8/28/19 Women By Charles Bukowski?

    This may be the first book I have read this year, so much for trying to read a book a month, but it was a good one.  Women follows the day to day life of Henry Chinaski, Bukowski's alter ego he uses frequently as a character that is himself.  It almost seems comical that a man like Chinaski can continually maintain a stream of these young perfect looking empty vessels that he uses for his amusement.  If I understand his life cycle, this book chronologically is years after he wrote Post Office, which was his first book and was a day to day sort of re-telling of his days working, mostly as a postal worker.  That was probably the first book I read from him and he went by Chinaski in that book as well.

    In the present book, Women, we find him single, his wife has passed away and he does not seem to want to settle down.  He mentions beating the game of life by getting older and having relations with younger women as he goes along.  If it is sweet to have a 20 year old in his fifties, it would be the absolute cherry on top to have an 18 year old on his death bed, which almost seems to be what he is going for.

    His was a simple life throughout this book, which maybe covers a year or so of his life.  I only caught him going through the holidays once and he managed to screw that up, with the gal he was almost dating and in a committed relationship with.  There was a want and a need to go trying the next great thing, which was anyone that reached out to him and showed him the slightest interest.  When left to his own devices, he entertained himself in that poor neighborhood by conversing with friends he barely liked, or by going to the racetrack, which he seemed to win about as often as he lost.

    In the end he seemed to realize he was hurting some good people and we see him for the first time in a long time turn down an 18 year old who is throwing herself at him.  In his own words, that small action reflects upon him well enough that he is calling himself a good guy as he takes the time to feed a cat that hangs out outside.  There is no plot or mission or thing that needs to get accomplished.  He is simply going through the days and living them to the fullest of his capabilities.