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The Saga of Arturo Bandini #1
Wait Until Spring, Bandini
"Mean, moody, disturbing and intensely atmospheric.” —The Times
John Fante's first published novel, Wait Until Spring, Bandini chronicles a trying winter in the lives of the Bandinis, a poor and dysfunctional but oddly endearing Italian-American family living in Colorado during the Great Depression.
John Fante's first published novel, Wait Until Spring, Bandini chronicles a trying winter in the lives of the Bandinis, a poor and dysfunctional but oddly endearing Italian-American family living in Colorado during the Great Depression.
266 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1938
About the author
John Fante
51 books2,094 followersFante's early years were spent in relative poverty. The son of an Italian born father, Nicola Fante, and an Italian-American mother, Mary Capolungo, Fante was educated in various Catholic schools in Boulder and Denver, Colorado, and briefly attended the University of Colorado.
In 1929, he dropped out of college and moved to Southern California to concentrate on his writing. He lived and worked in Wilmington, Long Beach, and in the Bunker Hill district of downtown Los Angeles, California.
He is known to be one of the first writers to portray the tough times faced by many writers in L.A. His work and style has influenced such similar authors as "Poet Laureate of Skid Row" Charles Bukowski and influential beat generation writer Jack Kerouac. He was proclaimed by Time Out magazine as one of America's "criminally neglected writers."
In 1929, he dropped out of college and moved to Southern California to concentrate on his writing. He lived and worked in Wilmington, Long Beach, and in the Bunker Hill district of downtown Los Angeles, California.
He is known to be one of the first writers to portray the tough times faced by many writers in L.A. His work and style has influenced such similar authors as "Poet Laureate of Skid Row" Charles Bukowski and influential beat generation writer Jack Kerouac. He was proclaimed by Time Out magazine as one of America's "criminally neglected writers."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 701 reviews
September 12, 2021
Esta nueva entrega de la saga Bandini supera incluso a “Camino de los Ángeles”. Tanto es así que si tuviera que recetar a alguien una cura para su crisis lectora este sería uno de los primeros títulos que me vendrían a la mente.
Fante es básico, bocazas y brillante. Te hará sonreír mientras te entristece, te entristecerá mientras te cabrea, te cabreará mientras te seduce, te seducirá mientras te deprime, te deprimirá mientras te hace sonreír...
Fante es básico, bocazas y brillante. Te hará sonreír mientras te entristece, te entristecerá mientras te cabrea, te cabreará mientras te seduce, te seducirá mientras te deprime, te deprimirá mientras te hace sonreír...
February 23, 2020
”He liked the sound of the word. Women, women, women. He said it over and over because it was a secret sensation. Even at Mass, when they were fifty or a hundred of them around him, he reveled in the secrecy of his delights.
And it was all a sin--the whole thing had the sticky sensation of evil. Even the sound of some words was a sin. Ripple. Supple. Nipple. All sins. Carnal. The flesh. Scarlet. Lips. All sins. When he said the Hail Mary. Hail Mary full of grace, the lord is with thee and blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. The word shook him like thunder. Fruit of thy womb. Another sin is born.”
It took a long time for the gritty writer, Charles Bukowski, to find his audience, but he did eventually achieve a modest amount of fame and even more modest fortune from a slice of the reading public who wanted stories that were so tangible that the reader could taste the foul air and feel the grimy walls of desperation and poverty. Bukowski’s novels are more authentic than anything nonfiction prose can conjure. Bukowski found an influencer for his type of writing when he stumbled upon John Fante’s books at his local library. Fante’s novels were long out of print and nearly forgotten. In the 1950s, Fante had made a living writing mostly undeveloped screen plays for Hollywood. It was hack work, but it provided a steady paycheck. It was the1970s when Bukowski convinced his publisher, Black Sparrow Press, to bring Fante’s work back into the light of day.
Bukowski called John Fante a God.
I had read his most celebrated novel, Ask the Dust, many decades ago, and I was long overdue to reread it. I decided that I should expand my reading beyond his most famous novel and read the quartet in timeline order, rather than the order of publication. Wait Until Spring, Bandini (1938) was his first Bandini novel, but remained unpublished until 1983. The Road to Los Angeles (1985) was next and then Ask the Dust (1939), followed by Dreams from Bunker Hill (1982). Ask the Dust is considered one of the quintessential novels about LA, and if you have doubts about reading the quartet, do make room for ATD in your reading queue.
WUSB is set in Colorado, and Arturo Bandini’s father is a bricklayer who finds it hard to obtain work when there is too much snow on the ground...which in Colorado would be a frequent problem. The Bandini family is poor and proud. They are a family of grand passions. Humiliations are reacted to with fists, insults, and brooding anger. Arguments are emotional, overwrought affairs that thunder through their house like Shakespearean tempests. I was raised in a family where emotions were bottled and buried. Humiliations were ignored, but not forgotten. Revenge was served cold. The white heat of anger was seen as an indulgence best brought down to a simmer. Grief was stoically controlled. So as I was reading all these flagrant expressions of emotion, I was decidedly uncomfortable. As I started to settle into the novel, pulled along by Fante’s easy flowing prose, I started to understand that this might not be my family, but this was certainly a living breathing family somewhere.
