Dreams from Bunker Hill

Rating:
Summary: Fante's swan-song
Review: Bukowski claims Fante as one of his favorites. It's not difficult to see why. This is a young man's coming-of-age story in Los Angeles circa 1930.

Very funny and easy to read.

Rating:
Summary: Fictionalized account of author's youth in Los Angeles
Review: I'm a big fan of Fante's, and I would only like to clear up one point that the other reviewers have given conflicting information on. Although about Fante's alter ego in his youth, this book WAS dictated to Fante's wife, Joyce, when he was ill and blind with diabetes. It is, as far as I know, the last thing he wrote before he died.

Rating:
Summary: Fictionalized account of author's youth in Los Angeles
Review: I'm a big fan of Fante's, and I would only like to clear up one point that the other reviewers have given conflicting information on. Although about Fante's alter ego in his youth, this book WAS dictated to Fante's wife, Joyce, when he was ill and blind with diabetes. It is, as far as I know, the last thing he wrote before he died.

Rating:
Summary: Fante's Best
Review: Many Fante fans will vehemently disagree that this is his best work. That is probably because they are really Bukowski fans, and Bukowski liked Ask the Dust better. Of course, many Buk fans are as conformist as anyone, and they now follow him blindly as Pat Boone fans probably do Mr. Boone. These are the same people who think Buk could do no wrong (then what was up with Women?). I say that as a huge Buk fan, but as somebody who is not looking for a hero, but a good writer (which is what Buk was).

Ask the Dust is great, and it has a better ending, but Dreams of Bunker Hill is Fante's best work. Here he lays bare the soul of a struggling writer in a world that does not care one bit for talented people. He gets a glimpse into the sophistication of Hollywood, and sees it for its falsity. The scene where he confronts Sinclair Lewis had me laughing for hours. And the strange relationship he has with his landlady is Fante at his best: love can be such a strange thing that it is wonderful.

Fante should get much more academic notice, as should his follower Buk. What could help would be to realize that he, like Buk, was not always a "party-down wild man." Fante, like Buk, was VERY well steeped in the classics. He was incredibly widely read: from Anderson to Schopenhaur. Writing was hard work to him. For all the posers out there who want to be writers without hard work, please stop using Fante (and Buk's) name in vain. He's just better than you are or will be. When you realize his stuff please realize that the ease with which it reads is related to the difficulty with which it was composed.

Rating:
Summary: Fante's Best
Review: Many Fante fans will vehemently disagree that this is his best work. That is probably because they are really Bukowski fans, and Bukowski liked Ask the Dust better. Of course, many Buk fans are as conformist as anyone, and they now follow him blindly as Pat Boone fans probably do Mr. Boone. These are the same people who think Buk could do no wrong (then what was up with Women?). I say that as a huge Buk fan, but as somebody who is not looking for a hero, but a good writer (which is what Buk was).

Ask the Dust is great, and it has a better ending, but Dreams of Bunker Hill is Fante's best work. Here he lays bare the soul of a struggling writer in a world that does not care one bit for talented people. He gets a glimpse into the sophistication of Hollywood, and sees it for its falsity. The scene where he confronts Sinclair Lewis had me laughing for hours. And the strange relationship he has with his landlady is Fante at his best: love can be such a strange thing that it is wonderful.

Fante should get much more academic notice, as should his follower Buk. What could help would be to realize that he, like Buk, was not always a "party-down wild man." Fante, like Buk, was VERY well steeped in the classics. He was incredibly widely read: from Anderson to Schopenhaur. Writing was hard work to him. For all the posers out there who want to be writers without hard work, please stop using Fante (and Buk's) name in vain. He's just better than you are or will be. When you realize his stuff please realize that the ease with which it reads is related to the difficulty with which it was composed.

Rating:
Summary: another wonderful job by john fante
Review: you don't realize just how good john fante is until after you've read (better yet: attempted to read) so much bad writing our nation's bookshelves are filled with. i'd read this one years before and remembered it as being a decent read, etc. but there i was the other night, looking for something to read; i needed a book fix, i had to have something to read. reached up for dreams from bunker hill and began my second reading of it...stayed up all night getting into this warm, compassionate tale. fante had heart, intelligence and the story of old time hollywood moves right along. stayed with it until i was finished about 5 a.m.
fante makes it look easy, but quite a few of us know better: good writing is never easy to write or come by.
we thank buk for making us aware of fante and wish fante's recognition had happened earlier in his life...but you know what they say about wishful thinking... at least people are reading him now, as well as his son dan. i dare say, here and now, dan's prose is even stronger and better than bukowski. try either fante and you'll see what i'm talking about.

Rating:
Summary: another wonderful job by john fante
Review: you don't realize just how good john fante is until after you've read (better yet: attempted to read) so much bad writing our nation's bookshelves are filled with. i'd read this one years before and remembered it as being a decent read, etc. but there i was the other night, looking for something to read; i needed a book fix, i had to have something to read. reached up for dreams from bunker hill and began my second reading of it...stayed up all night getting into this warm, compassionate tale. fante had heart, intelligence and the story of old time hollywood moves right along. stayed with it until i was finished about 5 a.m.
fante makes it look easy, but quite a few of us know better: good writing is never easy to write or come by.
we thank buk for making us aware of fante and wish fante's recognition had happened earlier in his life...but you know what they say about wishful thinking... at least people are reading him now, as well as his son dan. i dare say, here and now, dan's prose is even stronger and better than bukowski. try either fante and you'll see what i'm talking about.