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Women

Charles Bukowski

3.88 · Rating details · 54,164 ratings · 2,407 reviews

Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here

Low-life writer and unrepentant alcoholic Henry Chinaski was born to survive. After decades of slacking off at low-paying dead-end jobs, blowing his cash on booze and women, and scrimping by in flea-bitten apartments, Chinaski sees his poetic star rising at last. Now, at fifty, he is reveling in his sudden rock-star life, runn ...more

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Paperback, 291 pages

Published July 29th 2014 by Ecco (first published 1978)

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· 54,164 ratings · 2,407 reviews

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Jun 14, 2007 Ryan McDonald rated it it was amazing

Misogyny, misogyny, misogyny....that's all everyone sees. Few see the true character of Hank, only the brutal sexual descriptions, the words beginning with "C" and his practice of "mounting" whatever drunken soul may have wandered into his piss-stained bed. This is one of the most American novels I have ever read. It tells the story of the common man, overburdened by the memories of his abusive youth, beleagured by his own unsightly appearance and wallowing in the depths of alcoholism. Few feel ...more

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Jul 16, 2008 Ratscats rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Cher and Bette Midler

Recommended to Ratscats by: Sigfried and Roy

I discovered Charles Bukowski while in Las Vegas, in December 2000.
My dad thought it was a good idea to take his 19 year old daughter to Vegas. Because I LOVE watching everyone else gamble and drink while I can't participate!
To be fair, we saw some really good shows (Blue Man Group and Mystere). And the buffets were exciting (Paris was wonderful).
And ! I did get screamed at by a lady on the bus that goes up and down the strip. She looked like Mimi from the Drew Carey show. Well, she dropped her ...more

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Jul 04, 2008 Lydia rated it it was amazing

The leading crazy lady's name is Lydia. I can relate. Charles Bukowski has a way of betraying you and making you laugh in spite of yourself; disgusting you and then melting your heart with one tender and insightful paragraph you do not expect, at a moment that doesn't seem appropriate in context to that which he is speaking. It is impossible to love Bukowski and impossible not to love him. This book is just a delight, if you can absorb it. He is mushy soft at his core.

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Jul 19, 2007 Colelea rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: hipster dudes with creepy mustaches

boooooorrrrrr-iinnnnnnnnnnnnngggg

I loved Bukowski as a young teenager and now that I go back and re-read I can only imagine that I enjoyed the truth and rawness at that age when I was getting lied to everywhere abt. the relations between men and women.

NOW the misogyny is effing boring. Like the crap I see every effing day. I find it interesting that some people find it so shocking because I know at least 10 men that feel this way abt. women. OVER IT. Don't wanna read abt. it now.

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Sep 22, 2007 Demetri Broxton-Santiago rated it liked it

Recommends it for: Someone looking for something wild and very different

This book is CRAZY!!! I cannot believe I read the entire thing in 3 days. You can't put it down. In fact, it made it's rounds through at least 8 people I know of, and it's probably still making the rounds. Everyone had the same experience. You start it and Bukowski goes into the most sexist, vulgar, repulsive descriptions of the main character's relationship to women, but something makes you keep reading. I stopped at several points wondering, "why the hell am I reading this?", yet I went on. Th ...more

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May 07, 2017 ميقات الراجحي rated it liked it

Shelves: روايات-قصص

هنا فقط نثر رائع ورواية بسيطة جدًا.. بوكوفسكي ورواية تحمل اسم (نساء) حسنًا ماذا ننتظر؟ :) هل ثمة جديد؟

يكمل تشيناسكي حياته الفوضوية التي يوثقها بوكوفسكي - عن نفسه طبعًا - حيث يستمر تنقّله الوظيفي من عملٍ لعمل ولا أعلم ماهذا الحظ الذي يقابله لأجل الحصول على كل هذه الفرص؟ ربما إنخافض الأجور وقبوله بأي عمل يمكنه من ذلك!!... وبالمقابل يستمر هو في عربدته وعلاقاته مع النساء. ولكن في هذه المرحلة يوثق بوكوفسكي لنجمه الشعري الذي بدأ يبزغ أكثر وأكثر.

