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Shadowboxing With Bukowski
Shadowboxing with Bukowski blurs the line between memoir and fiction. It's the comic saga of a young bookseller who struggles to keep his bookstore afloat in the harbor town of San Pedro, CA, where the infamous Charles Bukowski resides. Pushed to the edge by events beyond his control: his flailing marriage, the curmudgeonly ghost of the former owner, and the community that sees him as an outsider, the intrepid book lover fights the noble battle against mediocrity and apathy while in a moment of desperation his wife enlists Bukowski’s aid.
The original title, which was later shorted, was: Shadowboxing With Bukowski, Memoir of a Severed Head.
The original title, which was later shorted, was: Shadowboxing With Bukowski, Memoir of a Severed Head.
251 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2016
1 person is currently reading
346 people want to read
About the author
Darrell Kastin
9 books23 followersDarrell Kastin was born in Los Angeles, California. His maternal ancestors came from the Azores, settling in the United States at the end of World War II. He has spent considerable time on the islands over the years, using them as a setting for many of his short stories. His novel, The Undiscovered Island was published in 2009 by Tagus Press. It won the Silver Prize in the 2010 IPPY Awards. His short fiction has appeared in The Seattle Review, The Windsor Review, The Crescent Review, The Blue Mesa Review and elsewhere. he is a former used bookstore owner, and a former rare book scout. In 2007 Kastin released a CD of original songs titled Lullabies For Sinners--combination of folk and blues. 2011 he recorded a CD in Lisbon, Portugal, of Portuguese songs based on the poetry of Fernando Pessoa and Florbela Espanca, setting the poems to his music. The legendary Pedro Barroso produced the CD and used his musicians on the CD. Kastin played guitar and piano, and some background vocal, and his daughter, Shawna Lenore sang the vocals.
A short story collection titled, The Conjuror & Other Tales of the Azorean Nights was published in 2012.
Darrell Kastin currently resides in Sacramento, CA
A short story collection titled, The Conjuror & Other Tales of the Azorean Nights was published in 2012.
Darrell Kastin currently resides in Sacramento, CA
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 10, 2020
”I gazed through the door of my bookshop, awaiting the eager throngs of book reading, book loving, more importantly, book buying customers--far too numerous to count--that San Pedro had to offer. The signs were favorable. Soon the Reagans would retire from office. New blood would turn things around. Young blood. People would wake up, wondering how it had happened, how the country had been allowed to slip into that deep dark sleep. Video games would become passé. America would regain its lost soul. The intelligentsia would rise again.”
A lot of dreamers wash up on the doorsteps of bookstores. They think that by working in a bookstore they are going to meet a lot of readers much like themselves, who are always questing for a lost classic of literature or looking for the edgiest, sex-laden, drug-inducing novel. They expect to meet hoards of readers who love books as much as they do. They anticipate meeting lifetime friends, who will provide hours and hours of fever-induced discussions about books from Chaucer to Stephen King.
I won’t disabuse you of these fantasies, but Darrell Kastin just might. This is a fiction book, based on his life in the book biz, making this book a Fact + Fiction = Faction book. I worked in the bookstore business from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, so the eerie part about reading this book was that I lived a parallel bookstore life to Kastin. I approached this book with trepidation because most books I try to read about the bookstore business end up unfinished in my trade/sell pile. At the same time, reading a bookstore book that actually gets it right is also kind of painful.
Nicholas Kastinovich, AKA Darrel Kastin, has been given a used bookstore by his father in San Pedro, California, better known as the home of Charles Bukowski. This is really an act of desperation by his father, who believes that hard work can conquer all and, because his son loves books, maybe he can finally inspire him to be successful at something. The slender slice of reading public that exists in San Pedro do not cooperate.
