Hot Water Music is a collection of short stories by Charles Bukowski, published in 1983. The collection deals largely with: drinking,... read full description
reviews
Jan 31, 2011
pardis
rated it: 
شخصيت محوري داستان هاي بوکفسکي،هنري چيتانسکي نام دارد.او اديبي است بدمست که درباره همه امور با صراحت و بي رحمي نظر مي دهد،به موسيقي علاقه مند است و از زنان گريزان.
در داستان هاي موسيقي آب گرم،ويژگي هاي جامعه ادبي و روشنفکري آمريکا را از منظر يکي از اعضايش مي توان ديد؛اين کتاب شايد پاسخي باشد براي اين پرسش اهل جستجو که چرا جامعه روشنفکري آمريکا در داخل اين کشور در مقايسه با روشنفکران ساير جوامع ناکارآمد و به رغم توليد آثار جدي و قوي،در امور اجتماع کم تاثير است.
بوکفسکي روشنفکران يا اهال More...
در داستان هاي موسيقي آب گرم،ويژگي هاي جامعه ادبي و روشنفکري آمريکا را از منظر يکي از اعضايش مي توان ديد؛اين کتاب شايد پاسخي باشد براي اين پرسش اهل جستجو که چرا جامعه روشنفکري آمريکا در داخل اين کشور در مقايسه با روشنفکران ساير جوامع ناکارآمد و به رغم توليد آثار جدي و قوي،در امور اجتماع کم تاثير است.
بوکفسکي روشنفکران يا اهال More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jun 13, 2011
Appena completato l’ultimo rigo di questo libro, una volta alzati gli occhi dalla pagina non si può tornare a guardare “la gente” con gli stessi occhi di prima. Perché Bukowski ci introduce in un universo underground parallelo al nostro, che si innerva nella nostra quotidianità con le sue leggi e i suoi protagonisti, in cui si agitano misogini, pittori, assassini, poeti, stupratori, disoccupati senza ideali, asociali con velleità artistiche, inetti beoni che si lasciano scorrere addosso la vita,
More...
Nov 07, 2008
Andy
rated it:
Thrilling collection of Bukowski short stories: lots of sex, booze and gambling, yeah!
"Home Run" is about the beating of a cocky bartender, "Broken Merchandise" is a brilliant account of road rage, "The Man Who Loved Elevators" is like a Todd Solondz movie about an apartment house sex maniac, and "900 Pounds" is about a fat guy in a bathing suit about to kill you. Other stories are nothing more than drunken phone calls, but the dialogue is very, very
"Home Run" is about the beating of a cocky bartender, "Broken Merchandise" is a brilliant account of road rage, "The Man Who Loved Elevators" is like a Todd Solondz movie about an apartment house sex maniac, and "900 Pounds" is about a fat guy in a bathing suit about to kill you. Other stories are nothing more than drunken phone calls, but the dialogue is very, very
Sep 17, 2009
Ryan
rated it:
Three dozen tales of drinking and nihilistic tendencies show Bukowski at a literary high and the inhabitants of the world at a moralistic low.
German-born American author Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) had, at the time of 1983’s short story collection Hot Water Music (Ecco, ISBN:0876855966), made a career on taking his life-experiences and turning them into self-proclaimed “tales of ordinary madness.” With Hot Water Music, he uses breaks no new ground in his literary career, instead put More...
German-born American author Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) had, at the time of 1983’s short story collection Hot Water Music (Ecco, ISBN:0876855966), made a career on taking his life-experiences and turning them into self-proclaimed “tales of ordinary madness.” With Hot Water Music, he uses breaks no new ground in his literary career, instead put More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Jul 31, 2011
Phil
rated it: 
This is a good collection of short stories, all of which were very quick reads, so it felt like I made nice progress.
As for the stories themselves, they were vintage Bukowski, primarily focused on sex, booze, violence, and desperately dirty people. What really struck me while I was reading this collection is that Bukowski is, in a way, the evolution of literary naturalism. He focuses on down-and-out subjects, without skimping on the graphic detail, and he explores a world consisting of these typ More...
