Legendary barfly Charles Bukowski's fourth novel first published in 1982 is probably the most autobiographical & moving of all his books dealing in particular with his difficult relationship with his father & his early childhood in LA. Ham on Rye" follows the path of Bukowski's alter-ego Henry Chinaski through the high school years of acne & rejection & into the beginning of a long & successful career in alcoholism. The novel begins against the backdrop of an America devastated by the Depression & takes the Chinaski legend up to the bombing of Pearl Harbour. Arguably Bukowski's finest novel."