Spitting Off Tall Buildings (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Moments which brush the genius of Bukowski and Hubert Selby." (Elle (France) )

"It gives an honest misfit's view of America far too few know." (John Fowles )

"A truly great American novel." (Scotland on Sunday )

"Evokes brutally and skillfully the violently numb condition of his alter ego." (The Times (London) )

"As we trawl with him through deadbeat and dead-end jobs, this unsettling novel is haunted by the spectre of Charles Bukowski." (The Times (London) ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Description

Bruno Dante -- aspiring playwright, part-time depressive, and full-time drunk -- has hitchhiked cross-country, escaping the sunshine, have-a-nice-day culture of L.A. for the more cynical climate of New York. It seems to be his kind of town. But he's Bruno Dante, and things are always bound to go wrong. He finds himself in the rut of deadbeat temping jobs, but they don't last. Dante won't play office politics or kiss ass. Longer stints as the night manager of a run-down hotel, a window cleaner, and, finally, a cabbie are punctuated by a number of meaningless affairs, drinking binges, and the customary bouts of depression. Beautiful and brutal in equal measures, Fante's insights are once again fiercely compelling, desperately compassionate, and obscenely funny. Unmissable. "As we trawl with him through deadbeat and dead-end jobs, this unsettling novel is haunted by the spectre of Charles Bukowski." -The Times (London) "Fante is a brilliantly economical stylist ... sad, bitter, yet somehow infused with hope." -- The Face

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Canongate Books (August 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841951900
• ISBN-13: 978-1841951904
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #910,014 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL!, December 29, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

Read it months ago and still can't get it out of my mind. This guy is better than Bukowski. If you don't believe me give it a shot.
What's it about? Trying to stay off booze and whatnot long enough to create on the typer--while desperately needing to hold on to some dead-end job in order to keep a bit of food in the belly and a roof overhead. This is life, the way it is for most people in this great nation of ours. Not everyone out there is wealthy like Bill Gates and has it made. Most people in this country are struggling and merely trying to make ends meet.

Bruno Dante is one of us, one of many. He feels he has the ability and the talent to creat something he can be proud of as a writer...if he can keep the demons at bay long enough...
You don't have to be a writer to be able to relate.
A Great American Novel? That's exactly what I said.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bruno Dante's Way!, September 21, 2002

By	Kirk Alex - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

The masterful Dan Fante, author of Spitting Off Tall Buildings, does it again. Easy to read, easy to relate. His protagonist Bruno Dante is a regular guy/struggling writer going from [bad] job to [bad] job in New York while at the same time hoping to create something worthwhile on the typewriter, etc., something he can be proud of... I like Fante as a human being, I like his "voice," and so will you. Unlike so many writers out there, he manages to stay clear of B.S. Life isn't easy for a lot of people; that's just the way things are and he lays it out. The style is pure, raw, from the heart and gut. The way it ought to be.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How Does This Guy Do It?, September 27, 2002

By	Terry Mross (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews

The title of this review pertains to Dan Fante the novelist, and to "Bruno Dante", Fante's protagonist in this third installment about an alcololic on a downward spiral. Dan Fante is a brilliant writer who takes the reader into the bowels of hell and back. How does he do it? "Bruno Dante" is a man on a road to nowhere and, like all alcoholics, refuses to admit it but somehow keeps on going. How does he do it?

"Bruno" started out as a chump (CHUMP CHANGE), then became a MOOCH and now he tries a geographical cure for his misery by moving to New York. In his first interview with a temp agency he lies about his last employer, telling the interviewer the company has relocated. "I've relocated, too" is his explanation for being in New York. Alcoholics are always trying to "relocate". Dead end job after dead end job follows until he finds himself hanging onto the side of a building, fourteen stories up, washing windows. The one satisfying moment of his day comes when he spits off a tall building knowing someone down below is lower than he. At least for that second.

Once again Fante explains the illness of addiction in a way everyone can understand. The booze and the drugs are only simptoms. It's the mind that's messed up. Yet "Bruno" will continue to seek happiness in a place where happiness never has been and never will be found: in that messed up mind of his.

You'll find yourself pulling for "Bruno" to find that happiness because, even though he's a full blown alcoholic, Fante has made him a very funny and likeable guy. Will he find that happiness we all seek? Read the book to find out.