As for the stories themselves, they were vintage Bukowski, primarily focused on sex, booze, violence, and desperately dirty people. What really struck me while I was reading this collection is that Bukowski is, in a way, the evolution of literary naturalism. He focuses on down-and-out subjects, without skimping on the graphic detail, and he explores a world consisting of these typ More...
Mar 23, 2010
Caris
rated it:
It’s hard for me to review Bukowski. I love him. I’ll admit it. He can do no wrong in my eyes. I’ve read so many of his books that I find it hard to think new things about his writing. It’s more comfortable for me to forget about any enlightenment I may receive or any criticism I can come up with and, instead, let the dirty old man talk me into one of the most comfortable places I know. But I don’t think I have the ability to read a book anymore without giving a review. So, since I never have b
More...
17 comments
like
(7 people liked it)
Dec 13, 2009
Seán
rated it: 
My only prior exposure to Bukowski was Post Office and his enormous hipster rep. The former was a genuinely good read and seemed to justify the latter, or at least added weight to what otherwise seemed the tale of a lucky dirtbag who suffered from the occasional bout of insight.
However, these lusterless vignettes just sit on the page like the inert efforts of a lazy undergrad. Boasting atrocious dialogue and distracted endings, pretty much each story features a tough-guy character tr More...
However, these lusterless vignettes just sit on the page like the inert efforts of a lazy undergrad. Boasting atrocious dialogue and distracted endings, pretty much each story features a tough-guy character tr More...
Aug 24, 2011
Cristóbal
rated it: 
Al abrir un libro de Bukowski se puede esperar de todo, excepto decencia.
Esto queda totalmente demostrado en Música de Cañerías (Hot Water Music), un conjunto de historias urbanas que rayan en la ficción erótica, la pornografía y la literatura gore, sin ser necesariamente parte de alguna de ellas.
Bukowski es un escritor siempre joven, cuyas historias, aunque distantes temporalmente, podrían estarse viviendo en algún sitio en el momento justo en que el lector recorre una vez más las lín More...
Esto queda totalmente demostrado en Música de Cañerías (Hot Water Music), un conjunto de historias urbanas que rayan en la ficción erótica, la pornografía y la literatura gore, sin ser necesariamente parte de alguna de ellas.
Bukowski es un escritor siempre joven, cuyas historias, aunque distantes temporalmente, podrían estarse viviendo en algún sitio en el momento justo en que el lector recorre una vez más las lín More...
May 25, 2009
Emalie
rated it:
An explicitly brutal portrayal of human relationships, addiction, sexual ache and emotional carnage this book repulsed and attracted me in a way that only Bukowski can. It fueled many conversations of how writers put themselves into their work on different levels, leading to several questions revolving around the one bit in the book where a man swiftly asks for a match and then slits a stranger’s throat all in a few minutes and without a second thought. Why was this man a genius. I don’t know
More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Nov 14, 2011
Cbj
rated it:
HOT WATER MUSIC is the third collection of Bukowski short stories I've read this year. Its more of the same old stuff - lots of hard drinking lazy men who get lucky with beautiful women all of whom are voluptuous. But there is some melancholy and bad luck lurking around the corner. However, there wasn't enough social commentary in this collection of stories. Bukowski does tear into Mailer and Camus. But Bukowski's unique insights into modern life and human nature are few and far between. I felt
More...
Jul 17, 2010
Tommy
rated it:
Okay/Occasionally good. I loved Factotum but found less to love with this. At moments the brilliance sparkled through, but ultimately there wasn't enough for this to be considered a must read, not even as a riff on a segment of society or lifestyle.
It's a quick read though and there's not as much that's easily accessible like it around today, so worth reading I guess. Keep in mind though, like some of the Beats, Bukowski is a figure who probably is given more props than he deserves, a More...
It's a quick read though and there's not as much that's easily accessible like it around today, so worth reading I guess. Keep in mind though, like some of the Beats, Bukowski is a figure who probably is given more props than he deserves, a More...