It is impossible to separate John Fante from Arturo Bandini. They are one and the same. Bandini may be living a larger, more embellished life than the one led by Fante, but the raw basis of their existence is the same. I was watching A Sad Flower in the Sand, a short documentary on John Fante. One of his friends said about him that she didn’t know if she could trust him because he would tell her two versions of a story about himself: one that was obviously embellished and one that seemed to be mostly true. It was only after she found out he was a novelist that she understood that he was sharing Bandini’s life with her. He obviously knew the difference between reality and fiction, but probably preferred the fictionalized version of himself, even though, I must say, the fictionalized version is no cakewalk.
Bandini and Fante are both short, maybe five foot one, and one of the continual humiliations for Bandini is that his two younger brothers are shooting past him in height. Bandini is in love with Rosa Pinelli, but she struggles to take him seriously. Being taken seriously is going to prove to be an ongoing issue for Bandini in all aspects of his life. He idealizes Rosa to the point of an obsession, which is probably somewhat baffling to her, given that they have rarely spoken. It is easier to keep someone on a pedestal when worshipping her beauty without the hindrance of weighing her other characteristics, such as personality, opinions, faults, and virtues.
Bandini’s mother has ”too much God in her,” and it drives most of the rest of the family crazy. Her middle son, August, has caught the religious virus, and she has hopes that he will become a priest. My Grandmother Ives was very religious and was very proud when one of her sons became a minister. She firmly believed that a mother that gave one son to the church was put in the VIP line to heaven. Maria Bandini hoped the same for herself. Despite all of her heavenly devotions, Svevo adores her, and she submits to his lusts like a dutiful wife should. Even as Svevo kicks the snow and rails against its existence, he still equates the beauty of it with his wife. ”The beautiful white snow was like the beautiful white wife of Svevo Bandini, so white, so fertile, lying in a white bed in a house up the street.”
Pride, emotions, religious fever, and poverty eventually tear the Bandini family apart, but it is those aspects that also prove to be the glue that draws them back together. Arturo has not yet discovered the solace/pain that will await him as a struggling writer. LA will soon be a beckoning, and the tap, tap, tapping of typewriter keys will become a metronome for telling his stories.
A Sad Flower in the Sand is available on YouTube if anyone is interested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsO0V...
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
And it was all a sin--the whole thing had the sticky sensation of evil. Even the sound of some words was a sin. Ripple. Supple. Nipple. All sins. Carnal. The flesh. Scarlet. Lips. All sins. When he said the Hail Mary. Hail Mary full of grace, the lord is with thee and blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. The word shook him like thunder. Fruit of thy womb. Another sin is born.”
It took a long time for the gritty writer, Charles Bukowski, to find his audience, but he did eventually achieve a modest amount of fame and even more modest fortune from a slice of the reading public who wanted stories that were so tangible that the reader could taste the foul air and feel the grimy walls of desperation and poverty. Bukowski’s novels are more authentic than anything nonfiction prose can conjure. Bukowski found an influencer for his type of writing when he stumbled upon John Fante’s books at his local library. Fante’s novels were long out of print and nearly forgotten. In the 1950s, Fante had made a living writing mostly undeveloped screen plays for Hollywood. It was hack work, but it provided a steady paycheck. It was the1970s when Bukowski convinced his publisher, Black Sparrow Press, to bring Fante’s work back into the light of day.
Bukowski called John Fante a God.
I had read his most celebrated novel, Ask the Dust, many decades ago, and I was long overdue to reread it. I decided that I should expand my reading beyond his most famous novel and read the quartet in timeline order, rather than the order of publication. Wait Until Spring, Bandini (1938) was his first Bandini novel, but remained unpublished until 1983. The Road to Los Angeles (1985) was next and then Ask the Dust (1939), followed by Dreams from Bunker Hill (1982). Ask the Dust is considered one of the quintessential novels about LA, and if you have doubts about reading the quartet, do make room for ATD in your reading queue.
WUSB is set in Colorado, and Arturo Bandini’s father is a bricklayer who finds it hard to obtain work when there is too much snow on the ground...which in Colorado would be a frequent problem. The Bandini family is poor and proud. They are a family of grand passions. Humiliations are reacted to with fists, insults, and brooding anger. Arguments are emotional, overwrought affairs that thunder through their house like Shakespearean tempests. I was raised in a family where emotions were bottled and buried. Humiliations were ignored, but not forgotten. Revenge was served cold. The white heat of anger was seen as an indulgence best brought down to a simmer. Grief was stoically controlled. So as I was reading all these flagrant expressions of emotion, I was decidedly uncomfortable. As I started to settle into the novel, pulled along by Fante’s easy flowing prose, I started to understand that this might not be my family, but this was certainly a living breathing family somewhere.
It is impossible to separate John Fante from Arturo Bandini. They are one and the same. Bandini may be living a larger, more embellished life than the one led by Fante, but the raw basis of their existence is the same. I was watching A Sad Flower in the Sand, a short documentary on John Fante. One of his friends said about him that she didn’t know if she could trust him because he would tell her two versions of a story about himself: one that was obviously embellished and one that seemed to be mostly true. It was only after she found out he was a novelist that she understood that he was sharing Bandini’s life with her. He obviously knew the difference between reality and fiction, but probably preferred the fictionalized version of himself, even though, I must say, the fictionalized version is no cakewalk.
