Factotum / Bukowski

A hilarious novel, deeply engaging, with an authentic feel: pre-post office, a low-life stumbles from job to job, repeatedly being fired for drunkenness, repeatedly resurrecting himself with a fabricated employment history, inevitably being found out and fired again. That he didn't turn to a life of crime remains a mystery; guy had a work ethic that wouldn't let go and in his humiliation and ignominy acted with a kind of warped and stubborn integrity.

The screen adaptation, starring Matt Dillon, departs wildly from the text, but it has its moments, the opening scene particularly good.