Post Office (7)

Post Office
by Charles Bukowski
read 4/8/08

This book was suggested by a co-worker as someone who is "real". The dedication page reads "This is presented as a work of fiction and dedicated to nobody."
It is the thinly veiled biography of the author. He works at the Post Office but does not like it, spends is off hours chasing women and drinking.. lots of drinking. The lives with various women, married, divorced, children, good times and in bad.. the one constant in his life seems to be the Post Office. The thankless job with sadistic supervisors and impossible work loads.
What struck me most was his indifference to everything. Especially his relationships, he is just along for the ride. At one point he develops a system and starts winning at the track. Here he lives the good life.. where every day he goes to the track, drinks, wins, then finds a quiet restaurant to have a big steak and a motel to sleep at. Next day repeat.
At one point he runs into a woman he knows at the track. He tells her he is blue because he attended a funeral of a friend that day.. 3rd funeral in 2 years. Both is parents, now this friend (who was actually a former common-law wife). This is the only mention of the family, yet he spends the next several pages explaining his horse betting system and the calls of each race and how he wins.
The ending of the book has a nice twist to it, while not completely accurate with his life, is none the less a great ending.
The book is interesting not for what he says, but for what he doesn't say, or just hints at.