If any author didn't need an academic introduction, Bukowski was it. Bukowski's works are carefree, honest and simple snatches of everyday life. This book tries to dissect and categorize the Bukster and this is the book's biggest fault. Bukowski was into immediate sensations and reactions. This book is a dry-as-dust and 'reflective' leftist tirade that has nothing of the spontaneity, guts and life affirming vision that Bukowski is all about. If you enjoy dry parchment and cliched leftist ramblings, then this book is for you.

Those of us who enjoy and appreciate Buk usually do so with a grain of salt. This book turns him into some sort of class representative which he most assuredly was not. Buk was a bum, plain and simple. He wrote well and simply, but he was still a bum. Anything else is the work of an overstimulated and grasping academic sensibility that has no place in the Buk universe. I would recommend Buk's biography by Sounes as an antidote to this sleep-inducing drivel.

Harrison's collection of essays attempt to bend Bukowski and his work over to a leftist perspective. Looking a little closely at Bukowski, his writings (poetry, prose, stories) tend to shift in an apolitical pattern. There is no leftist consistency with his work, though I'll give three stars for Harrison's effort and my own leftist sympathies.

-- Brad Evans --

The logic is clear. The examples are numerous. The only such work of its kind to my knowledge. There is plenty of academic jargon, but the ideas are recognizable. Only the complete Bukowski nut will not find something new worth considering. Readers will find the sheer volume of quotes useful, but some literary background helps, there is a chapter on 'Metonymy'. Probably too specialized for those unfamiliar with the author's work, unless they happen to be preoccupied with the American Labor Movement.

Gerald Locklin has the dubious distinction of writing the first "book" on Bukowski after his death. The whole book reads like a quickie for profit job. In fact most of it was written while Buk was alive. There are letters and attempts at poetry by this "hack professor" mascrading as Buk's close friend. Don't waste your $25.00 on this book. Instead buy Gay Brewer's (also an academic) book on Bukowski which is by far the best book written on the subject so far (June 2000).

The Bukowski bandwagon keeps rolling along. Everybody and his drinking pals are coming out with memoirs of the great man. If only they would stick to Bukowski and keep themselves out of it. Bukowski fans are hardly concerned with Locklin's habits, penchants and foibles. It ranks with Richmond's "Spinning Off Bukowski" and Cherkovski's "Hank" as self-promoting and self-justifying hack writing posing as literature.

The harsh words above are mitigated by the realisation that without the above mentioned authors we would know less about Bukowski. These guys knew him and most of us didn't. To the next colleague/crony/admirer/detractor etc. who comes out with yet another hastily put together fast-buck book please stick to Bukowski and leave yourselves in the background where you belong.

Readers are advised to look at the Sounes biography "LOCKED IN THE ARMS OF A CRAZY LIFE" for the best appraisal of Bukovski's life and work. It is ironic that Sounes never met Bukowski and yet his book is the best.

Charles Bukowski, Gerald Locklin, two almost household names in the poetry small press. Who came first? Why does it matter? Each was, or is, unique in his approach to the written word. Bukowski liked to drink, to play the horses, to write, but that was not the totality of the poet or the man. Readers seems to expect miracles from authors/poets and artists. The truth is through, and under, all that talent lies the human persona which colors their work. One can be a slacker who boozes, but has a way with words, the other can be a University professor for over 20 years, is dedicated to teaching youthful minds while still trying to pursue his own writing talents and muse. Poets and writers are not always bosom friends, not always drinking buddies, but on occasion, they meet, light a few fires, share a few incidences, then go along their own pathways. Bukowski and Locklin were like that...their paths crossed. Gerald Locklin tells his tale through poems and short essays. This is a gem. This is history in the small poetry press. This book is life and those who buy, then read Charles Bukowski: A Sure Bet by Gerald Locklin with an open, receptive mind will mine word-gems. Though I am a book and periodical publisher, and an editor, I am certainly willing to buy Locklin's books. They are a treasured part of my own library. Thanks, Gerald, for a very good read!

I love Buk, but honestly, the story is 6 pages long, theres a few pages of cartoons, & NONE of it is funny.

This book is more like a booklet. It is VERY slim, with many blank pages, just to make it feel thicker. Crumb fans get 7 drawings, and Buk readers get 7 pages.

This story of a broken down, z-grade, stand up comedian who is on his last legs in the business, is realistic. At one point, the comedy club manager tells the main character, (drawn to resemble Bukowski), to lighten up, that people come to forget their troubles. They don't want to be reminded of their problems by the entertainer onstage. Which is something that I've actually heard a club manager say in my hometown!

I enjoy Bukowski, and have been following Crumb's work for years, so I know that there are much better collections of their work, separately available, that give you much more quantity and quality for your money.

I suppose that this book is only of interest to the confirmed followers of either creator, but be forewarned that you won't get as much as you can usually expect from a book by either Crumb or Bukowski. Bummer.

There's No Business is about a stand-up comedian whose losing his touch. In typical Bukowski fashion the main character is someone you feel sympathy for even though they have no one to blame but themselves for their misfortune. This is worth buying because Bukowski and Crumb are masters of what they do and anything they team up on is instantly a classic.

This thin volume has nothing new from Locklin. He treats Bukowski so gently you might think Buk a fragile fairy godmother type if you didn't know of him previously. This book is obviously printed to make a buck and toadies to Sir Mammon.