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Factotum

3.97 of 5 stars 3.97 · rating details · 17,121 ratings · 550 reviews

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...more

Paperback, 208 pages

Published May 31st 2002 by Ecco (first published 1975)

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Oct 10, 2012 Joshua Nomen-Mutatio rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I have a sort of pre-emptive dislike-verging-on-loathing of Bukowski, which I think is rooted in my post-adolescent rejection of and disillusionment with the Beat writers (whom I absolutely adored in high school). I’ve never read Bukowski before, but I’ve seen Barfly and Factotum on the screen. I’ve seen two documentaries about him which likewise left me more disgusted and depressed than anything. This is where I’m coming from. There’s also this song that aided in informing me about the man.

One...more I have a sort of pre-emptive dislike-verging-on-loathing of Bukowski, which I think is rooted in my post-adolescent rejection of and disillusionment with the Beat writers (whom I absolutely adored in high school). I’ve never read Bukowski before, but I’ve seen Barfly and Factotum on the screen. I’ve seen two documentaries about him which likewise left me more disgusted and depressed than anything. This is where I’m coming from. There’s also this song that aided in informing me about the man.

One of my poet friends in high school once told me that he only would read Bukowski while taking a shit. This has stuck with me over the years. Once, a girl I became involved with praised Bukowski while simultaneously giving me a caveat about what a terrible sexist he was. This is where I’m coming from.

I started reading this one on the shitter after a long day’s work. Then I moved to the couch where I drank alcohol and chain-smoked cigarettes while zooming through the book. I sneered at the blunt simplicity of the sentences at first, feeling the intense distance between this kind of writing and the George Saunder’s stories I’d been reading recently, as well as the generally more stylistically interesting and intellectually potent books I tend to gravitate towards. But I still felt entertained by this stuff, nonetheless. As more Tesco brand scotch intersected with my veins, I began to see slightly more nuance to this rather thematically repetitive first-person, clearly auto-bio stuff that Bukowski had written about a drunk-as-shit-nihilist/struggling writer who clearly is himself. Very little imagination seemed to be at work here. Just the spilt guts of a self-aggrandizing louse. But yet, I continued to be entertained, so I pressed on, feeling each sentence flow by without much effort on my part. Following the narrative of being employed many, many times, failing and getting fired just as many, drinking, drinking, drinking (to a sickening degree), and barnacle-ing to the hulls of a series of horrendously-depicted females. That’s about all there is to this novel. Working, Drinking, Fucking. Rinse, repeat.

“Even the most horrible human being on earth deserves to wipe his ass.”

But amidst the misspelled words (“he lighted his cigarette”) and dumb-assed factual errors (the USA fighting China in WWII) I gradually found some remarkably “human” moments speckled within the details. There’s a potent dissatisfaction with the exploitative nature of American Capitalism to be found within the job-after-fucking-job experiences the narrator tumbles through. There’s something weirdly edifying in witnessing the details of a severe drunk’s day-to-day physical ailments and triumphs and tribulations, even when nauseating, like most of them are. Even the contemptible attitudes displayed toward women have an oddly true ring to them. This is NOT to say that I agree with treating women like shit the way Bukowski clearly does, but that his shittiness is a stark reminder of certain horrible realities that do certainly exist in the minds of many men. And this I found interesting, in an historico-anthropological sort of way, while simultaneously depressing and upsetting.

And then I thought of Raymond Carver. He also was once a real-life drunk of epic proportions who wrote in tight, blunt, staccato, matter-of-fact sentence-lumps, consistently describing soul-crushing work-weeks, oceans of booze and cluttered ashtrays. Why do I like his writing so much and yet feel this strong, largely pre-emptive aversion to Bukowski? That’s the question. Carver's prose-style is really no more innovative or poetic than Chuck’s, but yet when I read two of Carver’s collections I encountered them with such a different attitude and happy reception. Carver, for one, doesn’t denigrate women the way Bukowski does. That’s one thing. And while he speaks of little else beyond sad, failed, alcoholic people, he manages to make it seem far less about him--the almighty, misanthropic author--and more about said sad, failed, alcoholic people. There’s an extremely off-putting narcissism to Bukowski, so far as I can tell from reading a single book of his, which Carver elegantly transcends, despite similar style and content.