Bandini and Fante are both short, maybe five foot one, and one of the continual humiliations for Bandini is that his two younger brothers are shooting past him in height. Bandini is in love with Rosa Pinelli, but she struggles to take him seriously. Being taken seriously is going to prove to be an ongoing issue for Bandini in all aspects of his life. He idealizes Rosa to the point of an obsession, which is probably somewhat baffling to her, given that they have rarely spoken. It is easier to keep someone on a pedestal when worshipping her beauty without the hindrance of weighing her other characteristics, such as personality, opinions, faults, and virtues.
Bandini’s mother has ”too much God in her,” and it drives most of the rest of the family crazy. Her middle son, August, has caught the religious virus, and she has hopes that he will become a priest. My Grandmother Ives was very religious and was very proud when one of her sons became a minister. She firmly believed that a mother that gave one son to the church was put in the VIP line to heaven. Maria Bandini hoped the same for herself. Despite all of her heavenly devotions, Svevo adores her, and she submits to his lusts like a dutiful wife should. Even as Svevo kicks the snow and rails against its existence, he still equates the beauty of it with his wife. ”The beautiful white snow was like the beautiful white wife of Svevo Bandini, so white, so fertile, lying in a white bed in a house up the street.”
Pride, emotions, religious fever, and poverty eventually tear the Bandini family apart, but it is those aspects that also prove to be the glue that draws them back together. Arturo has not yet discovered the solace/pain that will await him as a struggling writer. LA will soon be a beckoning, and the tap, tap, tapping of typewriter keys will become a metronome for telling his stories.
A Sad Flower in the Sand is available on YouTube if anyone is interested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsO0V...
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
January 18, 2022
O mama, pogledaj me, ukrao sam ti deset centi, a ti se i dalje moliš. O mama, ubij me svojim rukama.
Čekaj, do proljeća Bandini je može se reći jedan autobiografski roman. Prati italijansku porodicu u Rokinu, državi Kolorado tokom dvadesetih godina dvadesetog vijeka. Toliko kratka knjiga a nikad više ljubavi i patnje na jednom mjestu. Jednom kada dobrostojeća žena po imenu Hildegard pozove zidara i kamenorezca Roka da joj popravi kamin, a ovaj ipak ustupa i predlaže svog prijatelja Sveva Bandinija uz opasku: “Možda zaradiš koji dolar pred Božić.” I tako je sve počelo. Portret likova i njihovih karaktera je vrlo dobro isklesan, Fante ulazi u njihove glave i čupa ono što bi običan čovjek činio u nastaloj situaciji. Priča je obuhvaćena dramskom snagom i pruža raznovrsne prizore iz stvarnog života gdje pri čitanju jednih ustreptimo od radosti, a drugi nam svojim sumornim užasom slede krv u žilama. Unutrašnje krize i nevolje u porodici Bandini nisu nesavladive, ali su takve da traju, pa se čak i produbljuju i zajedno sa sobom vode druge u propast.
February 10, 2019
Wait Until Spring, Bandini is a bittersweet novel – it is bitter with its lucid sadness and sweet with its poetical imagery.
Family life, parents and childhood: a subject in thousands of books but every great author finds his own way to tell the story about his coming of age.
Fathers are not always the paragons to their sons…
Even in the time of the Great Depression childhood remains a wondrous season of life.
Family life, parents and childhood: a subject in thousands of books but every great author finds his own way to tell the story about his coming of age.
At once Federico and Arturo left the table. This was old stuff to them. They knew he was going to tell them for the ten thousandth time that he made four cents a day carrying stone on his back, when he was a boy, back in the Old Country, carrying stone on his back, when he was a boy. The story hypnotized Svevo Bandini. It was dream stuff that suffocated and blurred Helmer the banker, holes in his shoes, a house that was not paid for, and children that must be fed. When I was a boy: dream stuff. The progression of years, the crossing of an ocean, the accumulation of mouths to feed, the heaping of trouble upon trouble, year upon year, was something to boast about too, like the gathering of great wealth. He could not buy shoes with it, but it had happened to him.
Fathers are not always the paragons to their sons…
Even in the time of the Great Depression childhood remains a wondrous season of life.
October 28, 2022
تا بهار صبر کن باندینی ، اولین کتاب از چهار گانه جان فانته ، نویسنده آمریکایی ایست که در آن داستان خانواده باندینی ، یک خانواده ایتالیایی – آمریکایی را بیان کرده ، خانواده ای که اگرچه موفق شده اند که از ایتالیا خود را به سرزمین فرصت ها برسانند ، اما رسیدن آنها به آمریکا با بحران و فاجعه اقتصادی و رکود گسترده در آمریکا همزمان شده .
