 years of age. His publisher requested he write a novel after publishing a smattering of his poems. He received the manuscript within three months. When asked why only three months? Bukowski's reply: "Fear." To the author's surprise, the novel became a success, and more novels, poems, articles, and essays followed. Bukowski is considered by many to be one of America's top poets. 

My reading experience with this author was limited to his poetry. During my 'beat' phase, reading Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs, I came across a collection and couldn't get enough. Post Office is an obscenely honest, hard-drinking narrative of a working man with a curious attitude of "I don't give a stuff about anything" way of life. The novel is about a man who gets a job at the post office, quits, is hired again, and remains there for eleven years. 

There are only three activities our narrator cares about: women/sex, and drinking. He's living with his wife in a small hotel room, where both are devoted to alcohol and each other. He only works enough to drink, bet on the horses, rent, and have a little food. This wife finally leaves him, though they remain good friends. Some years pass, and they run across each other again and have another go at their relationship. Both have aged, and that old 'love spark' has vanished. Later she dies a lonely, slow death due to alcohol. He's right by her side at the end. 

The tedium of working at the post office is well expressed. In his early days as only a temporary carrier, his experiences in the rain and the aggressive and sad customer reactions are, at times, hilarious. There is one exchange with a woman who demands a letter from him. She goes into a rage when he says he doesn't have anything for her. It's somehow the mailman's fault she doesn't have mail. Another experience on the mail line is he's seduced by an angry customer. This is a bit of a cliche, "Having an affair with the mailman," though he pulls it off, and it reads truthfully. 

The character's second wife comes from a wealthy Texas family. He's certainly out of his league, but the woman loves him. In fact, she's a nymphomanic and wants it at every turn. All will be well if he just hangs in there for a while. They return home from a Texas trip, and she demands he get a job. She will as well; this is to show her parents that they can survive on their own. It's here he returns to the post office. This marriage ends in divorce because she has met another man at work. After they divorced, she wrote him a letter. Once the man realized she was divorced, he ignored her. 

I totally enjoyed his experiences at the race track. His method of picking the winner could be more scientific, though, for a time, it works wonderfully. So much so he takes a three-month leave of absence from the post office to try his hand at professional gambling. He has a good run, eating at fine restaurants and staying at first-rate hotels, and of course, the winning streak ends, and he returns to the grind. 

I personally love this style of transparent, no-frills prose. 

Post Office gave me the first taste of Bukowski's story-telling, and I'll be returning for more.