But then I wonder, is there more buried deep within the the wine-soaked walls of Bukowski than lets on immediately? Or, do I perhaps harbor some of the same misanthropy that he nakedly exposes one word to the next? Am I really any better? Well, my answer to the first query is still "NO" and my response to the second still "YES" but contemplating these things during my read was enriching in some way, so I reluctantly give some credit there to ol' CB.

But what was Bukowski, really? A terminally depressed, ego-maniac/self-hater with a bottle permanently pressed to his lips. Some part of me can resonate with this, as much as I high-falutin-ly know that this is the case. There’s a dark knot of nihilism stuck inside my heart, I know this. Perhaps reading these rather bleak and repetitive exploits of Bukowski’s tingles some part of that in me that seeks connection and recognition. I do not know for sure.(less)

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Jan 02, 2013 [P] rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: shhh-i-hate-you

“I’m not a player, I just fuck a lot.” – Big Pun.

[P]: Hello everyone, I am honoured to have with me today Mr Charles Bukowski, eminent author and poet. I’d like to ask you about your novel Factotum, your second work I believe. Firstly, if you can, will you try and sum it up for those who have not yet encountered it?

Charles: Drink!

[P]: Haha, very succinct, Charles; and spot on, I must say. But a lot of your work deals with alcohol consumption, so how does Factotum differ from your other novels?

Ch...more

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Mar 14, 2013 Madeleine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: head-in-the-clouds-nose-in-a-book, the-face-is-familar, hank-chinaski, our-libeary, books-with-buttons, let-us-now-speak-of-great-men, mmxiii

There were times while reading this short novel that I had to stop and wonder if my aspiration to one day be the female Bukowski is either setting my sights too high or placing the bar too low.

And then I up and went to a bar, since I was reading this on the anniversary of the Dirtiest Old Man in Literature's passing and all, so I stopped worrying about pretty much everything. YOU'RE STILL MY BOY, BUK.

16 likes · like · see review

May 23, 2007 Taylor rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone

Shelves: fiction, own, favorites, wheres-the-bar, wheres-the-bedroom

This is the first Bukowski novel I read - I chose it because the movie version was coming out, and I wanted to read the book first.

As a first Bukowski novel, it's a wise choice, because it's a quick read. I blew through it in 2-3 days. It's a very conflicting book, because in some regards it's depressing to see how he lived, what his relationships were like, but on other levels, it's inspiring, because he was so dirt poor and bounced around from job to job, but was able to support himself and hi...more

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Jun 12, 2008 Patrick added it

Shelves: grunge-slacker-twentysomething

Having read two of Bukowski's books now, I've decided he's for two types of people: psuedo-intelectual masochists that want to slum a little and more genuine people that live very histrionic if arrogant and introverted lives. I can’t get over how conceited Bukowski is, how conceited his books and intentions are, or the way he treats his audience. I guess he’s sort of a modern day Oscar Wilde or Elephant Man, but reading his books gives me the impression that most people that read him think the j...more

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Jan 22, 2008 Michael Oliver rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: mine enemies

What a piece of shit. Chuck Buck prides himself as a worthless human filled with anger and bitterness towards all his fellow men. He has no respect for women or anyone else for that matter, and drinks himself into a state of absolute despair just so he can write about his depressive life in order to persuade the rest of the public to feel better about themselves (I assume). Bile. Waste. A foul excuse for contemporary literature- it's more like contemptuous literature. I'm embarrassed his writing...more

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Jul 19, 2007 Cody rated it 3 of 5 stars

Bukowski holds a strange attraction for me. I suppose reading his novels and short stories is something like staring at a car crash or returning to the scene of the crime: I just can't help it. There is a primitive, visceral draw. I have yet to read a Bukowski novel that I consider great. Factotum does come close, but its moments of brilliance are weighed down by excessive machismo and male posturing. Still, I can't say I regret reading it, and I know I will read Bukowski again.