داستان جان فانته بیشتر از نگاه باندینی پدر که کارگری آجرچین است ودر زمستان معمولا برای او کاری پیدا نمی شود وکوشش های او برای ساختن خانواده ای متلاشی شده و پسر بزرگ او آرتور و تقلای او برای یافتن خود در میان مذهب و عشق بیان شده و در طول داستان ، خواننده بیشتر با افراد خانواده باندینی آشنا میشود .
تا بهار صبر کن باندینی را می توان در ستایش امید دانست ، با پایان زمستان ، دوران سخت خانواده هم تمام شده و باندینی ها دوباره به روال زندگی خود باز می گردند ، از این رو خواندن کتاب فانته برای افرادی همانند ما که از زیستن در چنین شرایط جهنمی ، صبر و توانشان پایان رسیده پیام
خاصی دارد ، آنکه حتی تاریک ترین شب نیز به پایان می رسد و خورشید طلوع می کند
داستان جان فانته بیشتر از نگاه باندینی پدر که کارگری آجرچین است ودر زمستان معمولا برای او کاری پیدا نمی شود وکوشش های او برای ساختن خانواده ای متلاشی شده و پسر بزرگ او آرتور و تقلای او برای یافتن خود در میان مذهب و عشق بیان شده و در طول داستان ، خواننده بیشتر با افراد خانواده باندینی آشنا میشود .
تا بهار صبر کن باندینی را می توان در ستایش امید دانست ، با پایان زمستان ، دوران سخت خانواده هم تمام شده و باندینی ها دوباره به روال زندگی خود باز می گردند ، از این رو خواندن کتاب فانته برای افرادی همانند ما که از زیستن در چنین شرایط جهنمی ، صبر و توانشان پایان رسیده پیام
خاصی دارد ، آنکه حتی تاریک ترین شب نیز به پایان می رسد و خورشید طلوع می کند
May 26, 2017
It has been said of John Fante that he is one of America’s “criminally neglected authors.”
I would add that this is not a misdemeanor but a felony. I only discovered his work when I read Darrell Kastin’s wonderfully entertaining Shadowboxing With Bukowski and learned that Fante had been an influence on the Barfly.
Wait Until Spring, Bandini is Fante’s introduction to the world of Svevo Bandini, one of the criminally neglected characters in literature. First published in 1938, between the Great Depression and the Second World War, Fante describes the lives and misadventures of the Bandini clan in Colorado.
No doubt drawing on his own Italian-American experience, Fante reveals how the fiercely American, yet never abandoned Italian descent of Svevo shapes his world and his family’s. The reader meets a plethora of wonderful characters: Svevo’s wife Maria and their sons Arturo, Federico and August (and I could not help wondering if they had any influence at all on Mario Puzo’s Corleone boys – Santino, Fredo and Michael) as well as Svevo himself, his friend Rocco, and his hated mother in law Donna Toscana. (Donna damn near steals the show).
Like Cher’s Moonstruck, Lawrence Kasdan’s 1990 I Love You to Death, and any number of lesser Italian American tragi-comedies, the lyrical quality of the dialogue and the fine lines between misery, joy and reverence must be experienced to be understood, but it was entertaining and many times uproariously funny. The more sober parts introspective, culturally and timely observant, were like a snapshot of a time and place. His vivid description of a time before radio and TV, when a dime would get you into a theater, when families savored the experience of a fresh roasted chicken like a feast was mesmerizing and the pages turned and turned.
Fante’s writing is inspired and well crafted and this was a joy to read. I’ll revisit Fante for the rest of the Bandini books (four in all) and anything else by him I can find.
I would add that this is not a misdemeanor but a felony. I only discovered his work when I read Darrell Kastin’s wonderfully entertaining Shadowboxing With Bukowski and learned that Fante had been an influence on the Barfly.
Wait Until Spring, Bandini is Fante’s introduction to the world of Svevo Bandini, one of the criminally neglected characters in literature. First published in 1938, between the Great Depression and the Second World War, Fante describes the lives and misadventures of the Bandini clan in Colorado.
No doubt drawing on his own Italian-American experience, Fante reveals how the fiercely American, yet never abandoned Italian descent of Svevo shapes his world and his family’s. The reader meets a plethora of wonderful characters: Svevo’s wife Maria and their sons Arturo, Federico and August (and I could not help wondering if they had any influence at all on Mario Puzo’s Corleone boys – Santino, Fredo and Michael) as well as Svevo himself, his friend Rocco, and his hated mother in law Donna Toscana. (Donna damn near steals the show).
Like Cher’s Moonstruck, Lawrence Kasdan’s 1990 I Love You to Death, and any number of lesser Italian American tragi-comedies, the lyrical quality of the dialogue and the fine lines between misery, joy and reverence must be experienced to be understood, but it was entertaining and many times uproariously funny. The more sober parts introspective, culturally and timely observant, were like a snapshot of a time and place. His vivid description of a time before radio and TV, when a dime would get you into a theater, when families savored the experience of a fresh roasted chicken like a feast was mesmerizing and the pages turned and turned.
Fante’s writing is inspired and well crafted and this was a joy to read. I’ll revisit Fante for the rest of the Bandini books (four in all) and anything else by him I can find.