Charles Bukowski : Whisky / Beer.. Women

هذه رواية لو حذف ...more

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May 11, 2012 Jeremy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: literary, canon, edgy, american

Bukowski is a five star poet writing a three star story, averaging out to four stars: but with a +1 star for pure, unmixed vodkaric fucking artistic courage … if you’ll pardon the bland but necessary tautology. Instead of a Nobel Prize, a Purple Heart and a Medal of Honor should have been meted out to him. When Chinaski—Bukowski’s fictionalized self—is asked about the kinds of writers he likes, the attribute he mentions about them is their bravery. He’s asked: why?

“Why? It makes me feel good. It

...more

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Mar 09, 2012 Arthur Graham rated it liked it

Probably my least favorite Bukowski novel, if only because it is the one most commonly used against him by readers with a college freshmen understanding of what misogyny actually is. Anyone who's ever read the man's oeuvre or seen any of his interviews and walked away with the impression that he was anything but an equal-opportunity misanthrope might have a slightly skewed view of things. If anything, he was harder on the men around him, and he hated everyone for their greed, cruelty, and dullne ...more

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May 10, 2016 Valentina Quiceno rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Es increíble lo sencillo que puede parecer un escrito pero que tenga un trasfondo tal interesante.
Si lo vemos muy superficialmente, estamos con Henry Chinaski, (un alter ego de Bukowski) que es un escritor que está muy cerca de llegar a los 60 años, más o menos. La historia nos sigue en como él y otras mujeres mucho más jóvenes tienen encuentros sexuales. Así que el hilo de la historia es básicamente este hombre teniendo sexo con una y otra y otra mujer...
Podría sonar tedioso, o con poca graci ...more

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Nov 27, 2017 Vit Babenco rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Freaks always attract other freaks – it must be some immutable law of nature.

I had on my dead father’s overcoat, which was too large. My pants were too long, the cuffs came down over the shoes and that was good because my stockings didn’t match, and my shoes were down at the heels. I hated barbers so I cut my own hair when I couldn’t get a woman to do it. I didn’t like to shave and I didn’t like long beards, so I scissored myself every two or three weeks. My eyesight was bad but I didn’t like gl

...more

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Jan 24, 2008 Eileen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

In the words of a reviewer on Amazon, "First off, this book will offend people. It will probably offend you." This book hit a little too close to home (you could say I've met and loved this man in real life). At first, reading it was easy; the language is not complex and the material is the definition of "page-turner" - sex, love, drugs, alcohol - in raw, unapologetic realism. And then around page 200 it all became too much. Chinaski does another poetry reading, beds (and then rapes, though stra ...more

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May 16, 2015 Shayan Foroozesh rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015, america, novel, read-on-kindle

This was my first Bukowski and I don’t believe it will be the last. It’s good to take a peek at his writing when you get too serious in your head and your brain begins to get hot, it’s good to take a glance at his writing to cool it down and get into the life of an ugly old son of a bitch who is, as he describes himself: “I’m just an alcoholic who became a writer so that I would be able to stay in bed until noon”, a writer who “write[s] a lot of crap.” But if you ask me I’d say he writes interes ...more

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Mar 24, 2012 Arda rated it it was ok

It was love at first letter with Bukowski. This was months ago. I read the letter he wrote in ’86, (posted at “Letters of Note” in 2012,) and I just knew. I had a thing for that letter, and wanted to devour the words of the man who wrote it.

I gulped down “Women” quickly because that was the type of book it was. Reading Bukowski requires the willingness to loosen up. It is not easy to read this stuff through an ideological, feminist, or moral lens. This man does not bother to brush up his charact It was love at first letter with Bukowski. This was months ago. I read the letter he wrote in ’86, (posted at “Letters of Note” in 2012,) and I just knew. I had a thing for that letter, and wanted to devour the words of the man who wrote it.

I gulped down “Women” quickly because that was the type of book it was. Reading Bukowski requires the willingness to loosen up. It is not easy to read this stuff through an ideological, feminist, or moral lens. This man does not bother to brush up his character or polish his words. Whether we like it or not, we are forced to watch Chinaski throw up and throw his seeds in the fleshes of passing women. Chinaski is self-described as a “dirty old man”, “selfish, with deep pleasure”. He is a raging alcoholic, and, really, he is simply not bothered.

