Rating: 
Summary: Better than Chinaski
Review: 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
Rating:
Summary: Fante's Absurd Ghosts of Downtown Los Angeles
Review: 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).
Rating: 
Summary: Pure Genius
Review: If you are a fan of Bukowski you will love this book, without question. One of the reason I've found Ask the Dust fascinating is that you can't help but feel that Bukowsky wanted to be Arturo Bandini, that this character shaped his life to some extent.
Another reason for me to love this book is Arturo Bandini himself, who is my favorite character in a novel. He is a fascinating person, self-absorbed, arrogant, ambitious who fails to achieve anything, frustrated of being nothing else to the world but an Italian immigrant's son, he is also a deeply touching and likeable guy. John Fante has created a vivid picture of a young man who is convinced he will make it big but is clueless as to how it will happen. With Ask the Dust, Fante delivers what is the best portrayal of modern youth, the energy, beauty but also frustration and iner-demons. There are a lot of Bandinis out there waiting for fame...
Rating:
Summary: Average Fante, but still excellent
Review: I liked this book; and Im a big fan of Fante's. So, giving this book 4 stars means that I liked this book a great deal, but I liked Fante's Road to Los Angeles much much better.Still, I like Ask the Dust a lot more than I like the best work of other writers.For me, Ask the Dust lacked the rawness, brashness, energy... of Road to Los Angeles.It seems that by the time Fante got around to Ask the Dust he was a "refined" writer who was perhaps too conscious or guarded about what he let himself put onto the page.In The Road to Los angeles the main character Arturo, took us into the most private areas of his mind: the self-aware, the dreams, the ridiculous, and hurt. In Ask the Dust, were aren't allowed the same level of access.Still, I'd re-read Ask the Dust before re-reading some of my other favorites by Mishima, Tanizaki, Bataille, and others.
Rating:
Summary: Unconventional on Every Level
Review: I came to ASK THE DUST through Bukowski, and I must say I truly liked this book. The writing is laid-back, not like typical literary fiction. It's also very lyrical: a la Walt Whitman -- whenever Fante rhapsodizes about L.A. And follows the misadventures of Arturo Bandini, the "stand-in" for Fante (like Henry Chinaski is for Charles Bukowski). It's easy to see why Bukowski loved Fante. If you've ever felt like a struggling outsider, a lost soul, you'll definitely enjoy this novel. It's unlike anything I ever read before. Another recommendation: THE LOSERS CLUB by Richard Perez
Rating:
Summary: The theft of American culture
Review: Bukowski was right! This is a great work of American fiction set in the Los Angeles area during the height of the Great Depression. Fortunately the author John Fante did not live to see the theft of his work by the director Robert Towne who will turn this book into a major motion picture and attempt to recreate LA in SOUTH AFRICA in exchange for foreign subsidies, thereby creating Depression-era conditions for American film workers who will be jobless due to corporate greed. Read the book -- boycott the movie.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I've ever read.
Review: First off, I'd like to say that I'm not a huge fan of Fante, unless he's writing about Arturo Bandini. Arturo is so full of character and so full of life that any story involving him will quickly become a thrill ride. Ask the dust is about a writer who has had very little luck, but the minute amount of attention he has gotten he has quikly boasted and inflated to the point that he considers himself one of the greatest American writers. Anything that happens in his life, good or bad, is quickly ran through his delusional mind and becomes an amazing event. This book also really addresses the fact that when people are in love, it's very rare that the love is equal, and often you only love the people who treat you badly and reject people who care too much for you. This is a book that's very easy for many people to relate to.
Rating:
Summary: one of the forgotten greats
Review: I was introduced to this book thru the works of Charles Bukowski and before I had even finished the 1st page I was struck by just how much Fante did influence Bukowski. Spare prose, simple sentences. Bukowski once said that the most difficult thing in Art is to create something simple. Well, Fante accomplished that difficult feat.
Rating:
Summary: The struggle of being a writer (or merging into mainstream?)
Review: _Ask the Dust_ is about a young man who is trying to become a writer. Becoming a writer and getting his work published have a deeper meaning in this book, which is that the protagonist, the young man, wants to become part of the mainstream American culture. He claims that he is American, and denies his Italian background. Indeed, this book's central theme is the struggle of immigrants to be identified by the broader social spectrum as part of the WASP culture. Finally, his work gets published; the money he gets does not only mean that he becomes richer. It symbolizes that he is being identified and acknowledged as part of the mainstream culture. However, through this process of merging (or assimilation), he and other characters in the book abandon their cultural and ethnic identity and upbringing, which is sadly realistic and true to not only the period of time that John Fante was living in but also the period of time in which we are living. Coming to the U.S. often means to immigrants the full assimilation to American culture and the full forgetting of their previous culture and their upbringing. A BOOK STRONGLY RECOMMENDED
Rating:
Summary: It all started here...?
Review: If you are Bukowski fan, which i believe most people got intoduced to the Fante's work through "him" (if you say no, you are probably lying) you will see that all started with this book! Combining the Fante's "...Dust and Celine's Journey..." you will end up with Buk! Bandini saga gets better and better, but first stop is Ask the Dust!
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