11 likes · like · see review

Apr 21, 2013 Jonny Gibbings rated it 1 of 5 stars

You know, don't know what the fuss is about. Maybe it is me, maybe it was all the hype, but, I thought it Factotum was crap. For the record, I am no intellectual, I am not of the thinking it has to be hard to read to be good, but, for me, Factotum read like it was written by a 15 year old trying to imagine what a hard drinking womaniser would be like.

There was no depth, flimsy characters that the author paints a vague suggestion of, bouncing form job to job - each is brief but lacking. The tale...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Abhinav rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-reading-saga, popular-fiction, humour, satire, romance, the-cj-library, i-own-an-ebook

Hmmm. So finally I managed to finish reading my first book by Charles Bukowski, and I really don't know what to say. And yet, I'm gonna use this space to say what I want to.

Henry 'Hank' Chinaski (supposedly Bukowski's fictional alter-ego) is an aspiring writer & the protagonist of this novel. His life revolves around three things - women, drink & jobs. And he can't stick to just one either, switching from one to another so fast that it's pointless to keep count.

Bukowski's prose is absolu...more

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Apr 11, 2013 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-have-reviewed

I kind of like reading reviews on Charles Bukowski's works. The negative reviews are good, especially the ones that are written after the reader has acknowledged not reading the entire work, but I find the positive ones to be more entertaining because I get a kick out of the awe and reverence and near hero worship toward the man and I feel like if I keep reading long enough I'll eventually stumble upon one calling for beatification. Did I use that word right? I enjoy these positive (booklicker?)...more

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Apr 20, 2009 Cwn_annwn_13 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: from-public-library

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 w...more

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Dec 16, 2007 Hundeschlitten rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this because I kept hearing about the movie, which features Matt Dillon in the Chinaski roll, and I wanted to read the book first. To be honest, it's not Bukowski's best, but I guess I can see why they made a movie based on it, because there's lots of sex and a fair dose of violence. It's Chinaski as a young man, beginning during WWII. It starts off being a travelogue, switches to a chronicle of his sexual exploits, and by the end it's more or less a description of all the shitty jobs he...more

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Jan 14, 2012 Zach rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: hard-fiction

What Catcher in the Rye would have been if Holden grew a set. Excellent narrative that peers into the nature of a directionless young adult who finds sanity at the bottom of a bottle. Bukowski brilliantly penned this tale of a mans personal impotence who drifts aimlessly through a multitude of employment opportunities. He wanders much, cares for little, and drinks all.

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Feb 19, 2008 Lori rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I like Bukowski. I do. He tells it like it is. He doesnt try to make his alter ego Chinaksi into a hero. He's an everyday, down on his luck, boosing and one night standing kinda man.

Bukowski makes writing look easy. His stories are effortless. They flow off the page like a conversation. And here I am saying Stories, when.. in actuality this is a novel. Charles writes his novels in a sort of short story form. Each chapter is a story in itself, they can be read on thier own, in no particular orde...more

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Nov 21, 2008 Scott rated it 4 of 5 stars

Working sucks. So does changing jobs all the time. Have a drink. The humor interspersed with the transience and violence is hilarious.

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Sep 01, 2012 Lisetta rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

<<Allora?>> mi chiese guardandomi da sopra il modulo.

<<Sono uno scrittore che a un certo punto ha perso l'ispirazione>>.

<<Oh, uno scrittore, eh?>>.

<<Si>>.

<<Sei sicuro?>>.

<<No>>.

<<Che cosa scrivi?>>.

<<Racconti per lo pi��. Sono a met�� di un romanzo>>.

<<Un romanzo, eh?>>.

<<Si>>.

<<E come si intitola?>>.

<<Il rubinetto rotto del mio destino>>.

<<Oh, bel...more

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Dec 22, 2008 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars

I can never quite decide if Bukowski's shitty (and well-deserved) early life led him to be a great writer. Are the old axiom's about a hard life creating great art true? There are certainly quite a few good artists (from all mediums) who came from good lives, and there are without a doubt more hard-luck stories than there are great artists, so I inevitably fall to thinking that Bukowski could have been a better writer if his life had been better, but that I might not want to read him.