And so it goes. The more I read, the more Bukowski's appeal started to fade before my eyes. This possibly correlates with his own life-experience and through his sharing of this reality: “Human relationships didn't work anyhow. Only the first two weeks had any zing, then the participants lost their interest. Masks dropped away and real people began to appear: cranks, imbeciles, the demented, the vengeful, sadists, killers. Modern society had created its own kind and they feasted on each other. It was a duel to the death--in a cesspool.”

The buried sense of uneasiness on how easy it is to break up, let go and be with someone else adds to the depth of this book, and the book does have depth. Perhaps the easiest way to describe it would be through referencing Milan Kundera’s book title: “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”. While reading Bukowski's “Women”, I started to wonder about the meaning-of-it-all, but had to quickly stop myself from this questioning, and keep on reading. It means nothing. In the words of a friend of mine, "life means nothing and everything, but mostly nothing.” Bukowski emphasizes on the nothingness. He is ‘not wholesome in the sense of wholesome is as wholesome does’: “I liked to drink, I was lazy, I didn’t have a god, politics, ideas, ideals. I was settled into nothingness; a kind of non-being, and I accepted it. It didn’t make for an interesting person. I didn’t want to be interesting, it was too hard. What I really wanted was only a soft, hazy space to live in, and to be left alone. On the other hand, when I got drunk I screamed, went crazy, got all out of hand. One kind of behavior didn’t fit the other. I didn’t care.”

For the most part, this book was not rich in context. I wanted to love it, but dare I say: I was underwhelmed. I had this recurring notion that Bukowski was just trying so hard to look as though he was not trying so hard. It seems as though he wanted to give the impression that he couldn't care less about other writers, films, TV, culture, none of it really, and that he wasn't bothered by what people thought about his writing. On the other hand, there are all these self-compliments his characters chip in that disprove his indifference. The constant referrals he makes about himself being “one of the best writers”, and that he has “raw writing”, “humor”, impeccable ease in jumping from one girl to another and “fucking all these women” all start to become less and less amusing.

This book, albeit playful, could be helpful for a case-study on polygamy. It is also acute in conveying the harsh economic realities that the Americans of that generation had been going through. Additionally, it could assist women of all generations to understand the true composition of jerks, assholes and dirty old men, and know when to run for their lives if they are in a relationship with one.

Was I disappointed with this book? Unfortunately, yes. Would I read more Bukowski? The man is shameless and unbothered by it, but he sticks to his guns and has his own style. Give me another book by him, right now, and yes, yes I will.
...more

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Jan 30, 2019 Ahmed Ibrahim rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: روايات, ورقى, مكتبتى, مترجم, 2019

انتشرت صورة منذ فترة عن رواية صراع العرش لشخص يضع بوك مارك عند موت أي شخصية، فكرت أن أضع بوك مارك عندما يقوم هاينسكي بطل الرواية بالنوم مع إحداهن، أظن أنني بحاجة إلى أربعمائة بوك مارك على الأقل.

ماذا توقعت من بوكوفسكي في رواية باسم نساء؟ بعد أن قرأت مائتي صفحة تركتها أكثر من سنة، ثم عدت لأكملها هذه الأيام. توقعت أن الباقي سيكون مثل أول مائتين، وقد حدث، لكن المفاجئ بالنسبة إلي كانت النهاية، نهاية جميلة ومختلفة، تنتهي الرواية عندما يرفض البطل عرض امرأة بزيارته للمرة الأولى من بداية الرواية!
ليست ...more

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Mar 29, 2010 Elliott rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Reading "Women" is like watching a porno. At first, all that wanton sex is exciting and seductive and yeah, kind of funny too; then it starts to get repetitive and a little disturbing; pretty soon you're disgusted with all of it: sex and women and men and most of all, yourself. You promise that you'll never watch again but, deep down, you know you will. You dirty bastard.

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Aug 20, 2012 RandomAnthony rated it really liked it

I feel stupid getting into Charles Bukowski so much as a 43 year old guy with kids, a house, and a job. I mean, I read him in my late teens with all my friends and we romanticized his shitty SRO hotel existence. But over the last year I've either read or re-read all of his (non-poetry) books except Pulp, and I can see a depth and craft of which I wasn't aware as a kid. Women, turns out, is my favorite of the catalog.