Apr 11, 2011
Tyler
rated it:
Bukowski's collection of short stories address the destructive and lonely nature of human existence. This is usually made by most writers in an extravagant, fiction-like manner, but Charles Bukowski brings destruction into his work through the normal, everyday dirty work that portrays the dark side to human achievement and society. His collection helped me realize that my ideal, no matter how surreal, can still be found in everyday observations on human life. This type of realism that he uses he
More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
May 05, 2010
Bill
rated it:
Bukowski at his best. This book has just enough of his subtle surrealism to really shine above and beyond his regular "alcohol, horse racing, sex, and writing" that is present in every book. This book just seemed to go a little bit beyond that, to a different place just outside of the everyday reality that Bukowski usually wallows in. That's not to say that there isn't plenty of fighting and writing and screwing and drinking, but it's more like Bukowski was pushing the limits of his fi
More...
Jan 14, 2008
J.P.
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Oct 08, 2007
Logan
rated it:
The sociopathic and, sometimes, psychopathic tendencies of the characters in this book of short stories far outweighs any of the apathetic-coast-thru-life-and-just-get-by-ness of Henry Chinaski in the only other Bukowski book I've read so far, Factotum. I was surprised to see these clearly fictional stories from Bukowski as I had gotten the impression he's really more of a "creative non-fiction" writer than a maker-up-of-tales. So, it was good to read this book of short stories (most u
More...
Oct 20, 2011
David
rated it:
This is the first thing I read of Bukowski's and his terse style seemed to me like a breath of fresh air. It's as if he copied Hemingway's style and then mimicked it to the point of caricature. And yet somehow I'm still saying that's a good thing.
I believe he took the potentiality of Hemingway's style and magnified it's unpleasantness in a manner similar to how Seth McFarlane exaggerated Matt Groening. Okay, maybe that analogy was pushing it but I love the way no thought or idea is More...
I believe he took the potentiality of Hemingway's style and magnified it's unpleasantness in a manner similar to how Seth McFarlane exaggerated Matt Groening. Okay, maybe that analogy was pushing it but I love the way no thought or idea is More...
4 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Dec 23, 2008
Mark
rated it:
Bukowski from the 60s when he was walking the line between titillation and literature. No one ever tap danced on that line the way Buk did. Lots of steamy, seamy sex. Lots of people doing other people wrong. Lots of funny, human moments. I read this right after I broke up with a crazy woman, so I really enjoyed his depiction of some of the wacko babes he encountered. Great thing about Buk? The men are just as evil, wacko, dissolute, lost.
Dec 15, 2009
Theresa
rated it: 
Bukowski seems to think that to be a great American writer you have to act like Hemmingway and be a disgusting, drunken, misogynistic ass, but it's really the other way around, if you're Hemmingway, you get away with being like that because you're a great writer. I've been told this is basically his worst stuff, but I was very unimpressed and probably won't bother investigating him further.
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Mar 23, 2008
I´ve heard so much about Bukowski, people talk about him, love his work, etc.
So I finally picked up a copy of Hot Water Music to take with me while traveling.
I hated it. It was easy to get through and, admittedly, there were moments of brilliant succint-ness (spelled right? a real word?) where things were summed up neatly, wrapped up perfectly, in only a few small words...I liked that. That takes brains, thinking, restraint.
But really, how many stories about l More...
So I finally picked up a copy of Hot Water Music to take with me while traveling.
I hated it. It was easy to get through and, admittedly, there were moments of brilliant succint-ness (spelled right? a real word?) where things were summed up neatly, wrapped up perfectly, in only a few small words...I liked that. That takes brains, thinking, restraint.
But really, how many stories about l More...
Sep 19, 2010
Jimmie
rated it:
Like most of Bukowski's oeuvre, this collection of short stories can be summed up thus:
I got drunk. I went to a bar to find someone fuck. I found her, and I fucked her. I woke up, picked a fight with her, and stormed out to get drunk. Then I ended up at the track and lost my money, so I went to a bar to get drunk.
