![]() ![]() ![]() Should readers feel obligated to start with Bukowski’s vast catalogue of poems, novels, and short stories if they expect to enjoy Pulp? Certainly not. In any case, “farewell” hardly seems the proper way to begin one’s relationship with a writer who spent the better part of five decades compiling such an impressive body of work. ![]() Drawing on science fiction and hardboiled noir elements as well, the end result is a bizarre send-up of genre fiction that is just as hilarious and insightful as anything else he wrote. In it, the aged author takes his readers on one last foray into familiar territories of sex, madness, and death, while at the same time expanding on those themes in brilliant and often unexpected ways. I say this, not because it doesn’t rank right up there with his other books, or because greener readers will fail to grasp the allusions to earlier work it contains, but rather because as his ultimate novel (completed months before his death) Pulp can easily be seen as Bukowski’s final farewell. ![]() For newcomers to the world of Charles Bukowski, be forewarned: Pulp (Ecco, 202 pages) is probably not the best place to start. ![]()
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