I worked for a good part of my book career in a store that catered to all kinds of entertainment. The bulk of the store was used books, but we also carried used video games, CDs, magazines, and DVDs. We’d have midnight madness sales and bring in local music entertainment, which frequently meant the owner would get arrested for noise pollution. He would always make sure the press were there to see him get arrested because the bad boy aspect was good for business. I had many issues with the owner, but one thing the man was good at was promotion. For a used bookstore, we rocked and rolled and sucked all the oxygen out of Tucson for other used bookstores to exist. Every day was a blast, and even if too many people were ignoring the books and browsing the music, video game, and dvd stacks, we enjoyed the hum of steady commerce. Nick’s experience was much different than mine. He had a lot of time to read, to ponder, to go freaking insane.
Here are some things that drove both Nick and I crazy about working in the book business.
1) Getting a reader to read someone new. The worst, most stubborn, readers about reading one author and no other are Stephen King readers. They would bug us for weeks before a new King book was released. Is it out yet? They would be as jittery as a crack addict needing a fix. Meanwhile, I would say, While you're waiting for the new Stephen King, why don’t you try Peter Straub, Robert R. McCammon, or Dean Koontz? That would send them scurrying out of the store like I’d just offered them chocolate with a razorblade filling. For someone who reads as eclectically as I do, this behavior is baffling.
2) Biblio-virgins. These are collectors who prefer to buy their books new, and if they have to buy a used book, they want it to look virginal. Untouched by human hands. They don’t buy books to read them. They buy books as investments. They would drive me nuts with questions about who was hot and who would have lasting prominence. I’m a book collector, and I love signed, first editions, and I do want them in the best condition possible, but I read my books. I take great care, but I read them. In fact, I have many books in my collection that are just reading copies, but they are books that are as important to me as my rare copy of Blood Meridian or my lovely copy of Something Wicked this Way Comes. When people ask me what books they should collect, I always say, Collect what you love.
3) Why can’t you pay me the same price for my books that you are selling them for on the shelf? You would think that anyone who has navigated this planet, especially in America, for any length of time would understand the necessity of profit. At least a couple of times a month, I would have someone storm out of the bookstore because I had offered them much less for their books than what I intended to sell them for. As they would harange me for trying to rip them off, I’d point to the lights overhead, to the employees scurrying around, to the thousands of unsold books, but they still would refuse to understand why we insisted on making a profit. I can only think that they, as a child, became lost in the cosmos of a Star Trek world, where everyone had what they needed and everyone worked at a job they loved. The concept of needing a profit has been eliminated from their world. How nice would that be?
Nick’s marriage is on the rocks. Nothing like poverty and the looming spectre of epic failure to put a strain on a marriage. He is flirting, chasing, lusting after a young woman named Katherine, who is driving him batshit crazy. There is nothing sexier than a person who not only reads but actually reads the books you suggest to them. He’ll catch the lingering scent of her perfume amongst the stacks, even though he knows she hasn’t been in the store in days. She wants him. He is reluctant to put the final stake in the heart of his marriage. When he does decide that he is ready, she has recategorized him as a friend, in other words unfuckable. Haha! It’s a bit of Shakespearean bookseller type tragedy. He doesn’t want to be friends. He wants to ravish her. Can he rescue his missed opportunity?
Charles Bukowski is the man who could actually save his store. A signing event with Hank would have people coming in from all over the world to meet not only their favorite writer but, for many people, their cultural hero. Nick, in true self-destructive fashion, has a mind meltdown and composes an essay accusing Hemingway and Bukowski of single-handedly destroying American writing. Considering that he has been a lifetime fan of Bukowski, this is very odd behavior. The one person capable of keeping his bookstore alive is the very man he decides to attack. I like to call it Bookstore Madness and felt it creepy crawling through my own brain from time to time. Will his wife prove to be the unlikely hero of this fable? Will Bukowski rearrange his face? Does Nick want the store saved, or does he crave real-life scars more than he wants to succeed?
The book careens around like a drunken sailor walking the length of a storm-tossed ship. There are moments when the books in his store are speaking to Nick, and then there are times when paranoia (it does feel like the whole world is conspiring to drive a bookstore owner to bankruptcy) makes him believe that slow sales is just slow death.