I don't get much voyeuristic pleasure from Women. You know how recently-divorced ...more

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Sep 11, 2017 David Schaafsma rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction-20th-century

"I never pump up my vulgarity. I wait for it to arrive on its own terms."—Chinaski/Bukowski, responding to a woman who has organized his poetry reading and is surprised to find him rather nice and “normal” in person.

I am in general a kind of fan of Bukowski, especially his poetry and early Henry Chinaski novels. He’s brutally honest, nasty about pretentious people, and at the same time viciously self-deprecating. He worked for decades in factories, in the post office, in a variety of odd jobs he ...more

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Jul 15, 2015 FeReSHte rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: america, groupreading

اولین تجربه پر از شوق و ذوق بوکوفسکی خوانیم چندان آش دهن سوزی از آب در نیومد. جملات ساده و کوتاه و فاقد هرگونه استعاره ادبی و لغات نه چندان سنگین و پیچیده یه جور بی تفاوتی نویسنده رو نسبت به محبوب شدن اثر نزد خواننده به چشم میاره که اتفاقن در کمال تعجب دلنشین هم بود. بوکوفسکی با کلمات و جملات بازی نمی کنه

انگار مدام داشت داد می زد: من همینیم که هستم! همین قدر آشغال تو زندگی ،همین قدر فاسد تو اخلاق و همین قدر تنبل تو نوشتن! میخوای بخواه نمیخوای هم به سلامت

من هم تا شصت درصد داستان تحملش کردم ولی صف
اولین تجربه پر از شوق و ذوق بوکوفسکی خوانیم چندان آش دهن سوزی از آب در نیومد. جملات ساده و کوتاه و فاقد هرگونه استعاره ادبی و لغات نه چندان سنگین و پیچیده یه جور بی تفاوتی نویسنده رو نسبت به محبوب شدن اثر نزد خواننده به چشم میاره که اتفاقن در کمال تعجب دلنشین هم بود. بوکوفسکی با کلمات و جملات بازی نمی کنه

انگار مدام داشت داد می زد: من همینیم که هستم! همین قدر آشغال تو زندگی ،همین قدر فاسد تو اخلاق و همین قدر تنبل تو نوشتن! میخوای بخواه نمیخوای هم به سلامت

من هم تا شصت درصد داستان تحملش کردم ولی صفحه به صفحه جلو رفتم و هیچ اتفاق جدیدی نیفتاد...چرخه ی آشنایی، همخوابگی، الکل، خیانت ....و زنها امدند و رفتند و من حسابشون از دستم در رفت واین آمد و رفت ها این قدر سریع و پشت هم تکرار شد که اگه تفاوتی هم بینشون بود کم کم از بین رفت و فقط یک چیز باقی موند: جنسیت! و همه المان ها مهیا بود تا نشون بده که چه قدر نکبت داره از سر و کول این زندگی بالا میره. طنز ملایم نویسنده دلچسبه و قسمت هایی که با خودش راجع به زنان زندگیش و این سبک زندگیش فکر میکنه هم دوست داشتنیه ولی به نسبت کل داستان همین دو ستاره کافیه براش.در واقع اگه همین رو هم نداشت میشد داستان زرد به حساب اوردش

حقیقت اینه که داستان ابتدا خوب همراهم کرد و سریع پیش رفت ولی تکرار و تکرار و این تکرار لعنتی من رو از خودش دفع کرد.اواخر دیگه نمی خوندم فقط ورق میزدم چون بر اساس استدلال استقرایی می دونستم قراره چه اتفاقی بیفته!!! نمیگم تا اینجایی که خوندم بد بود. کتاب رو رها کردم صرفن به این دلیل که حس کردم باقی کتاب هم همین آشه و همین کاسه و اتفاق جدیدی قرار نیست رخ بده. اگه رخ بده هم که به هر حال من از دست دادمش

پ.ن اول: این سبک زندگی چه جذابیتی می تونه واسه خواننده داشته باشه حتی اگه زندگی نویسنده ای معروف باشه؟!؟ واقعن بعضی جاها دلم میخواست بهش بگم
Hey man! Give it a rest! :-|

پ.ن دوم: باعث تاسف بنده است که برای شخصیت های این داستان ،شخصیت های حقیقی سراغ دارم ...more

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Jan 24, 2019 Pedro Varanda rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Matar árvores para imprimir livros destes é criminoso.

