Customer Reviews

Ask the Dust

5 star:		(82)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Twelve years ago I read an article in the Los Angeles Times in which America's most successful fiction writers were asked to name their top-ten favorite works of 20th Century American fiction. John Fante's "Ask the Dust" was the only title to appear on every author's top-ten list in that article. Since then, I've read "Ask the Dust" twice, as well as every other book by Mr. Fante. Ironically, "Ask the Dust" was published six years before J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye" and the similarities between Holden Caulfield and Arturo Bandini are uncanny. The difference is that Arturo is even more impulsive than Holden, if that's possible, and wholly American. You'll want to console Arturo and slap him silly at the same time! Unfortunately, John Fante didn't live to see the latest revival of his work, but Black Sparrow Press has made him a literary star. You will laugh outloud and embrace this book! I promise.

Sorry, Charlie. This is the book bukowski was TRYING to write when he wrote FACTOTUM. I love Bukowski, but this is the real thing. It hangs in there. Fante turns the camera on the main character while the others are mere foils for deeper probing. Whereas Bukowski builds a picture of society around his characters, Fante here truly explores values and value through one man's eyes. If you pick this book up and hate it, read it anyway. If you don't understand it, struggle through. If the only other book you've read is the bible, read this. Feel free to be offended, feel rejection and dejection. If you love Bukowski, you'll really like this. If you don't love Buk, that's okay too because Fante keeps the story moving without taking us all the way into the gutter. -Mike

The first 13 chapters or so are absolutely fantastic, super-poetic, naturalistic writing; as good as most of Hemingway (king of the overrated writers) and post-Death-on-the-Installment-Plan Celine. The deep hatred that's the flipside of love is here in its most brutally tragic and truthful form in the scenes between Camilla and Bandini. Some people don't respond to these scenes because they've never bothered to examine these feelings in themselves (though they've definitely had them), they've just ignored and repressed them. Not Fante. No way! Fante's out to force readers to face these feelings in themselves, and it's so annoying, it hurts! But that's what good naturalistic writing is supposed to do: HURT. If you can't deal with it go read some moralistic, 'sympathetic,' nonsense; there are thousands of books of that type to choose from.

It should be obvious after reading the first chapter why Bukowski liked this book so much. Without Fante there would definitely never have been a Bukowski (whose stuff is distinctly original in subject matter, but much more commonplace in its writing style than this particular book by Fante anyway).

The smell and feel of Los Angeles in the '30s is damn near palpable. Things come alive in concise, economically crafted sentences, on an an almost "Day of the Locust" level.

Starting with the earthquake chapter things run out of steam for a while before picking up again towards the end.

For a simple 'little' book written in 1939 to still continue to affect readers in 2000 is no mean feat. "Ask the Dust" is like a cross between Nathaniel West, William Saroyan, and, yes, good old Bukowski (without the scatology, of course). And though I wouldn't put it on the same level as Hemingway's "Green Hills of Africa," or Celine's "Journey to the End of the Night," it's definitely one for the 'ages' (whatever the hell that means).

This short novel is excellent. It's greater than most "major" works of other's modern writers. It is funny, it is painful, it is deep and shallow at the same time... and the flow of the writing. It's just plain great. I can't think of other writer doing what Fante achieved with "ask the dust", one of the most miserable love stories ever written.

But there's more. Chapter 12. The prose that begins with "but there was a tinge of darkness in the back of my mind" is one of the most intense things ever written. It's filled with sorrow, pain, guilt, the need for forgiveness, religion and what are you really driven by. Not ideas but "my blood". That chapter is great, the work a genius at the same level of Dostoevsky about knowledge of human nature. That chapter makes Fante one of the greatest writers ever.

The flow and combination of religion, philosophy, sensibility, reason, irracionality... everything.

This is one of the greatest book ever written in the USA.

Read it.

Fante's rebel anti-hero, Arturo Bandini, a writer with the honour of having had one short story published in a magazine, strolls into a cafe, in which he meets a Mexican waitress, Camilla Lopez, and they embark on a bizarre and stormy love-hate relationship, eventually descending into the realms of madness. John Fante, one of the greatest of, though unsung, geniuses of American fiction presents here one of the most marvellous of coming-of-age novels. Though the prose is spare, economical and concise, Fante manages to evoke effects of the most opulent splendour and most lyrical subtlety. He also manages to explore, with a great measure of success, the psychological dimension probed by Dostoevsky and Hamsun, in his recording the caprices and the most perverse quirks of his characters' behaviour. Bandini is an endearing creation, conceited, megalomaniacal and sensitive in a sometimes comic, sometimes sympathetic way. Some of the encounters in this book and the satirical banter of the characters is immensely humorous.