”Was it important, after all, to make money, to succeed as a bookseller, just to satisfy creditors, to become an upstanding member of the community, such as it was, and pay money into the coffers of the government? Or was it my mission to uncover great poets and essayists, playwrights and historians, and to share these discoveries with others, to keep these writers from fading into oblivion?”
It sounds dangerously close to writing book reviews and giving them away for free, in the hopes that some readers will be compelled to read books they would have never found otherwise.
There lies madness.
The writing is on the wall for Nicholas Kastinovich, AKA Darrell Kastin, but if you don’t mind a loose plot, cynical bookstore revelations, and some wild diversions that provide no resolutions, this book is a blast. Even when there is no hope, you just can’t help rooting for a miracle.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/
A lot of dreamers wash up on the doorsteps of bookstores. They think that by working in a bookstore they are going to meet a lot of readers much like themselves, who are always questing for a lost classic of literature or looking for the edgiest, sex-laden, drug-inducing novel. They expect to meet hoards of readers who love books as much as they do. They anticipate meeting lifetime friends, who will provide hours and hours of fever-induced discussions about books from Chaucer to Stephen King.
I won’t disabuse you of these fantasies, but Darrell Kastin just might. This is a fiction book, based on his life in the book biz, making this book a Fact + Fiction = Faction book. I worked in the bookstore business from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, so the eerie part about reading this book was that I lived a parallel bookstore life to Kastin. I approached this book with trepidation because most books I try to read about the bookstore business end up unfinished in my trade/sell pile. At the same time, reading a bookstore book that actually gets it right is also kind of painful.
Nicholas Kastinovich, AKA Darrel Kastin, has been given a used bookstore by his father in San Pedro, California, better known as the home of Charles Bukowski. This is really an act of desperation by his father, who believes that hard work can conquer all and, because his son loves books, maybe he can finally inspire him to be successful at something. The slender slice of reading public that exists in San Pedro do not cooperate.
I worked for a good part of my book career in a store that catered to all kinds of entertainment. The bulk of the store was used books, but we also carried used video games, CDs, magazines, and DVDs. We’d have midnight madness sales and bring in local music entertainment, which frequently meant the owner would get arrested for noise pollution. He would always make sure the press were there to see him get arrested because the bad boy aspect was good for business. I had many issues with the owner, but one thing the man was good at was promotion. For a used bookstore, we rocked and rolled and sucked all the oxygen out of Tucson for other used bookstores to exist. Every day was a blast, and even if too many people were ignoring the books and browsing the music, video game, and dvd stacks, we enjoyed the hum of steady commerce. Nick’s experience was much different than mine. He had a lot of time to read, to ponder, to go freaking insane.
Here are some things that drove both Nick and I crazy about working in the book business.
1) Getting a reader to read someone new. The worst, most stubborn, readers about reading one author and no other are Stephen King readers. They would bug us for weeks before a new King book was released. Is it out yet? They would be as jittery as a crack addict needing a fix. Meanwhile, I would say, While you're waiting for the new Stephen King, why don’t you try Peter Straub, Robert R. McCammon, or Dean Koontz? That would send them scurrying out of the store like I’d just offered them chocolate with a razorblade filling. For someone who reads as eclectically as I do, this behavior is baffling.
2) Biblio-virgins. These are collectors who prefer to buy their books new, and if they have to buy a used book, they want it to look virginal. Untouched by human hands. They don’t buy books to read them. They buy books as investments. They would drive me nuts with questions about who was hot and who would have lasting prominence. I’m a book collector, and I love signed, first editions, and I do want them in the best condition possible, but I read my books. I take great care, but I read them. In fact, I have many books in my collection that are just reading copies, but they are books that are as important to me as my rare copy of Blood Meridian or my lovely copy of Something Wicked this Way Comes. When people ask me what books they should collect, I always say, Collect what you love.
