John Fante - Ask The Dust

 

Throughout the 80's I was an embarrassingly huge Bukowski fan - although I've always said that I would never want to meet him in person - and through his recommendations in his writings, I looked into other similar authors and Fante was one of Hank's biggest influences. Buk had Chinaski and Fante had Arturo Bandini as his written alter ego, and they both haunted the streets'n'bars of Los Angeles, often at the same time, even though they never met until much later in their lives. In any case, it was certainly due to Buk that I found Fante. I read this book ages (decades?) ago but my lovely wife never had and was interested in the LA noir aspect of the story so she picked it up since we have no idea where my copy ended up so we have both read/re-read it now.

While Fante definitely has a way with words and some good turns-of-phrases, overall his work doesn't grab me the way that Buk's did even if the subject matter is similar. In this book - if I understand correctly, this is his first published work even through it is the second novel he wrote - we meet Fante as a 20 year old struggling writer who has just moved to LA from Colorado and is going through some tough times. Apparently, this is at least somewhat autobiographical as he falls in love with a woman working at a bar but due to his inexperience with women and her interest in another man, theirs is a troubled relationship. His luck with his writing improves but his luck with Camilla is more than rocky as we follow it through it's inevitable (in a way) end.

There are plenty of good lines, but the characters are not overly likable - Fante insults the woman he supposedly loves, he starts fights (although not physical ones - he seems to avoid that, unlike Buk), he wavers between egotism and insecurity, etc. while Camilla is not much better and the man she loves beats her and the supporting characters are mostly ignorant and forgettable.  So, you don't really root for anyone in the story and it's all just kind of sad.

Fans of Bukowski may want to check Fante out just to see Hank's influences, but I don't know - it just isn't there for me.