In the past 3 years I have read about 75 books about Los Angeles, both fact and fiction, and I place this among the very best. It is a very fast read, and one that cannot easily be put down. It so beautifully and explicitly describes 1930s Los Angeles and all its dark features. I found myself angry with Arturo and Camilla for not just coming to their senses and being rationale about their love for each other, but saw the beauty in this book in that it was showing the underbelly and other side of life that dust rather than sunshine hits. Historians like to talk about Los Angeles being Heaven vs. Hell or Sunshine vs. Noir or the Land of Eden or not. This book clearly demonstrates that all are not blessed in this land of "Eden" and that many people must deal with real live issues even in Los Angeles, where the sun shines all the time, palm trees wisp in the ocean breezes and everybody is a happy movie star. The blowing Santa Ana dust was a brilliant metaphor for all that takes place in this masterpiece. I can't wait to see the movie when it comes out. It probably wont do justice to this book, but it will help publicize how great Fante was as a great contributor to literary fiction.

I found Fante in the Bukowski's story. I decided to read in English in spite of my rusty language skills. I read at coffee shop in the morning, at lunch time, in my bed, and sometimes with some bottles of Red. This book is a masterpiece. I sympathized to Arturo, I like the man like him, I can understand him and he could understand me. Someone who likes Bukowski would love this book. John fante seized my heart tightly. I need to buy another book shelter for his books. Thank you for Black Sparrow and Amazon.com. I'll order some more Fante's books. ( after I got paid )

Having not expected much from this title, I took this book from my father's shelf, and started reading it. When reading it, I understood: Fante's writing is cristaline, sharp as a knife, and human, something humanity lacks these days. Getting deeper into the plot, you cant stay indifferent to the young Bandini, his struggle to exist, combined with his love to writting, and you can (you do!) smell something of L.A's mid 30's, and of the soul of a unique young man, wanting to be himself.

In ASK THE DUST, Los Angeles in the late Depression years is not glamorous. The city is always at the mercy of the heat and dust of the desert that grabs its skirts. The people who actually embody the success everyone dreams of are will-o-wisps at the edge of one scene. The denizens have come to town from elsewhere in search of fortune and fame. It is a "have not" world of strangers at the mercy of grim residential hotel landladies. From the intersection of Bunker Hill and Hill Street, Fante's protagonist Arturo Bandini lets go a cri de coeur that scorches the pages of the book.

Arturo's dream is to find fortune as a writer; he's going to show everyone back home in Colorado. He's going to show everyone, period. He's on his way, having successfully published a short story that he waves under everyone's nose. His passion and anger form a positive charge that is locked in an embrace with the equally weighty force of Camilla Lopez, a Mexican barmaid whose life is spiraling downward. To say more is to spoil the characters' suspenseful tango. Fante lays out their story in the pulsing beat of Arturo's voice. He makes high use of symbolism. Every word is honest, every sentence beautifully crafted. He muscles challenging themes. The title says to ask questions, and by the end you know which ones to ask as you stand with Arturo looking out at the vast desert.

I understand that this is one in a quartet of novels featuring Arturo Bandini. This volume is highly self-possessed and does not rely on the existence of the others to be understood or appreciated, but I'm sufficiently intrigued to want to read them all.

I first became acquainted with John Fante and "Ask the Dust" when I lived in Los Angeles, and heard him discussed. I started reading him and couldn't stop.

Fante's prose is gritty and emblematic of the style of the 30s, reflective of Depression-era consciousness. Life was damn tough then for most people, and Ask the Dust protagonist Bandini's was no exception. In fact, it was probably tougher than most, given the calling and the venturing into a frowned-upon relationship with a Latina.

It is tempting to compare Fante to other writers, like Salinger, Bukowski, Hemingway, and Steinbeck. I think the more interesting comparison is to Henry Miller. Consider Fante's character Bandini, scraping by as a writer in Depression era Paris, finding love and tragedy, while Henry Miller, in Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Cancer, and the Rosy Crucifixion trilogy, ambles around post-WWI Paris, an aspiring writer, scraping by with loans from friends, loutish behavior, and sexual frustration.

I recommend this book, because to me it is the best of Fante's novels. His others, such as Wait until Spring, Bandini, are interesting, but this one is the more poignant and lasting.