Henry Chinaski

The novel's narrator is Henry ("Hank") Chinaski, a middle-aged alcoholic, willing to buck any system, void of ambition, yet exhibiting superior intellect and reasoning. In his youth, Henry works in slaughterhouses, crosses the country on a railroad track gang, works in a dog biscuit factory, sleeps on park benches, and works nickel-and-dime jobs in a dozen cities. He tells his story after waking up from a terrible drinking spree.

A fellow drunk convinces Henry that anyone can be hired as a Post Office temp during the Christmas season. He takes the exam and physical to become a substitute mail carrier, and is assigned to West Avon Station under a sadistic supervisor, A. E. Jonstone ("The Stone"). Henry finds the daily grind of delivering mail in rain, dealing with dogs and crazy people, grinding physically and emotionally. After being thrown out by his common-law wife, Betty Williams, Henry...