3) Why can’t you pay me the same price for my books that you are selling them for on the shelf? You would think that anyone who has navigated this planet, especially in America, for any length of time would understand the necessity of profit. At least a couple of times a month, I would have someone storm out of the bookstore because I had offered them much less for their books than what I intended to sell them for. As they would harange me for trying to rip them off, I’d point to the lights overhead, to the employees scurrying around, to the thousands of unsold books, but they still would refuse to understand why we insisted on making a profit. I can only think that they, as a child, became lost in the cosmos of a Star Trek world, where everyone had what they needed and everyone worked at a job they loved. The concept of needing a profit has been eliminated from their world. How nice would that be?
Nick’s marriage is on the rocks. Nothing like poverty and the looming spectre of epic failure to put a strain on a marriage. He is flirting, chasing, lusting after a young woman named Katherine, who is driving him batshit crazy. There is nothing sexier than a person who not only reads but actually reads the books you suggest to them. He’ll catch the lingering scent of her perfume amongst the stacks, even though he knows she hasn’t been in the store in days. She wants him. He is reluctant to put the final stake in the heart of his marriage. When he does decide that he is ready, she has recategorized him as a friend, in other words unfuckable. Haha! It’s a bit of Shakespearean bookseller type tragedy. He doesn’t want to be friends. He wants to ravish her. Can he rescue his missed opportunity?
Charles Bukowski is the man who could actually save his store. A signing event with Hank would have people coming in from all over the world to meet not only their favorite writer but, for many people, their cultural hero. Nick, in true self-destructive fashion, has a mind meltdown and composes an essay accusing Hemingway and Bukowski of single-handedly destroying American writing. Considering that he has been a lifetime fan of Bukowski, this is very odd behavior. The one person capable of keeping his bookstore alive is the very man he decides to attack. I like to call it Bookstore Madness and felt it creepy crawling through my own brain from time to time. Will his wife prove to be the unlikely hero of this fable? Will Bukowski rearrange his face? Does Nick want the store saved, or does he crave real-life scars more than he wants to succeed?
The book careens around like a drunken sailor walking the length of a storm-tossed ship. There are moments when the books in his store are speaking to Nick, and then there are times when paranoia (it does feel like the whole world is conspiring to drive a bookstore owner to bankruptcy) makes him believe that slow sales is just slow death.
”Was it important, after all, to make money, to succeed as a bookseller, just to satisfy creditors, to become an upstanding member of the community, such as it was, and pay money into the coffers of the government? Or was it my mission to uncover great poets and essayists, playwrights and historians, and to share these discoveries with others, to keep these writers from fading into oblivion?”
It sounds dangerously close to writing book reviews and giving them away for free, in the hopes that some readers will be compelled to read books they would have never found otherwise.
There lies madness.
The writing is on the wall for Nicholas Kastinovich, AKA Darrell Kastin, but if you don’t mind a loose plot, cynical bookstore revelations, and some wild diversions that provide no resolutions, this book is a blast. Even when there is no hope, you just can’t help rooting for a miracle.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/
July 23, 2019
Very, very good.
Certainly there will be many readers who will not be able to go the distance with a book about the owners of a used bookstore – and that’s what this is about – but for those who can, this is a rare and flavorful treat.
In musical terms, this is not a symphony, there are no grand or epic dramas. This is not heavy metal glam pop rock, no great action here; no Disney moments or boy band appeal. This is like smooth, but kooky jazz – a battered but playable road weary blues guitar and a put together drum set throwing down rhythm with a bass player met the night before – laying down a twisted, frenetic groove.
The protagonist, an accidental manager and son of the investment owner, with the apparently unfortunate name Kastinovich makes a go at running a used San Pedro book peddler called, aptly enough, The Little Big Bookstore. Across the economically depressed street is a greasy spoon deli owned by a mad Romanian and haunting the neighborhood on foot and behind the wheel of his black BMW is Bukowski.