February 13, 2021
Que maravilha de livro! Tão bem escrito, entre as lágrimas e o humor! Para os Bandini, nada é simples. Não há dinheiro, falta comida, abunda o preconceito pela sua pobreza e origem italiana. Arturo Bandini, o adolescente apaixonado e rebelde, debate-se com questões religiosas sobre o pecado e o purgatório. Este inverno terrível parece nunca mais terminar. Mas a primavera está a chegar e, com ela, a esperança que tudo ilumina.
(Quero ler tudo sobre os Bandini)
(Quero ler tudo sobre os Bandini)
May 27, 2022
داستانِ مردی فقیر و زحمتکش و غرق در بدهکاری ... دارای سه پسر و همسری زحمتکش و زندگی سختی که باهاش دست و پنجه نرم میکنن .
✔ روند داستان اینقدر جذاب بود که دوست نداشتم کتاب رو بذارم زمین 👌 توصیف شخصیت ها و دیالوگ ها عالیه . کاملا با باندینی همذات پنداری کردم در طول کتاب و سختی هایی که تحمل میکرد رو از درون حس کردم ....
✔ زندگی مهاجران در غرب و مشکلاتی که باهاشون مواجه هستن رو خیلی خوب به تصویر کشیده 👍
✔ مقدار زیادی از کتاب در مورد آرتورو پسر اول باندینی ه . شخصیت این پسر تا حدودی شبیه #هولدن_کالفیلد در #ناطور_دشت ه به نظرم . پسری که دچار بحران هویت نوجوانی ه ! پسری که از اسم و فامیلش نفرت داره و دوست داره اونو به جای آرتورو باندینی ، جان جونز صدا بزنند . از شغل پدرش رضایت نداره و ...
✔ در مورد ترجمه هم باید بگم عالی بود و هیچ عیب و نقصی از نظر من نداشت 👍
✔ روند داستان اینقدر جذاب بود که دوست نداشتم کتاب رو بذارم زمین 👌 توصیف شخصیت ها و دیالوگ ها عالیه . کاملا با باندینی همذات پنداری کردم در طول کتاب و سختی هایی که تحمل میکرد رو از درون حس کردم ....
✔ زندگی مهاجران در غرب و مشکلاتی که باهاشون مواجه هستن رو خیلی خوب به تصویر کشیده 👍
✔ مقدار زیادی از کتاب در مورد آرتورو پسر اول باندینی ه . شخصیت این پسر تا حدودی شبیه #هولدن_کالفیلد در #ناطور_دشت ه به نظرم . پسری که دچار بحران هویت نوجوانی ه ! پسری که از اسم و فامیلش نفرت داره و دوست داره اونو به جای آرتورو باندینی ، جان جونز صدا بزنند . از شغل پدرش رضایت نداره و ...
✔ در مورد ترجمه هم باید بگم عالی بود و هیچ عیب و نقصی از نظر من نداشت 👍
January 27, 2023
I was first told about John Fante by a Spanish friend. I had never heard of him before, but it seems he is amply translated and well-liked by Spanish readers. Perusing through his list of works, I was drawn by the title of The Road to Los Angeles, since I was soon going to fly to that sprawling city, but as this was the second volume of his tetralogy, I then proceeded to purchase the first in the series, the book I am reviewing here. His tetralogy has been named “The Great Los Angeles Novel”. Of the four, the most famous is the third volume or Ask the Dust
Once I was in California, talking about books with friends there, whom I consider well-read, I was surprised that they were unaware of Fante. It is striking then that Fante has grown roots in the Spanish readership but has not produced a comparable echo in the US – or maybe he has.
This novel was published in 1938, and it is not set in California but in Rocklin, Colorado. It reads autobiographical although Fante was born in Denver.
It took me a few chapters to get into the rhythm of the novel. In it the world is seen through the teenager Arturo Bandini, who is having some difficulty in defining his identity; his instincts also seem somewhat in disarray. He is torn between his very catholic mother and his not exemplary father (..you’re quite a guy, Papa. You are killing Mamma, but you are wonderful). Arturo is self-centered and cruel; he enjoys torturing animals. Poverty and his immigrant origins (he is not just Italian, but his family originates from the poor region of Abruzzo) obsess and mortify him.
I was then faced, at first, with a realist novel that dwelled, crudely, upon the difficult and exceptional efforts that the various immigrants had to faced when finding their lives in the new country -- and in his kind of harsh realism, he is considered the muse of Charles Bukowski. In his portrayal, Fante is sensitive to the contradictions or dualities that his characters experienced during their process of adaptation. They were both appalled at the hardships they had to endure and amazed at their sought-after models (Sometimes she opened the pages of a woman’s magazine….. these magazines, these pictures represented that vague category: ‘American women.’ Always she spoke in awe of what ‘the American women’ were doing.).
As the novel moved along there was a change in focus and also in tone. Once the attention is no longer solely centered on Arturo and moves onto his father Svevo, who Is ensnared into an Arcadia (luxury and a woman), the novel turned for me much more interesting. The implausibility of this dreamworld did not detract; it added a richer texture. This was no Magic Realism, but a subtle humor in a dreary world.