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Oct 10, 2018 amapola rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: lett-americana

Non la vado a cercare, la volgarità. Aspetto che mi venga spontanea.

Lo sapevo che il vecchio sporcaccione con questo libro mi avrebbe fatta incazzare, sì, e anche che poi mi avrebbe fregata.

essere soli non è mai stato giusto. A volte si sentiva bene, ma non sembrava mai giusto

Accidenti a lui, dannato ubriacone!

Non volevo invecchiare male, volevo semplicemente dare le dimissioni, morire prima dell'arrivo della morte.

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Jan 22, 2019 owilkumowa rated it did not like it

Shelves: catching-up-on-classics

Bukowski knew shit about women.

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Jan 22, 2013 Henry Martin rated it really liked it

Shelves: permanent-collection

Women is definitely not Bukowski at his finest, nevertheless, the book has its merits. In this book, we get a slightly different glimpse at Henry Chinaski, Bukowski's alter ego, and once we get past the same scenery in which the only thing that changes are the sets of legs spread before him, we are offered a look into a life of a man who is nearing his top game (in term of recognition) while being torn inside. Torn by the insatiable appetite to taste all the fruit forbidden to him for the first Women is definitely not Bukowski at his finest, nevertheless, the book has its merits. In this book, we get a slightly different glimpse at Henry Chinaski, Bukowski's alter ego, and once we get past the same scenery in which the only thing that changes are the sets of legs spread before him, we are offered a look into a life of a man who is nearing his top game (in term of recognition) while being torn inside. Torn by the insatiable appetite to taste all the fruit forbidden to him for the first fifty years of his life, torn by the superficial attempts to fill a void, torn by his inability to attach, to be satisfied. We get the same gut-level honesty, the same raw emotions and descriptions Bukowski does so well; the same seedy neighborhoods and their protagonists; the same booze-fueled nights and sleepy days that pass in a haze. But we also get more. We get a vulnerable human being that on one hand desires to be good while on the other hand acts like a jerk. Can he help himself? Perhaps, yet he has no desire to. Some reviewers mention redemption at the end of the book. I did not see it that way. Hank became softer, yes, he did. But entering a relationship that would clearly not work in the long run is certainly not redemption. I view it more like a momentary break, a pause on his path towards self-destruction that marred Bukowski's real life.
For the most part, this book deals with sexual encounters of a random order, some lasting, some not. But are the short-lived ones an attempt to "crawl back to the womb", an attempt to find comfort and affection not allowed to him for the past five decades? Are the lasting encounters an attempt to find a woman crazier than he is, a woman more self-destructive than he is? Are those an attempt to reassure himself that there is nothing wrong with his own ways?
I loved Bukowski's own revelations and reflections in Hollywood. There was more to it than the book suggested. In Women, there is also more, but he has not yet reached a state of self-discovery, of self-observation. He is a kid in the candy store, except he is not a kid and the candy are the various women sleeping with him due to his recently acquired rock-star status. Does he suffer inside? Sure, but he does not see it that way, not yet. He, nevertheless, feels a void, he just didn't name it yet, and all the candy he get is not going to fill it.
To me, Women is a story of a man at the threshold of discovering himself. His path and method are rugged, his encounters utterly meaningless, but with each new woman that spends a night in his old, crappy bed, he inches closer to finding the lack of meaning in it all, closer to feeling something. And for this, Women makes for a good human story. It's not Factotum, Post Office, or Pulp...it's Bukowski in a relative material comfort, struggling to pull himself out of an emotional abyss.
...more

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Oct 23, 2016 Jim rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, sexuality

I really didn't know how to take this book and I'm not sure that I have it figured out yet. I knew little about Bukowski going into this one but it didn't take very long to figure out that the antihero Hank Chinaski is actually the alter ego of Bukowski. Both aging writers, German birth, -ski surname, etc, etc. The story seemed pointless at first, very sexual in nature; grittily,needlessly specific sexual content that couldn't even claim to be erotic in nature. Chinaski has carnal relations with ...more

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May 23, 2013 Michael rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-i-have-reviewed

Repulsive.