Hank Chinaski – the pseudonym and nom de guerre of himself, the Barfly, the street poet - Charles Bukowski, author of such blue collar, back alley and neon illuminated titles as Women and Ham on Rye. Set in the early 90s, and in the lonesome, near desert Los Angeles bedroom of San Pedro, Kastinovich, his wife and baby daughter take over an old bookstore and the story is about Kastinovich’s travails and heartfelt attempts at making the business make a profit.
Along the way, author Darrell Kastin takes his readers on a wild ride of introspective literati. Kastinovich inhabits the shop as if a prisoner in an insane asylum. His attempts to sell books and books and books is met with internal demons and the ghosts of his unproductive past; and all told with a style in homage to Bukowski, John Fante and Hunter S. Thompson. Akin with Jo Walton’s award winning book catalog Among Others, Shadowboxing with Bukowski features a plethora of Los Angeles writers, poets and minor celebrities as well as a parade of paperback book titles that made me smile frequently.
Kastin is a talent and this book, a celebration of books and booksellers, was a pleasure to read.
*** A free copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review
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Certainly there will be many readers who will not be able to go the distance with a book about the owners of a used bookstore – and that’s what this is about – but for those who can, this is a rare and flavorful treat.
In musical terms, this is not a symphony, there are no grand or epic dramas. This is not heavy metal glam pop rock, no great action here; no Disney moments or boy band appeal. This is like smooth, but kooky jazz – a battered but playable road weary blues guitar and a put together drum set throwing down rhythm with a bass player met the night before – laying down a twisted, frenetic groove.
The protagonist, an accidental manager and son of the investment owner, with the apparently unfortunate name Kastinovich makes a go at running a used San Pedro book peddler called, aptly enough, The Little Big Bookstore. Across the economically depressed street is a greasy spoon deli owned by a mad Romanian and haunting the neighborhood on foot and behind the wheel of his black BMW is Bukowski.
Hank Chinaski – the pseudonym and nom de guerre of himself, the Barfly, the street poet - Charles Bukowski, author of such blue collar, back alley and neon illuminated titles as Women and Ham on Rye. Set in the early 90s, and in the lonesome, near desert Los Angeles bedroom of San Pedro, Kastinovich, his wife and baby daughter take over an old bookstore and the story is about Kastinovich’s travails and heartfelt attempts at making the business make a profit.
Along the way, author Darrell Kastin takes his readers on a wild ride of introspective literati. Kastinovich inhabits the shop as if a prisoner in an insane asylum. His attempts to sell books and books and books is met with internal demons and the ghosts of his unproductive past; and all told with a style in homage to Bukowski, John Fante and Hunter S. Thompson. Akin with Jo Walton’s award winning book catalog Among Others, Shadowboxing with Bukowski features a plethora of Los Angeles writers, poets and minor celebrities as well as a parade of paperback book titles that made me smile frequently.
Kastin is a talent and this book, a celebration of books and booksellers, was a pleasure to read.
*** A free copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review
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August 30, 2020This book started out okay, telling some truths about operating a used book store in San Pedro, CA. The further I got, the more it descended into confused, unorganized babble. DNF at 80%. No stars.
October 6, 2016
Nicholas Kastinovich is a tormented young bookseller struggling to keep his bookstore afloat in the town of San Pedro. Hassled by his father, ostracized more often than not by his wife his only joy comes from building his collection of books, imagining a brighter future with Katherine, a lady who visits the shop, and hoping for a clear indication of friendship from the infamous author Charles Bukowski, who lives in the area.
This is a book where our lead character is bared naked to the reader. We are privy to his every thought, movement, irritation, desire and dream. Narrated throughout by Kastinovich the story is honest and sad. There is no glossing over depression, there is no hiding from the dispossessed feeling to the downtown area of San Pedro. But somewhere within this melancholy there is hope and a belief that better things are still to come.
Any lover of books who has at one time or another found solace within the pages of a novel or even spent a day hidden away in a bookshop will immediately empathise with Kastinovich and understand why and how his books become such a lifeline for him. The bookshop alone is his beacon for the brighter future. When we are at our lowest, when we feel the world can offer us nothing, to a lover of books there is always a place to escape, there amongst the letters, words, paragraphs and chapters do we find our place. Like a comfort blanket the words swirl around us and take us away from our misery. Kastinovich is a character we can all identify with.