I was hooked and ready to move to L.A. with The Road to Los Angeles
November 22, 2017
Alla faccia della famiglia disfunzionale (come si direbbe oggi): la madre bigotta che non fa altro che recitare rosari, il padre che si dà alla macchia per settimane mollando i problemi che non sa affrontare, e che dire della nonna? la personificazione dell’astio. E in tutto ciò, miseria. La miseria degli immigrati italiani negli Stati Uniti sul finire degli anni ‘20.
Come devono venire su i figli? Arturo, alle prese con i primi furori adolescenziali, è un ladruncolo che pensa di scaricare la coscienza nel confessionale e che ammira il padre quando pensa che abbia tradito la moglie con una donna ricca. Degli altri due, uno si vuol fare prete per opportunismo.
Insomma, che razza di personaggi, come si fa ad empatizzare?
Eppure le scene con cui sono ritratti hanno una grande potenza (mi è rimasta impressa tantissimo la madre Maria che va a fare la spesa dal salumiere ma non ha soldi e nemmeno coraggio di chiedere un nuovo credito…), e insomma mica lo so che sortilegio mi ha fatto questo John Fante per tenermi incollata alle pagine così.
Alla fine non si può che aspettare primavera con questi malmessi, ma autentici, Bandini - figuriamoci io, poi, che odio il freddo, l’inverno, la neve e persino il Natale.
Come devono venire su i figli? Arturo, alle prese con i primi furori adolescenziali, è un ladruncolo che pensa di scaricare la coscienza nel confessionale e che ammira il padre quando pensa che abbia tradito la moglie con una donna ricca. Degli altri due, uno si vuol fare prete per opportunismo.
Insomma, che razza di personaggi, come si fa ad empatizzare?
Eppure le scene con cui sono ritratti hanno una grande potenza (mi è rimasta impressa tantissimo la madre Maria che va a fare la spesa dal salumiere ma non ha soldi e nemmeno coraggio di chiedere un nuovo credito…), e insomma mica lo so che sortilegio mi ha fatto questo John Fante per tenermi incollata alle pagine così.
Alla fine non si può che aspettare primavera con questi malmessi, ma autentici, Bandini - figuriamoci io, poi, che odio il freddo, l’inverno, la neve e persino il Natale.
June 18, 2023
"Oddio questi italiani!"
"Di una cosa però son sicuro: tutta la gente della mia vita di scrittore, tutti i miei personaggi si ritrovano in questa mia prima opera. Di me non c’é più niente, solo il ricordo di vecchie camere da letto, e il ciabattare di mia madre verso la cucina."
John Fante.
**********************************
Bianca è la neve che ricopre Roklin, Colorado.
Bianca è Maria Toscana, moglie del muratore Svevo Bandini.
Tre figli: Arturo 14 anni, August 10 e Federico 8.
Scarpe rattoppate con pezzi di cartone, conti accumulati da saldare e una casa che rinfaccia di non appartenere a chi ci abita.
La famiglia Bandini non ha molto di particolare:
una famiglia italo-americana come tante e tra le tante disseminate negli anni '30 statunitensi.
Ingredienti principali: povertà e quel credo religioso che compone e scompone una vita fatta di stenti.
La sofferenza vive nella pancia vuota ma anche in quella dolorosa consapevolezza del non appartenere: non più italiani e non ancora americani.
"Di nome faceva Arturo, ma avrebbe preferito chiamarsi John. Di cognome faceva Bandini ma lui avrebbe preferito chiamarsi Jones. Suo padre e sua madre erano italiani ma lui avrebbe preferito essere americano. Suo padre faceva il muratore ma lui avrebbe preferito diventare il battitore della squadra di baseball dei Chicago Cubs. Vivevano a Rocklin, Colorado, diecimila abitanti, ma avrebbe preferito vivere a Denver, a cinquanta chilometri di distanza."
Un duro inverno per la famiglia Bandini che ci fa sorridere con Arturo e i suoi innocenti pensieri, i suoi primi tormenti d'amore; ci fa riflettere con Svevo che assaggia le comodità della ricchezza finchè dovrà prendere una decisione importante.
Bisogna aver pazienza.
La neve si scioglierà, arriverà la primavera e il sole finalmente riscalderà anche casa Bandini.
"Di una cosa però son sicuro: tutta la gente della mia vita di scrittore, tutti i miei personaggi si ritrovano in questa mia prima opera. Di me non c’é più niente, solo il ricordo di vecchie camere da letto, e il ciabattare di mia madre verso la cucina."
John Fante.
**********************************
Bianca è la neve che ricopre Roklin, Colorado.
Bianca è Maria Toscana, moglie del muratore Svevo Bandini.
Tre figli: Arturo 14 anni, August 10 e Federico 8.
Scarpe rattoppate con pezzi di cartone, conti accumulati da saldare e una casa che rinfaccia di non appartenere a chi ci abita.
La famiglia Bandini non ha molto di particolare:
una famiglia italo-americana come tante e tra le tante disseminate negli anni '30 statunitensi.
Ingredienti principali: povertà e quel credo religioso che compone e scompone una vita fatta di stenti.
La sofferenza vive nella pancia vuota ma anche in quella dolorosa consapevolezza del non appartenere: non più italiani e non ancora americani.