There it is, my one word review of Women.

As I'm reading the book, hating it more and more, I'm wondering how I can ever review it. I'm not too fond of reviewing books anyway, but I didn't know how I could even share my thoughts on it. I decided I'd just do an alphabetical 26-word review, starting with "atrocious" and ending with "zany" with each word a representation of what I hated about the book.

Way too much work.

So why didn't I like Women? I was turned off by what I perceived as Buk ...more

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Jun 13, 2014 Po Po rated it really liked it

I'll sum it up for you.

Drink, fuck, drink, horse race, drink, driiiiiiiink, write, drink, drink, watch a boxing match, give a reading, drink, fuck, drink, fuck, fuck, sleep, drink, write, drink, drink, fuck, drink, fuck, give a reading, drink, fuck, drink, fuuuuuuuck, drink, drink, fuck, fuck, drink, fuck.

These are the names of the ladies in his life: Lydia, Katherine, Joanna, Nicole, Debra, Tanya, Gertrude, Hilda, Iris, Mercedes, Liza,and Tammie. (There are others; I missed a few.)

There is some ...more

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Oct 25, 2010 Anna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I enjoyed this novel. Though it's thick, I found it an easy read, the type of book that I could dip into at any time. The structure of this novel is odd or unconventional in that at first it seems repetitive, this happens then that, with women entering and leaving his life. But somehow you grow used to it. It's almost like a compilation of episodes that often don't lead anywhere but allow you to understand the protagonist who's obviously Bukowski. I'll say it's pretty funny too. Bukowski's sense ...more

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Jan 21, 2019 Žilvinas Gečiauskas rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Nors Činaskiui jau 50 , bet netgi ir jam dar yra pirmų kartų , bet neatimsiu iš jūsų malonumo ir juoko iki ašarų. Tie kurie mylime Didžiojo Buko Knygas šitoje kažko naujo nerasime : skurde , skausme ir alkoholyje mirkstantys žemiausiojo sluoksnio Amerikos gyventojai , Didžiojo Buko išmintis , vulgarumas , tobula saviironija ,vienas už kitą trenktesni ir įdomesni žmonės , kūryba ,dulkinimasis ir alkoholis ir t.t. Vieniems užklius tai , kad joje kaip ir „Faktotumas“ pakankamai daug pasikartojimų , ...more

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Jun 07, 2013 Tia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 1970-s-through-1990-s

My God, this book is perfect. I finished it a day ago, so I've had time to digest it. It's gonna be hard to move onto my next book, my rebound read, because I'm still hung up on this one. I'm in love with it. I can't find a single flaw in it. This was my first Bukowski book, and I doubt his others will be able to live up to it for me. This would have to be one of my favorite books of all time, right up there with House of Leaves.

Basically this is autobiographical fiction about a brief period in My God, this book is perfect. I finished it a day ago, so I've had time to digest it. It's gonna be hard to move onto my next book, my rebound read, because I'm still hung up on this one. I'm in love with it. I can't find a single flaw in it. This was my first Bukowski book, and I doubt his others will be able to live up to it for me. This would have to be one of my favorite books of all time, right up there with House of Leaves.

Basically this is autobiographical fiction about a brief period in Bukowski's life. He was divorced, he'd had his heart broken, and he was starting to get mild fame for his writing. He was actually a romantic deep down, he was looking for a true connection with a woman. He hadn't had his pick of women in his past, since he was not a good-looking man and he had an awful childhood. He was insecure around beautiful women. But suddenly he found himself having groupies, in his 50's. He was a broken man and he attracted broken women. His alcoholism meant he ended up with other drunks and addicts, or women who became frustrated with his drinking.

Strange as it may seem, I related to this book more than anything I've read before. That's why I like it. That's why I read. I'm always looking for books that can put my own feelings into words. I don't agree with people saying this book is full of "misogyny." I'm not even sure they know what that word means. I've yet to find a female author's work that resonated with me half as much.

