TALES OF ORDINARY MADNESS

This collection of Charles Bukowski's stories is not for the faint of heart. Bukowski displays questionable attitudes toward women, and his writing is alternately scatological and crude. But some brief moments of deeper insight are sprinkled here and there as well. Narrator Will Patton's gruff, gritty, brooding depiction is spot-on for the hard-drinking, hard-living Bukowski and his hard-drinking, hard-living characters. Patton captures Bukowski's passion and depravity, in turn, and his ambling, rolling pace hints at the effects of the drink and the toughness of characters living on the fringes. This reviewer found it hard to like the stories, but the performance itself is well suited to the writing, and, ultimately, well done. S.E.G. 2018 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2018]