Hot Water Music Audiobook By Charles Bukowski cover art

Hot Water Music

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Hot Water Music

By: Charles Bukowski
Narrated by: Christian Baskous
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With his characteristic raw and minimalist style, Charles Bukowski takes us on a walk through his side of town in Hot Water Music. He gives us little vignettes of depravity and lasciviousness, bite sized pieces of what is both beautiful and grotesque.

The stories in Hot Water Music dash around the worst parts of town – a motel room stinking of sick, a decrepit apartment housing a perpetually arguing couple, a bar tended by a skeleton – and depict the darkest parts of human existence. Bukowski talks simply and profoundly about the underbelly of the working class without raising judgement.

In the way he writes about sex, relationships, writing, and inebriation, Bukowski sets the bar for irreverent art – his work inhabits the basest part of the mind and the most extreme absurdity of the everyday.

Anthologies & Short Stories Literary Fiction Short Story Anthologies Fiction Genre Fiction Biographical Fiction Funny Biography
Vivid Descriptions • Humorous Stories • Perfect Narration • Irreverent Takes • Universal Themes • Excellent Voice Match

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..gotta admit though, i prefer charles bukowski in book form. Not a fan of folks narrating his work.

My first buk back in '90 or so, enjoyed revisit!

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Christian Baskous is better than I thought. He apparently rises to the challenge of more dramatic material. But only Will Patton can PERFORM like nobody else. Okay?

True-to-life stories with only gentle depravity.

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I've read probably 20+ Bukowski books. I enjoy his novels and poetry, but the short story collections have always been hit or miss. I had never read Hot Water Music before, but I figured to get it on Audible and give it a shot. I am very, very impressed with it. The stories are all very short. Most of them involve the types of 'ordinary madness' that Bukowski wrote about so well. I am very pleased I bought this audio and I will listen to again in the future.

Awesome collection of short stories

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You'll recognize the seeds of stories from his novels and the movie Barfly.

Christian Baskous as always performs perfectly.

Early Bukowski

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Bukowski; what else can you say? He’s at his best with the short story and this collection has some great ones. I did notice that a few towards the end I had heard before; it wasn’t deja vu. I think I prefer Baskous as narrator over the actor from YS who’s name I cannot recall…

Great, but some overlap with prior collections

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