If anything, this book showed how much he truly loved women, even when he was unlucky in love. He seemed to be a sucker for them. He was a bit intimidated by them, especially when sober. He couldn't believe it when beautiful or kind women had an interest in him. Yet, somehow he always found a way to mess it up. Some women he just didn't have feelings for, and their relationships were amicable. But whenever he fell hard for women, it didn't seem to work out. I don't think that's him being a jerk, that's just how life goes sometimes. He was always very honest with all of them. Brutally honest. He never cheated or led them on.

This book reminded me so much of a year in my life. I was 28. I'd been in three serious long-term relationships. Those were the only men I'd slept with, and all of them broke my heart. So I went a little wild. I drank a lot, and I slept around a lot. Some of the men I got attached to, but they did not want to date me. Other men fell for me, but I did not feel anything for them. I spent that year drinking and fucking and writing before meeting the man I would marry, and I don't regret it at all, but I'm glad it's over.

Bukowski's alter ego, Chinaski, is the perfect antihero. The kind of flawed protagonist I'm always searching for. He's a piece of shit, his life is a mess, but you'll root for him anyways. You'll want him to find the love he's looking for, and in the end he does. He meets a woman who won't sleep with him for a long time, so they develop a true friendship. She's a good woman, easy to talk to, not willing to put up with his crap. And he really likes her, and she likes him, and in the end he realizes what that's worth. She's based off a woman he married. So I think the book ended rather sweetly.

Also, Bukowski can really write. This book was a joy to read. I couldn't put it down! Here's my problem with memoirs - just because it happened, doesn't mean it's interesting. Bukowski knew the power of fiction. He knew exactly what to keep, what to leave out, and what to fabricate. So this story is very readable. There was nothing I'd change about it.

I loved what Chinaski said about The New Yorker featuring writers that are too educated, and about Hemingway being talented but not knowing how to have fun. Bukowski is like Hemingway in that his prose is sparse - maybe not "clean" since he's such a dirty old man, but it's minimal. That's what I admire about Hemingway. What I don't like about Hemingway is he was so serious and wrote about very dull things, so his talent was wasted. Women is not a dull book! I think even people who hate it will stick with it. They may be disgusted, but they'll still be entertained.

I was hooked within the first few pages. You don't have to wait for this one to "start." It was hilarious, too. Not since Augusten Burroughs have I laughed out loud so much. And this book was insightful. There were quotable lines or paragraphs in every single chapter. This is going to be one of those books that I read again and again. One of those books I wish I would've found 10 or 15 years ago. Finding this book was like finding my husband. It made me think, "Where have you been all my life" but then, also, "I probably wouldn't have been ready for you when I was young and too close to things." I'm in a place right now to appreciate this.
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Sep 24, 2015 Frances rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, own

I know I am not the only one who has a love and hate relationship with Bukowski. Some said he was their hero. I can understand you, though. Partly because he was so relatable-in a sense that my (our) feelings and thoughts were articulated and was better put into words in his writings. In my age, I have no idea what I'm doing and Bukowski made me feel that it is okay to feel so. To hate my job. To hate my past lovers. To feel lazy. To feel lonely. To feel unsatisfied. To feel degraded just becaus ...more

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Jul 20, 2014 Jason rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2016

How do I rate a book on here with 6 stars?

When I was a teenager this book was the first dirty novel I read and it was the point I became obsessed with Bukowski. Now reading this many years later I still love this book, it still feels really dirty too. Bukowski is the ultimate rock-star of the poetry world and this book is the proof.

Bukowski will shag any woman who is up for it, he'll treat them mean and in some cases drive them insane, he makes mistakes and doesn't learn from them cos he doesn't ...more

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About Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski

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Henry Charles Bukowski (born as Heinrich Karl Bukowski) was a German-born American poet, novelist and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural and economic ambience of his home city of Los Angeles.It is marked by an emphasis on the ordinary lives of poor Americans, the act of writing, alcohol, relationships with women and the drudgery of work. Bukowski wrote thousands ...more

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Quotes from Women

“That's the problem with drinking, I thought, as I poured myself a drink. If something bad happens you drink in an attempt to forget; if something good happens you drink in order to celebrate; and if nothing happens you drink to make something happen.” — 4962 likes

“being alone never felt right. sometimes it felt good, but it never felt right.” — 3187 likes

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