"Di nome faceva Arturo, ma avrebbe preferito chiamarsi John. Di cognome faceva Bandini ma lui avrebbe preferito chiamarsi Jones. Suo padre e sua madre erano italiani ma lui avrebbe preferito essere americano. Suo padre faceva il muratore ma lui avrebbe preferito diventare il battitore della squadra di baseball dei Chicago Cubs. Vivevano a Rocklin, Colorado, diecimila abitanti, ma avrebbe preferito vivere a Denver, a cinquanta chilometri di distanza."
Un duro inverno per la famiglia Bandini che ci fa sorridere con Arturo e i suoi innocenti pensieri, i suoi primi tormenti d'amore; ci fa riflettere con Svevo che assaggia le comodità della ricchezza finchè dovrà prendere una decisione importante.
Bisogna aver pazienza.
La neve si scioglierà, arriverà la primavera e il sole finalmente riscalderà anche casa Bandini.
June 21, 2017
Também eu, Arturo. Também já fui má quando a vida destruiu injustamente os meus sonhos.
Também eu, Svevo. Também já me deixei cair em tentação e feri cruelmente quem me amava.
Também eu, Maria. Também já me senti a morrer de amor e a odiar quem tanto amava.
(Quem não?)
Até já, Bandini (Fante)...
Também eu, Svevo. Também já me deixei cair em tentação e feri cruelmente quem me amava.
Também eu, Maria. Também já me senti a morrer de amor e a odiar quem tanto amava.
(Quem não?)
Até já, Bandini (Fante)...
March 19, 2024
جلد اول از چهارگانه ی فانته رو امروز تموم کردم. بطور کلی دوستش داشتم اما بنظرم اونجوری که باید به شخصیت ها پرداخته نشده بود. انگار نویسنده به هر شخصیت یه ناخنکی زده و عبور کرده بود. یه جاهایی تضادی که آرتورو بین علاقه ش به پدر و مادر داره حرص دراره. بی جهت از پدرش بت میسازه و به مادرش به چشم یک زن دیوونه نگاه میکنه. هرچند آخر کتاب رو به شدت دوست داشتم و دلم خنک شد چون بیوه خیلی رو مخم بود:)))
February 26, 2022
این برفِ خطاکار :
داستان با سوز زمستانی و نفرت از عالم و آدم شروع میشود. وقتی که از درون داغی ولی بیرون سرد است. این پارادوکس حتی در کاراکترها نیز نمود پیدا میکند، تک تک شخصیتها در موقعیتهایی قرار میگیرند که واکنشهایی برخلاف انتظار از خود بروز میدهند، البته اعمال و عکسالعملهای داستان هرچند شاید عجیب باشند ولی غیرمنطقی نیستند. باور دارم که فانته «عقده» را خوب میفهمید. جهانِ فانته، جهانِ کمبودها و استقامت است. جهان خطا کردنها، زمین خوردنها ولی دوباره بلند شدنها. شخصیتهای سیاه و سفید ندارد، همه طیف خاکستری هستند، بعضی پررنگ و بعضی کمرنگتر، ولی هیچکدام خالص نیستند. حتی خدا هم در آثار او نقص دارد.
چه زمستانها که در راه است باندینی :
چهارگانه مشهور فانته شامل : تا بهار صبر کن باندینی، جاده لس آنجلس، از غبار بپرس و رویاهایی از بانکرهیل، روند رشد یا حتی به بیانی سقوطِ شخصیتی بنام آرتورو باندینی از زمان نوجوانی به بعد است. تا بهار صبر کن باندینی اولین کتابِ این مجموعه و روایتگر دوران سخت نوجوانی باندینی است. زمانی که با روزگار دست به یقه است و به تقدیر مشت و دندان نشان میدهد حال آنکه مملو از آرزوست.
در نهایت :
اگر بخواهیم نویسندگانی که مستقیم یا غیر مستقیم متاثر از کنوت هامسون هستند را به یک جشنواره دعوت کنیم، از نظر من فانته باید جایزهی خلفترین شاگرد را ببرد. در قیاس با جهانِ سالینجر نیز به نظر من، جهان فانته فهمیدنیتر و سرسختتر است. فانته بیشتر با دنیا در رینگ مشغول مشتزنی است در حالی که سالینجر ترجیح میدهد قهر کند.
اسفند هزار و چهارصد
داستان با سوز زمستانی و نفرت از عالم و آدم شروع میشود. وقتی که از درون داغی ولی بیرون سرد است. این پارادوکس حتی در کاراکترها نیز نمود پیدا میکند، تک تک شخصیتها در موقعیتهایی قرار میگیرند که واکنشهایی برخلاف انتظار از خود بروز میدهند، البته اعمال و عکسالعملهای داستان هرچند شاید عجیب باشند ولی غیرمنطقی نیستند. باور دارم که فانته «عقده» را خوب میفهمید. جهانِ فانته، جهانِ کمبودها و استقامت است. جهان خطا کردنها، زمین خوردنها ولی دوباره بلند شدنها. شخصیتهای سیاه و سفید ندارد، همه طیف خاکستری هستند، بعضی پررنگ و بعضی کمرنگتر، ولی هیچکدام خالص نیستند. حتی خدا هم در آثار او نقص دارد.