What I loved about this book is the honest and brutal narrative. The style reminded me of Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity, one man pouring his heart out and over analysing life to us his captive audience. I don’t know how other people read but for me characters have voices, I hear the tones and lilts within their speech as I read the book. Kastinovich could only ever be voiced by one person in my opinion and that is David Sadaris. Sadaris is well known for his autobiographical and self-deprecating humour which is a perfect match for our down trodden bookseller.
Whilst you feel for Kastinovich when things get tough there are also many times when you can’t help but will him to just grow some balls and take control of his situation. There is a strong trait of self-pity in our leading character and I found myself in part waiting for the straw that would break the camel’s back and force him into action.
Ultimately very little happens in Shadowboxing with Bukowski – there is no great twist in the story, no climatic ending but there is a truth and openness. On completing it I’m not moved like some books, my views have not been challenged and no thoughts have been provoked, but I’ve enjoyed spending time with Kastinovich. It was sort of like having tea with a relative, it was hard going at times but you’re left feeling the other person got far more out of it than you and that’s ok.
This is a book where our lead character is bared naked to the reader. We are privy to his every thought, movement, irritation, desire and dream. Narrated throughout by Kastinovich the story is honest and sad. There is no glossing over depression, there is no hiding from the dispossessed feeling to the downtown area of San Pedro. But somewhere within this melancholy there is hope and a belief that better things are still to come.
Any lover of books who has at one time or another found solace within the pages of a novel or even spent a day hidden away in a bookshop will immediately empathise with Kastinovich and understand why and how his books become such a lifeline for him. The bookshop alone is his beacon for the brighter future. When we are at our lowest, when we feel the world can offer us nothing, to a lover of books there is always a place to escape, there amongst the letters, words, paragraphs and chapters do we find our place. Like a comfort blanket the words swirl around us and take us away from our misery. Kastinovich is a character we can all identify with.
What I loved about this book is the honest and brutal narrative. The style reminded me of Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity, one man pouring his heart out and over analysing life to us his captive audience. I don’t know how other people read but for me characters have voices, I hear the tones and lilts within their speech as I read the book. Kastinovich could only ever be voiced by one person in my opinion and that is David Sadaris. Sadaris is well known for his autobiographical and self-deprecating humour which is a perfect match for our down trodden bookseller.
Whilst you feel for Kastinovich when things get tough there are also many times when you can’t help but will him to just grow some balls and take control of his situation. There is a strong trait of self-pity in our leading character and I found myself in part waiting for the straw that would break the camel’s back and force him into action.
Ultimately very little happens in Shadowboxing with Bukowski – there is no great twist in the story, no climatic ending but there is a truth and openness. On completing it I’m not moved like some books, my views have not been challenged and no thoughts have been provoked, but I’ve enjoyed spending time with Kastinovich. It was sort of like having tea with a relative, it was hard going at times but you’re left feeling the other person got far more out of it than you and that’s ok.
May 8, 2018
I am in LOVE with this book. It is a true treasure of a read!
June 11, 2016
Darrell Kastin's new novel, Shadow Boxing with Bukowski, a fictionalized memoir based on his days as a San Pedro bookstore owner, is a book I wanted to like. I should have really like, but it was just average at best. He did a good job in describing LA and often could picture the places and scenery quite well. However, I was not a fan of his characters. Bukowski/Chinaski did not come off that believable. It is a quick read, but I'm not sure it is worth the bother.
December 25, 2016
This supposed memoir (fictionalized) is about every day in this guy's father's bookstore. The guy, the part I really liked, or less than really, is when this bookstore "manager" gripes about most anyone, anything, and his longing for a female customer named Katherine.