I sort of...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Hannah Eiseman-Renyard rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: didn-t-finish-it, avoid-this, i-don-t-get-it

Nasty Drunk

I'd heard multiple times that Bukowski was a shit to women, but a really good writer. OK, I can deal with that. I mean, I wouldn't want to have a drink with the guy but it's not like misogyny's a new one on me. Bring it on: I will read your stuff.

I gave up about halfway through. Not because he was vile to women (he was vile to everyone) but because there was nothing, I mean nothing to engage me.

Sparse writing style is only a boon if you have something good to write about. This has th...more

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Aug 05, 2012 Willem van den Oever rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: in-english

With ‘Factotum’, the life of Henry Chinaski is picked up where it was left after ‘Post Office’. Coming off the bus from L.A., Chinaski arrives in New Orleans, looking for a job to support his drinking habit and supply some sort of income until he can get his first stories published.
With most men his age fighting overseas during World War Two, there’s no shortage of available jobs for him, but sticking with a job for a longer period of time turns out to be the real challenge for Chinaski.

‘Factot...more With ‘Factotum’, the life of Henry Chinaski is picked up where it was left after ‘Post Office’. Coming off the bus from L.A., Chinaski arrives in New Orleans, looking for a job to support his drinking habit and supply some sort of income until he can get his first stories published.
With most men his age fighting overseas during World War Two, there’s no shortage of available jobs for him, but sticking with a job for a longer period of time turns out to be the real challenge for Chinaski.

‘Factotum’ seems to be the most honest of Bukowski’s semi-autobiographical novels in which he uses the alter ego of Chinaski to tell about the earlier years of his own life; but this time relying less on surrealist humor then was the case in ‘Post Office’ or on sex and misogyny like in ‘Women’. Rather, what we see here is an honest, straightforward account of a man down and out on his luck; drifting from one job to another, one state to another, one woman to another.
A depressing matter, sure, but Bukowski/Chinaski handles it all in a witty, nihilistic way and a tone that doesn’t frustrate or sadden, but attract and interest. Furthermore, the sparse descriptions of the work place and the oddball characters Chinaski meets there keep the energy up throughout the book, while also raising the credibility of the overall story.
There’s little real musing or philosophizing; all is penned down purely based on the character’s actions. Chinaski's drifting from one employer to the next, the descriptions of the mind-numbing work he has to endure and the inevitable moment when he’s called to come to his boss and hear he doesn’t have to come back in the next day. The alcohol, gambling and sex he uses to fill in the rest of his days.
Yet, Chinaski’s perseverance shines through in it all. No matter how many times he’s thrown down, he picks himself up, dusts himself off and dives into the next job-opportunity falling from the sky. A strangly optimistic lead in a story as hopeless as this one is. He might be weird or disgusting at times, but never mean, sticking by his own rules and morale to live his life. Chinaski’s not a loser or a slack, as one might expect from a drunk like him. He is an outsider, deliberately so, and with a keen eye, constantly examining and commenting on how life works underneath all the false pretenses, betrayal and meanness of everyday life.
Bukowski is not subtle when explaining what a hoax modern day society has become. And by keeping away from that way of living, and relying heavily on the solitude with which he surrounds himself, he has Chinaski protect himself, knowing full well he can’t and won’t accept to become one with the rest. (less)

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Jul 27, 2012 Ecce added it

Kadın giysileri satan bir dükkânda sevkiyat memurluğu için başvurmuştum. II. Dünya Savaşı sırasında eleman yetersizliği olması gerekirdi ama her işe dört-beş kişi başvuruyordu. Adi işler için en azından. Başvuru formlarımızı doldurmuş bekliyorduk. Doğum yeri? Bekâr? Evli? Askerlik durumu? Son çalıştığınız yer? Neden ayrıldınız? O kadar çok başvuru formu doldurmuştum ki tüm doğru cevaplan ezberlemiştim. Yataktan geç kalktığım için son çağrılan ben oldum. Kulaklarının üstünde iki tuhaf saç tuta...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Lawnzilla rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

My first Bukowski novel... couldn't put it down. I find myself relating so much to Henry Chinaski. His manias, his phobias, his inept attempts at becoming a functioning member of society that lead him to realize he truly wasn't a man meant for this world... I find such comfort in his distressing words.

