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THE REVIEW
"Pulp - A Story of the 20th Century" was released in 1994, the same year of its author's death, probably one of the best in the United States and worldwide, a man capable of recreating a raw and realistic portrait of a country too busy appearing beautiful, but by dropping bombs in countries lost in the jungle, it only manages to show the ugly, bad, and paranoid side. And this is the America of Charles Bukowski: there is no "American dream", only disappointments, marginalized characters, situations on the edge of the impossible. This work, however, is almost a singular event in his writing: Bukowski creates a story, invents the characters, leaving only beloved Los Angeles as the location, a companion of drinking sprees for sixty years.
"Pulp" is the story of a private investigator (Nick Belane), a failed middle-aged man who one day finds four cases on his table that could turn his career around: Lady Death asking him to find Céline, a Texan billionaire who wants to know who his wife is seeing, a coffin maker asking him to eliminate a seductive alien from his life, and finally to find the Red Sparrow. As the story unfolds, the investigator will discover that the different cases are, in a sense, interconnected and that the final solution to the puzzle personally concerns him because it coincides with his long-awaited death.
A Bukowski close to the end embodies a classic character of his writing, the failure of the moment, who can only escape the situation of moral and spiritual misery in which he finds himself through death, but at the same time laughs about it, imagining death as a stunning woman capable of wiping the smile off your face with her B-side, while in the background imaginary and bizarre characters give him the opportunity to go heavy - for the last time - on Man and life, just as his prey Céline did with the famous "Journey to the End of the Night", offering one last masterpiece of cynicism and irony mixed with the usual downtown Bukowskian wisdom.
The man mad enough to start living with beasts has solved the case, the case of his life.
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Summary by Bot
Charles Bukowski's 'Pulp' is a dark, ironic tale centered on Nick Belane, a failed private investigator confronting death and human misery. Set in Los Angeles, Bukowski critiques the false American dream through cynical storytelling. This final novel uniquely unfolds a crafted plot filled with bizarre characters, blending life’s harsh realities with humor and wisdom. 'Pulp' stands as a profound farewell and a masterpiece of black humor and insight.
Charles Bukowski
Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) was a German-born American poet, novelist and short story writer associated with dirty realism and transgressive fiction. Raised in Los Angeles, he wrote extensively about working-class life through his alter ego Henry ‘Hank’ Chinaski. He also penned the screenplay for Barfly and remained a prolific voice in American counterculture.10 Reviews
