He brought everyone down to earth, even the angels -- LEONARD COHEN
In an age of conformity, Bukowski wrote about the people nobody wanted to be: the ugly, the selfish, the lonely, the mad * * Observer * *
Sometimes funny and always sad, Ham on Rye is written in an admirably hard, bare, vivid style * * Times Literary Supplement * *
Both powerful and, where appropriate, extremely funny * * Sunday Telegraph * *
Reflective, humane, tremendously evocative and absorbingly readable * * The Times * *
A scorching account of a childhood, adolescence, a life of ugliness, pain, escape, alcohol, loneliness. Often it is's funny - often it's disturbing - Ham on Rye is a powerful book -- RODDY DOYLE
A Laureate of American low life * * Time * *
This great novel is Bukowski's supremely honest account of a twisted childhood -- Howard Sounes * * author of Bukowski: Locked in the Arms of a Crazy Life * *
The Thing about Bukowski is, when you read what he has to say, he's right -- SEAN PENN
Raunchy yet lyrical, occasionally hilarious while abysmally sad * * San Francisco Chronicle * *
We all knew Bukowski was a tough guy, but who would have guessed that even the grave could not shut him up? -- BILLY COLLINS
There is a real poignancy in the people encountered in Bukowski's work * * New York Times Book Review * *