"The bus ran along a very narrow strip of cement that stood up out of the water with no guard-rail, no nothing; that's all there was to it. The bus driver leaned back and we roared along over this...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Zorba rated it 4 of 5 stars

Bukowski è sempre irrecensibile. Forse per questo ha avuto così poco successo, all'inizio. Nessuno sapeva bene come fare.
Paragonato spesso ad Henry Miller, soprattutto con questo romanzo, Bukowski assimila quello che può dal maestro (quando i protagonisti delle sue storie stanno leggendo stanno sempre leggendo Miller), e lo estremizza.

Factotum parla fondamentalmente dei lavori svolti da Hank Chinaski in un periodo indefinito della sua vita. Di come li prendesse, lavori che nessuno voleva, mal re...more

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Apr 25, 2012 Mat rated it 5 of 5 stars

In my opinion, this is Bukowski's best. And the movie starring Matt Dillon is pretty good. Pretty close to the story too, except Matt Dillon is obviously a far better-looking version of Hank.
Had to look up in the dictionary what a 'factotum' was but as the title implies, Hank had many short funny odd jobs all over the place when he was young and even though he walked away from many a job, he never walked away from his writing.
I strongly recommend the movie too - the ending is very powerful.
Alt...more

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Apr 17, 2012 Jonathan Briggs rated it 4 of 5 stars

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, dr...more

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Mar 20, 2012 Steve rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century, american

I read "Post Office" yesterday, and "Factotum" today. It's obvious that he honed his craft and became more comfortable with the format between his first and second novels. With that said, I think I preferred the rawer, and funnier, "Post Office." "Factotum," like "Post Office," had moments of brilliance, and moments of humor, but I think I preferred the latter. In my review of "Post Office," I pasted a few quotes in that I liked. I'll do the same here.

I felt that the following section really see...more

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Mar 15, 2012 Sarah rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book confirmed for me that Bukowski only tells the one story. That one story generally takes the form of several of the same stories over again, with different surroundings and characters. This book is about many of the jobs Chinaski works in between drinking, writing, and screwing. Women, on the other hand, is about the many women he screws in between drinking and writing. There may be a greater thread of illumination I am missing, but that's all I have to say about it.

This is not to say...more This book confirmed for me that Bukowski only tells the one story. That one story generally takes the form of several of the same stories over again, with different surroundings and characters. This book is about many of the jobs Chinaski works in between drinking, writing, and screwing. Women, on the other hand, is about the many women he screws in between drinking and writing. There may be a greater thread of illumination I am missing, but that's all I have to say about it.

This is not to say that the book is not enjoyable. I also found Women enjoyable, but moreso than Factotum because sex > work. I found Hollywood most enjoyable of all because it's about his older days, and cranky old people > cranky young people. I haven't read Ham on Rye (evidently about his childhood/teen years) but in the right mood, I'd be interested in reading about Bukowski Before Chinaski. It seems that despite, well, many things, Bukowski/Chinaski inspires a strange sympathy, which I sincerely hope is not one of the many burdens of being a straight female.

Which is why I still don't classify Bukowski as Dick Lit, though I'm sure many people who love Dick Lit also love Bukowski. Chinaski may be relentlessly destructive but he is at least up front about his desires, unlike the insufferable soul searchers of contemporary male fiction who kid themselves into thinking they are seeking a higher destiny in life, when really they are seeking love, acceptance and other conventional comforts. At least Chinaski never hides the ball: "I have followed so many women up stairways like that, always thinking, if only some nice lady like this one would offer to take care of me and feed me warm tasty food and lay out clean stockings and shorts for me to wear, I would accept." His crisis is generally physical rather than existential, which is a relief in a man book.

Also, though I'm in the habit of buying used books, this was the first book that ever compelled me to wash my hands after reading.