What I disliked was how this writer of filth named Bukowski/Chinaski (his pseudonym) agrees to come to only this guy's bookstore for a signing. The part was quicker than a fart, and didn't add anything good to the book. EXCEPT: This is the part where he didn't gripe, and made sure he had this guy's hardcover books available for sale. It was a good day for the bookstore. Other than that, his writing style is very unique and melodic. I loved the way Mr. Kastin writes. I can't wait for his next book.
NetGalley gave me an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
What I disliked was how this writer of filth named Bukowski/Chinaski (his pseudonym) agrees to come to only this guy's bookstore for a signing. The part was quicker than a fart, and didn't add anything good to the book. EXCEPT: This is the part where he didn't gripe, and made sure he had this guy's hardcover books available for sale. It was a good day for the bookstore. Other than that, his writing style is very unique and melodic. I loved the way Mr. Kastin writes. I can't wait for his next book.
NetGalley gave me an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
July 18, 2016
You can find a copy of this review on:
https://thequidnuncblog.wordpress.com...
Give me a bookstore story, library story, authors struggle's story and I am sold at hello. This book was a rare treat of the very, very good ones. Not for everyone thought, but those who love it, are gonna love it forever! Much like Bukowskian novel, this one you either hate, or fall for at the very beginning.
It is not grand, it is definitely not epic... but it is a classic case of brilliance. Edgy, yet very much humane, the novel tells the story of a guy who is mostly human, with his ups and downs. A quirky read for everyone who'd enjoy a well build character.
The book is very much the internal monologue of the protagonist and is by turns humorous and tragic. Kastinovich seems always to want something more than his life is able to offer him, whether it's the romance he engineers with one of his customers, or the excitement of love notes exchanged with his wife's alter ego. However, there is no escaping the fact that he is running a business into the ground.
My inner literature snob was DROLLING ALL OVER IT!!!!
https://thequidnuncblog.wordpress.com...
Give me a bookstore story, library story, authors struggle's story and I am sold at hello. This book was a rare treat of the very, very good ones. Not for everyone thought, but those who love it, are gonna love it forever! Much like Bukowskian novel, this one you either hate, or fall for at the very beginning.
It is not grand, it is definitely not epic... but it is a classic case of brilliance. Edgy, yet very much humane, the novel tells the story of a guy who is mostly human, with his ups and downs. A quirky read for everyone who'd enjoy a well build character.
The book is very much the internal monologue of the protagonist and is by turns humorous and tragic. Kastinovich seems always to want something more than his life is able to offer him, whether it's the romance he engineers with one of his customers, or the excitement of love notes exchanged with his wife's alter ego. However, there is no escaping the fact that he is running a business into the ground.
My inner literature snob was DROLLING ALL OVER IT!!!!
August 15, 2016
A small bookstore owner in San Pedro is barely keeping his store in business. This is the story of his struggles, his customers, and his ruminations about books & authors including Twain, Hemingway, and the elusive Bukowski. Are you a book freak? This is a must-read.
January 18, 2021
'...they had to write, if they wished to sleep at night, or remain sane; characters became unbidden, tales wove themselves amid their daydreamers, their work, their conversations, their sleep. Ideas flittered and fluttered like hummingbirds trapped inside their minds, bouncing against the limits to escape. Like the child for whom nothing is impossible, these writers saw other worlds, other pasts, other presents, and undreamt futures; they toyed with their visions with total disregard for propriety, for rules and appearances. They remade the world on paper, where everything goes; or they followed the subtle unspoken dictates of their characters who took a life and logic of their own, with the story insisting it go where it must, bending the author to it's will.'
September 14, 2016
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I love to read books about books. Books about libraries, bookstores, bookworks, I'm game. It's fun to see a novel centered around something I'm passionate about (the written word). Generally speaking, reading those books puts me into those settings when otherwise I can't be. If I'm stuck at home at least I can imagine myself surrounded by books, talking about those stories with other people in person, which can sometimes be overwhelming but can also be a lot of fun.