Rinse and repeat. Rinsing not really necessary.
I got drunk. I went to a bar to find someone fuck. I found her, and I fucked her. I woke up, picked a fight with her, and stormed out to get drunk. Then I ended up at the track and lost my money, so I went to a bar to get drunk.
Rinse and repeat. Rinsing not really necessary.
Jan 10, 2012
Irene
rated it:
Most of the short stories in this collection didn't feel complete. I didn't love any of them of the way that I love his novels. He deals with his usual themes but the writing doesn't feel as precise.
One of the stories that stood out was In And Out And Over but I think liked it because it was the sweetest? --which is not why I love Bukowski and not what anyone reading him should expect but there you go.
One of the stories that stood out was In And Out And Over but I think liked it because it was the sweetest? --which is not why I love Bukowski and not what anyone reading him should expect but there you go.
Nov 24, 2011
Robin
rated it:
This book includes numerous quite short stories, most of which ring horrifyingly true. Alcohol figures heavily in the stories, but really it's not so much about substance abuse as it is about people who have something going on that just naturally leads them to indulge to excess. It's a way of looking at the world that does it to them. A very sad book.
Jun 06, 2010
Alison
rated it:
It's pretty bitter and honest but there are quite a few stories I really enjoy. Like the homebody drunk who finally goes out to a neighborhood bar and gets harassed for a different perspective on life but stands his ground. I like how the women use sex to their advantage confirming their bodies are only tools. Defintely going to read more.
Dec 20, 2008
Mark
rated it:
More stories, some of the Best Buk stories they is :) Hate everything? Think the world is some sick place where everything we value is falsely raised to be somehow important when it all actually means shit? This is the book for you. Bukowski got it, and he also managed to write some crazy shit about it and lucky for you it can be find just in these pages. Crack her open, and instead of being angry that he's such a douchebag, be furious that you're not.
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Nov 04, 2011
Greg
rated it:
What I was enthralled by in this work, surprisingly so, was Bukowski's sincerity. No, no, not because he wasn't restricted by fear when writing his often vulgar subject matter or his sought after dirt rotten vocabulary. What has enthralled me is more of a sincerity in his identity, which presents itself, woven in the pages, instinctive and naturally. Bukowski is a minimalist who is unconfined by his stylistic minimalism: That's sincerity.
Mar 24, 2009
Jillian
rated it:
Wow, what an experience. This book is crude, gross and severely disturbing. That said, I couldn't put it down. The book consists of a series of very short stories, mostly about artists and writers and their circles. Main themes include drinking and sex, with some violence and death mixed in. Very few stories leave you feeling good, many leave you feeling dirty by association, but all leave you wanting to read more.
Dec 18, 2009
Everett
rated it:
What can I say? Bukowski at his best. This is the first collection of short stories I've read by Bukowski. He makes you realize that there really is an art to writing short stories. Just a little vignette of a character's life, but they all speak volumes. 5 stars baby.
Nov 16, 2011
Pezhman
rated it:
You pay for the whole book, right!?
But only some of them worth the price. Great books though, have some parts that convince you to pay again after reading:
But only some of them worth the price. Great books though, have some parts that convince you to pay again after reading:
- "What do you recommend to the young writers?"
- "Drink Well, Never sleep alone, Smoke a lot!"
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 09, 2012
Kevin
rated it:
Bukowski had, without a doubt, an influential and fresh writing style. You see it everywhere now, and it definitely has influenced my own. A few of the stories in this collection stick with you, but the majority are out-dated, sexist accounts of little lasting impression. Not his best work.
Nov 28, 2010
I'm enjoying this so far. The characters are sad... but real. Maybe not real in my life, or at least I don't see 'em...
I'm not that far into the book yet, but the few stories that I have read have been entertaining. I look forward to reading more.
I'm not that far into the book yet, but the few stories that I have read have been entertaining. I look forward to reading more.
