First published 1975
Deferred from military service, Henry Chinaski drifts from city to city, scraping by on odd jobs and casual encounters. His ambitions fade into a blur of cheap hotels and dive bars as he drowns his frustrations in a relentless cycle of pathetic whores, sordid rooms, and drunken brawls. Yet beneath the degenerate surface, Chinaski's search for meaning persists, even in the face of overwhelming hopelessness.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate
Tropes: anti-hero, down-on-his-luck, existential-crisis
Setting: United States
205 pages · Paperback · Black Sparrow Pr
Content warnings: alcohol-abuse, depression, substance-abuse