Legendary barfly Charles Bukowski's fourth novel first published in 1982 is probably the most
autobiographical and moving of all his books dealing in particular with his difficult
relationship with his father and his early childhood in LA. Ham on Rye follows the path of
Bukowski's alter-ego Henry Chinaski through the high school years of acne and rejection and
into the beginning of a long and successful career in alcoholism. The novel begins against the
backdrop of an America devastated by the Depression and takes the Chinaski legend up to the
bombing of Pearl Harbour. Arguably Bukowski's finest novel.
