Rating: 
Summary: Arturo Bandini
Review: I read this book on a recommendation from a friend expecting a decent read. As it turns out, this is simply one of the best books I have _ever_ read. I read quite slowly, usually, but I finished Ask the Dust in just two days. I was absolutely mesmerized. But on to the useful stuff: This is the sort of book you take a day off to read. You would enjoy it the most if you either have tried writing or like the 'feel' of the late 1930s. It is a must-read for Bukowski fans. You might even like Fante better than good ol' Chinaski when you're done!
Rating:
Summary: Passion
Review: This book stands out amongst the dozens or so that have been recommended to me by friends and strangers over the years. While never having read it in any literature class I am both surprised and a little glad that it continues to be celebrated by word-of-mouth and passed along from convert to soon-to-be-convert in the way that, it seems to me, great art should be. I like that the title was taken from Hamsun's 'Pan', another of my favorite authors. I think it's quite possible that the Robert Bly translation of 'Hunger' (sorry, the Egerton translation is muck) may have been in some small way influenced by Fante's prose and A Bandini's voice.
Rating:
Summary: A fine book!
Review: I read Ask the Dust years ago, when I was in college and in my tortured, Bukowski, Artaud, Rimbaud phase. I still smile when I think about those times, ridiculous though they may have been.Fante really isn't for everybody, his writing is pretty crazy, but most should enjoy it. Aspiring young writers will most likely adore it. And Ask the Dust is a perfect place to start. The best way to describe Fante (and this book) is with one word: URGENCY! It feels like you're reading something that was ripped right from the typewriter. It's all passion, all nuttiness, all fun intensity. He's like Bukowski in many ways, but without the occassional creepiness. Fante is zesty. He's all life. His words are big and fat and each one matters. You won't find yourself digging through pages of exposition or superflous descriptions. It's all right there in front of your eyes. Lot of fun. Very, very humorous. Fante had a wonderful, joking manner. He was able to laugh at himself (a great quality, rare among writers), but he was also able to see the sadness in life. The ending made me cry.
Rating: 
Summary: Recommended to those even outside the Bukowski circle
Review: One of Buk's favorites, this author tells it like it is, and makes us laugh at ourselves. I sharp novel whose only disappointment came with the conclusion, a la ON THE ROAD. Oh well, we all can't be Dostoevsky, can we?
Rating:
Summary: ...creates a brilliant mood, yearning for space and solitude
Review: i read this book before and during the time i moved to new orleans. his impetuous love feelings, his destruction of money with foolish purchases, obsession pure and simple. obsession to write, to live, to deceive and continue forth. the book creates a mood, a yearning for space and solitude. to be a young man again in a big city with a typewriter, a bottle of wine, and a window. overlooking the city through the heat and the rain. the crazy armpit charachters who wander through doorways looking for cigarettes. fante is a master. long live bandini!
Rating:
Summary: Bandini, A Fragile Giant
Review: I was so glad that I had never heard of John Fante when I picked up ASK THE DUST. I really enjoyed letting Arturo Bandini, the main character of the novel, open up to me in his own peculiar, strident, honest, paradoxical and anonymous way. As I moved through the book, I found myself actually starting to humanely connect with the worlds of the characters (from the fiery but strung-out waitress Camilla to the abusive bartender Sammy) and wishing them all a better shot at life. I think Fante is stupendous in that he can endow, in a very short span of words, a world with so much emotion and real plot excitement, yet does not skimp on rich poetic language. Bravo Bandini. Encore Fante.
Rating:
Summary: gripping
Review: Magnificent book - Fante's style captures the earnest nature of his characters so vividly. You feel Arturo's hunger, his lust, his feelings, just as you were living in his skin.
Rating:
Summary: marvellous
Review: Ive never read an impressive book like <ask the dusk> before.Fante's style was fluent,intimate and exciting..absolutely perfect.. Wish I had more chance to read his books.. He is a big loss...
Rating:
Summary: this is the greatest book ever written
Review: Forget hemingway, forget bukowski, forget kerouac. Fante's books save lives
Rating:
Summary: One of a kind.
Review: 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.
|
