John Fante - Wait Until Spring, Bandini

 

After my recent re-read of Ask the Dust, I noticed that this book happened to be stacked up among many next to my bed (we have stacks of books pretty much everywhere in our house) so I thought I'd give this another perusal, as well.

This storyline takes place in a Colorado winter during Arturo Bandini's youth (he's a teenager when we come across him), detailing his family life with a laborer father (who doesn't get much work at this time, which is why he needs to "wait until spring" - and Arturo also needs to wait until then for baseball to resume), a devoted homemaker mother and two brothers. The father simultaneously loves and resents his family and is a gambler and a drinker, the mother loves the family and is a devout Catholic (they are Italian), and Arturo is an awkward teen, embarrassed by their relative poverty, his old clothes and his adolescent looks, in love with a fellow student who cares nothing for him, and is just trying to get through a confusing life.

The elder Bandini turns their lives upside down when he disappears after an argument about his mother-in-law visiting and doesn't return, which pretty much destroys his wife, emotionally. Through this drama, the kids have to try to navigate the world on their own, with their own trials'n'tribulations.

Although missing the LA aspect of Ask The Dust, this may be the better story, even given that these characters all have their many flaws, as well, and again, no one is particularly likeable. But I can relate to Arturo's teenage awkwardness'n'angst even if I never had to live through the experiences detailed here and was a bit more respectful of my folks that he is here. 

So, good, but not gripping enough for me personally to make me a Fante follower.