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    Hollywood
    Hollywood
    Hollywood
    Audiobook6 hours

    Hollywood

    Written by Charles Bukowski

    Narrated by Christian Baskous

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    From iconic tortured artist/everyman Charles Bukowski, Hollywood is the fictionalization of his experience adapting his novel Barfly into a movie by the same name.

    Henry Chinaski, Bukowski’s alter-ego, is pushed to translate a semi-autobiographical book into a screenplay for John Pinchot.  He reluctantly agrees, and is thrust into the otherworld called Hollywood, with its parade of eccentric and maddening characters: producers, artists, actors and actresses, film executives and journalists.  In this world, the artistry of books and film is lost to the dollar, and Chinaski struggles to keep his footing in the tangle of cons that comprise movie making.

    Hollywood is Dirty Old Man Bukowski at his most lucid.  It overflows with curses, sex, and alcohol.  And through it all, or from it all, Bukowski finds flashes of truth about the human condition. 

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateAug 13, 2013
    ISBN9780062302960
    Author

    Charles Bukowski

    Charles Bukowski is one of America’s best-known contemporary writers of poetry and prose and, many would claim, its most influential and imitated poet. He was born in 1920 in Andernach, Germany, to an American soldier father and a German mother, and brought to the United States at the age of two. He was raised in Los Angeles and lived there for over fifty years. He died in San Pedro, California, on March 9, 1994, at the age of seventy-three, shortly after completing his last novel, Pulp. Abel Debritto, a former Fulbright scholar and current Marie Curie fellow, works in the digital humanities. He is the author of Charles Bukowski, King of the Underground, and the editor of the Bukowski collections On Writing, On Cats, and On Love.

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    Reviews for Hollywood

    3.5/5

    420 ratings12 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Hollywood is Charles Bukowski's fictional account of the making of the film "Barfly," based on his script. His alter ego, Henry Chinaski - rarely seen without a drink - rides the fim-making roller coaster, attending the filming and occasionally re-writing the script on the set to accomodate the actors egos. Real-life characters are represented - sometimes thinly disguised. The "noted German filmaker" Wenner Zergog is an example.The deadpan humor throughout the book manages to both accentuate and humanize the foolishness characteristic of the film industry.
    • 4/5
      Fun interesting unique I would recommend people watching barfly before they read the book it has a very interesting dimension to the making of that you don't get to see in the making of films it's a very intimate rare candid behind-the-scenes look at the world of Hollywood from the point of view of Charles Bukowski that I don't think you'll get from any other author
    • 5/5
      This was a lot of fun. The character of the director is great, as are some of his anecdotes, Hank has really mellowed, and I find Sara to be pleasantly sympathetic. Special mention for the narrator, too - he keeps it rolling along nicely and has really got a handle on Hank’s voice.
    • 2/5
      Story is good if you are interested in the subject, however the narrator is awful, the worst. Christian runs through it as fast as he can, it's as if he is in a hurry to "clock-out".
    • 5/5
      This is Bukowski at his funniest. François Racine and his chickens, ya poor bastard. Love it baby.
    • 3/5
      I do admire Bukowski's sparse writing style; not a word is wasted but, for me, this book fails to live up to its blurb. The reverse of the paperback edition promises, "There are many scandalous books about life in Hollywood, but none as poetic and dangerous as this..." I did not find a great deal of either scandal or dangerousness in this work.The book is another of those stories which are basically true, but the author has fictionalised it so that a). he may exaggerate the drama for amusement, and b). he may tell tales detrimental to the characters without the risk of a law suit. Bukowski plays a game with homophones so that we may join in with 'guess the real identity' of his victims. This is amusing, for a while, but does become a trifle tedious. Being generous to our scribe, it may be that the 'wackiness' of Hollywood was greeted with incredulity in 1989, when this was written, but today, money spent rashly and grand binges of booze and (gasp, shock, horror) other substances barely causes an eyelash to flutter.This has turned into an undeservingly unkind review: the book isn't bad, it's just that it isn't particularly good either.
    • 4/5
      In der echten Welt hat Bukowski das Drehbuch für den Film "Barfly" geschrieben. In diesem Roman lässt er Chinaski das Drehbuch zu einem entsprechenden Film über sein (Bukowskis/Chainskis) Leben als Trinker schreiben. Anders als manch früheres seiner Werke, ist diese Geschichte recht vergnüglich aufgefallen. Er scheint von einem etwas altersmilden Bukowski geschrieben zu sein. Der Roman persifliert das Leben der Filmschaffenden und hat einige durchaus amüsante Passagen. Aber er hat auch etwas schwächere Abschnitte, die sich ziehen. Es fehlen die Hoffnungslosigkeit und auch die sprachliche Härte, die Bukowskis beste Bücher auszeichen.
    • 3/5
      While not the most ambitious Hollywood novel, it's wise in its way and definitely entertaining.
    • 4/5
      It certainly was interesting if nothing else. His writing does not suffer though his disinterest in the topic shows a little bit. For once, Bukowski seems tired, the energy must have went into the script and the poetry written during this period. Nevertheless for fans of the guy, this is a must read.
    • 3/5
      Bukowski's reminscence of his time with Hollywood after he got famous and they 'discovered' him. Fairly good tale if you're into Bukowski.
    • 3/5
      Being a long-time admirer of Bukowski's work, and having read the Barfly screenplay and the movie several times, I was excited to read "Hollywood" both for simple enjoyment and for some additional insight into his experiences with the film crowd. There's adventure and drinking and crises throughout, and it's a quick read. Dive in.
    • 4/5
      I read this book in a week, and i'm glad I got right through it because as much as I enjoy Bukowski's simple and direct prose, and his great analysis of the corrupt Hollywood system, his detachment from anything deeper than alcohol, sex, and horse racing can bring me down. I'm giving it a four stars as a book, because I think its so well written, not so much as how it effected me.