Ask the Dust

Rating:
Summary: "The smell of the gasoline made the palmtrees seem sad."
Review: I haven't read this book in ten years now and that sentence still sticks in my mind. A good friend of mine happened to mail me a copy when I had hit bottom emotionally due to a failed relationship. I vividly recall starting to read--(I skipped the Introduction because I feel they interfere with reader interpretation of the text)--and stopping to check the copyright date. I couldn't believe it was 1940, it all seemed so fresh. ASK THE DUST made me want to write. Well, not exactly true, Dos Passos' THE BIG MONEY did that. Rather, ATD taught me not to be afraid of my emotions when writing, at exposing myself, no matter how embarrassing and humiliating the outcome. I internalized that and use it to this day. I'm always walking by my bookcase and pulling out my Stackpole first-edition, opening it, reading a few sentences and experiencing depressing-yet-strangely-comforting memories of those late nights with Fante. Weird how we often find things like this at the exact point when we need to.