Ask the Dust
Ratings21
Average rating3.9
Arturo Bandini is a struggling writer lodging in a seedy LA hotel. While basking in the glory of having had a single short story published in a small magazine, he meets local waitress Camilla Lopez and they embark on a strange and strained love-hate relationship/ Slowly, but inexorably, it descends into the realms of madness. Ask the Dust is one of the truly great, yet unsung, American novels of the twentieth century. A tough and unsentimental story with a soft and tender hear, it remains as fresh and affecting as the day it was written.
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4 primary booksThe Saga of Arturo Bandini
The Saga of Arturo Bandini is a 4-book series with 4 primary works first released in 1938 with contributions by John Fante.
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My god. A terribly ugly book that feels truthful. I'm upset it's so good, because I honestly don't know who I could ever recommend this book too.
I think real people like these characters still exist today, but we won't see them in fiction any longer - self censoring prohibits it. I say that as someone who rolls my eyes when someone on the internet writes “stuff like this can't be written today.” Because I think that's mostly untrue.
But this book feels truly like something that would be unwritable today.
I also hate bukowski so I came in wanting to hate this book. I'm scared now to reread bukowski, what if I actually like him now?
A showcase of stream of consciousness, if only it were a conscious I cared to imbibe.
I'm probably an exception but I hate Bandini and his horrible personality and think nothing of his so called genius. If that's the merit of the book, mission accomplished: awful human being. But that's the extent of my opinion of it all.
