Customer Reviews
the other side of fante - By: marty mcfly, 27 Aug 2004 
john fante made his name with the great bandiniin four passionate novels about the struggles of poverty & the mismatch of desire & potential. this is a complete change of tack. it doesnt make it bad, but it doesnt bear a great deal of resemblance to the earlier works.
the first story is fante as a late middle aged man longing to bein rome & wondering where all these peoplein his house have come from, wondering why his children have not yet flown the coop. its actually an extremely readable story, the style is excellent & the struggles of middle age & the inability to really break out anymore, or even to really want to break out are made tangible.
i suppose the most interesting point to me is that there is very little work from fante at this pointin his life & it is intriguing to see how his view of the world has progressed.
the second novella is a return to childhood but, frankly, i could take it or leave it, it is not one of the better examples of the author's work.
3.5 stars
Fante's bold style portrays a man facing the wilderness - By: G. B. Fitzpatrick, 23 Oct 2001 A successful screenwriter trappedin the gridlock of middle age. A quadraped visitor arrives & interupts the equilibrium. If this wasn't enough, the children who kept his difficult marriage going are set to flee the nest. Faced with an empty, monotonous future, what better time to think about escaping to Rome?
Fante's writing style is beautifully clipped, vividly descriptive & as Bukowski says, he writes like he's carving wood. It's writing with a stunning economy & a true inspiration to anyone wanting to write.
interesting - By: , 27 Jun 1999 this is an interesting tale- whatever your situationin life is, this book makes you feel better due to all the hardships the charecters go thru-