Shadowboxing with Bukowski started out as one of those types of books. The narrator felt like he could be a fellow book loving soul who I as a reader would be able to join on his journey of trying to save his dying bookshop. However, as the book progressed, I found myself disliking him more and more because his voice became more pretentious the further you read. He might have said things to the contrary, but every sentence was loaded with self importance and I couldn't stand it for stretches at a time.
The plot moves slowly enough, which I normally don't mind because that's generally what this sort of book is like. I could have forgiven it once more, but not with a narrator that sounds like he would rather be doing anything else than trying to save his store. I couldn't even finish the book, to be honest, his voice was that grating.
If you think you might like to check out book about book collectors or people who work in bookshops, I'd recommend Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone or Shelf Life: Romance, Mystery, Drama, and Other Page-Turning Adventures From a Year in a Bookstore by Suzanne Strempek Shea.
I love to read books about books. Books about libraries, bookstores, bookworks, I'm game. It's fun to see a novel centered around something I'm passionate about (the written word). Generally speaking, reading those books puts me into those settings when otherwise I can't be. If I'm stuck at home at least I can imagine myself surrounded by books, talking about those stories with other people in person, which can sometimes be overwhelming but can also be a lot of fun.
Shadowboxing with Bukowski started out as one of those types of books. The narrator felt like he could be a fellow book loving soul who I as a reader would be able to join on his journey of trying to save his dying bookshop. However, as the book progressed, I found myself disliking him more and more because his voice became more pretentious the further you read. He might have said things to the contrary, but every sentence was loaded with self importance and I couldn't stand it for stretches at a time.
The plot moves slowly enough, which I normally don't mind because that's generally what this sort of book is like. I could have forgiven it once more, but not with a narrator that sounds like he would rather be doing anything else than trying to save his store. I couldn't even finish the book, to be honest, his voice was that grating.
If you think you might like to check out book about book collectors or people who work in bookshops, I'd recommend Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone or Shelf Life: Romance, Mystery, Drama, and Other Page-Turning Adventures From a Year in a Bookstore by Suzanne Strempek Shea.
June 26, 2016
There is something irresistible about stories involving bibliophiles, and Shadowboxing with Bukowski presents us with one such story. The protagonist is a thoughtful and despairing man named Kastinovich who is given a used book store to run by his Father in the hopes that he might make something of it. Situated in San Pedro, the The Little Big Bookstore struggles to make money, as the protagonist buys more and more used books.
The town is also home to the infamous Charles Bukowski, someone who becomes a focus of Kastinovich who seems determined to prove himself to this writer he admires so much. Despairing of the quality of literature his few customers seem interested in, the novel becomes a homage to the great and good of Los Angeles in the early 1990s. The sense of place is palpable and this lends the novel life. The encounters with Bukowski are fleeting but perhaps that is as well as it would be difficult to recreate this man convincingly.
Read full review here: http://www.katejwilson.com/2016/06/bo...
The town is also home to the infamous Charles Bukowski, someone who becomes a focus of Kastinovich who seems determined to prove himself to this writer he admires so much. Despairing of the quality of literature his few customers seem interested in, the novel becomes a homage to the great and good of Los Angeles in the early 1990s. The sense of place is palpable and this lends the novel life. The encounters with Bukowski are fleeting but perhaps that is as well as it would be difficult to recreate this man convincingly.
Read full review here: http://www.katejwilson.com/2016/06/bo...
July 9, 2017
This reads more like a series of vignettes about a man that owns a bookstore than a complete novel. It was fairly interesting,if not the type of book that really pulls you in, until about 75% at which time the character/author went completely off the rails and nothing made sense any more. I pretty much stopped paying any attention at this point. The last quarter of the book ruined the first three quarters for me.
July 6, 2016
Funny and evocative
Quaint and curious account of interesting time and place - and persons! A fascinating setting for a hilarious, edgy portrayal of a character fraught with anxiety and desperation.
Quaint and curious account of interesting time and place - and persons! A fascinating setting for a hilarious, edgy portrayal of a character fraught with anxiety and desperation.
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