2.5 stars = "I kinda liked it."(less)

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Jan 02, 2012 James rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have read that Charles Bukowski is the type of author whose works were always stuck in a state of arrested development. His 1975 novel, "Factotum" fits well into this mold. "Factotum" focuses on the ongoing misadventures of his thinly veiled alter-ego, Henry Chinaski, in his attempts to find work, and then his proceeding to quickly lose the work he finds. While the novel is thoroughly enjoyable and, at times, uproariously funny, it does not seem to be the work of a mature author. An extremely...more

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Feb 08, 2010 Daniel rated it 3 of 5 stars

While I enjoyed this book somewhat, I had a hard time deciding if Bukowski hates his protagonist Chinaski, or if by extension has written here a novel all about self-loathing. That is if I accept the general premise that Chinaski is an alter-ego of the famed poet and writer.

The sparseness off the prose and the inherent poetry mixed up with violence and depravity only seeks to add to the urgency of this tale of a no one going nowhere. Chinaski bounces from setting to setting searching for little...more While I enjoyed this book somewhat, I had a hard time deciding if Bukowski hates his protagonist Chinaski, or if by extension has written here a novel all about self-loathing. That is if I accept the general premise that Chinaski is an alter-ego of the famed poet and writer.

The sparseness off the prose and the inherent poetry mixed up with violence and depravity only seeks to add to the urgency of this tale of a no one going nowhere. Chinaski bounces from setting to setting searching for little more than sex, booze, easy money and a little validation from his writing. The entire plotline seems to have only one focus throughout, shedding light on the struggle that an outsider faces trying to live exclusively on his or (in the case of the many minor characters) her own terms. I find it very interesting that the only characters he devotes any time to besides Chinaski are the many women who cross his path. Even if he only makes their acquaintance for a moment on a single page, Bukowski/Chinaski seems to always make some remark about why that character is unique only if said character happens to be a woman. Men are ordinary. Women are fascinating, even the truly horrible ones who cross his path.

I like his voice in this novel and I like that he is able to tell you a lot without saying very much trusting his reader to fill in the gaps. Clearly, I have to read a lot more of his work to really understand what he encompasses, but this first small morsel of Bukowski's work left me strangely satisfied, engrossed and somewhat turned off all at the same time. That he can evoke that kind of emotion using phrases and mindsets from a clearly politically incorrect time period and yet still sound timeless is testimony to his talent. It will be an interesting journey for me to follow the path that this powerful voice leads. I trust that it will take me to better places than this book did where in spite of all that is right with the novel, there is still an awful lot that I hesitate to call wrong, but will certainly call distasteful even if the presentation was poetically picture perfect.(less)

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Oct 01, 2009 P.F. Chang rated it 5 of 5 stars

people like talking shit about charles bukowski on goodreads, it seems funny.

i liked this book a lot. henry chinaski is an asshole but he knows he's an asshole and simply accepts being an asshole. everything seems detached and transient, nothing really matters to him, life is just this "thing that is happening" which he feels powerless to, so he doesn't invest much emotion in the things he feels like he needs to do to stay alive, and drinks to avoid feelings of alienation. i laughed out loud sev...more

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Apr 26, 2009 Mick rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Let's see. When FACTOTUM begins protagonist Henry Chinaski is an uninspired, ambivalent, insipid, unmotivated, degenerate, vapid alcoholic. When FACTOTUM ends protagonist Henry Chinaski is an uninspired, ambivalent, insipid, unmotivated, degenerate, vapid alcoholic. In between author Charles Bukowski (who himself had quite the vagabond life) has Henry drifting aimlessly, listlessly, from one menial job to another, from one floozy to another; on and on until the jobs (how many times did he pack f...more

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About Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski was born in Andernach, Germany on August 16, 1920, the only child of an American soldier and a German mother. At the age of three, he came with his family to the United States and grew up in Los Angeles. He attended Los Angeles City College from 1939 to 1941, then left school and moved to New York City to become a writer. His lack of publishing success at this time caused him to g...more

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Quotes from Factotum

“My ambition is handicapped by laziness” — 2,589 people liked it

“If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery--isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you'll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is.” — 2,557 people liked it

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title link	preview: Factotum
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/497199.Factotum?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347761813l/497199.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/497199.Factotum?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Factotum by Charles Bukowski[/url]

Factotum

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