چه زمستانها که در راه است باندینی :
چهارگانه مشهور فانته شامل : تا بهار صبر کن باندینی، جاده لس آنجلس، از غبار بپرس و رویاهایی از بانکرهیل، روند رشد یا حتی به بیانی سقوطِ شخصیتی بنام آرتورو باندینی از زمان نوجوانی به بعد است. تا بهار صبر کن باندینی اولین کتابِ این مجموعه و روایتگر دوران سخت نوجوانی باندینی است. زمانی که با روزگار دست به یقه است و به تقدیر مشت و دندان نشان میدهد حال آنکه مملو از آرزوست.
در نهایت :
اگر بخواهیم نویسندگانی که مستقیم یا غیر مستقیم متاثر از کنوت هامسون هستند را به یک جشنواره دعوت کنیم، از نظر من فانته باید جایزهی خلفترین شاگرد را ببرد. در قیاس با جهانِ سالینجر نیز به نظر من، جهان فانته فهمیدنیتر و سرسختتر است. فانته بیشتر با دنیا در رینگ مشغول مشتزنی است در حالی که سالینجر ترجیح میدهد قهر کند.
اسفند هزار و چهارصد
December 11, 2020
Que grata sorpresa me llevo con mi primer lectura de John Fante. Un estilo sencillo, sin vueltas, que va directo al hueso, una muy buena experiencia.
La novela no tiene un entramado complicado, la historia es sencillísima, es la de Arturo Bandini, el mayor de 3 hermanos, que a sus 14 años sufre una agobiante vergüenza por la pobreza en la que vive con su familia debido a la falta de trabajo del padre, que lo poco que consigue lo gasta en juego y alcohol. Para colmo, de la noche a la mañana su padre deja la casa para irse con una viuda millonaria del mismo pueblo, dejando a su madre sumida en una terrible depresión. A partir de este hecho, la relación de Arturo con su padre va a oscilar entre el odio que le genera ver a su madre abatida y sin consuelo por el abandono sufrido, y la admiración de siempre, que incluso ahora se acrecienta al ver que su padre es capaz de darse una gran vida al lado de una mujer con dinero, porque en definitiva, que su padre pueda alcanzar algo de éxito significa no perder la esperanza que a él también lo pueda alcanzar un golpe de suerte en algún momento.
Es un gran libro, muy recomendable.
4.5
La novela no tiene un entramado complicado, la historia es sencillísima, es la de Arturo Bandini, el mayor de 3 hermanos, que a sus 14 años sufre una agobiante vergüenza por la pobreza en la que vive con su familia debido a la falta de trabajo del padre, que lo poco que consigue lo gasta en juego y alcohol. Para colmo, de la noche a la mañana su padre deja la casa para irse con una viuda millonaria del mismo pueblo, dejando a su madre sumida en una terrible depresión. A partir de este hecho, la relación de Arturo con su padre va a oscilar entre el odio que le genera ver a su madre abatida y sin consuelo por el abandono sufrido, y la admiración de siempre, que incluso ahora se acrecienta al ver que su padre es capaz de darse una gran vida al lado de una mujer con dinero, porque en definitiva, que su padre pueda alcanzar algo de éxito significa no perder la esperanza que a él también lo pueda alcanzar un golpe de suerte en algún momento.
Es un gran libro, muy recomendable.
4.5
September 27, 2021
Gli inverni sono piu'... invernali se sei un dago, un pezzente italiano da non molto immigrato negli Stetes anni '30. Lo sono, se sei un padre dei famiglia, un muratore un po' scapestrato, non un santo, non impeccabile. Lo sono, se sei una moglie costretta a fare i salti mortali per governare in ristrettezze e umiliazioni una famiglia numerosa. Lo sono ancor di piu', se sei un ragazzino costretto a misurarti tutti i giorni con la cattiveria che solo altri ragazzini possono avere. Costretto a confrontarsi con i sogni di una normalita' "straniera" che appare irraggiungibile. La saga di Arturo Bandini comincia bene, tristemente bene. Con questo libro collocabile, dal punto di vista logico, agli albori dell'avventura di Bandini, John Fante delinea con classe affabulatoria, un'epopea clamorosamente bella e scritta altrettanto bene. La scena di Maria, la madre di Arturo, dal macellaio, vale da sola "il prezzo del biglietto".
December 10, 2020
Now that I am an old man I cannot look back upon Wait Until Spring, Bandini without losing its trail in the past. Sometimes, lying in bed at night, a phrase or a paragraph or a character from that early work will mesmerize me and in a half dream I will entwine it in phrases and draw from it a kind of melodious memory of an old bedroom in Colorado, or my mother, or my father, or my brothers and sister. I cannot imagine that what I wrote so long ago will soothe me as does this half dream, and yet I cannot bring myself to look back, to open this first novel and read it again. I am fearful, I cannot bear being exposed by my own work. I am sure I shall never read this book again. But of this I am sure: all of the people of my writing life, all of my characters are to be found in this early work. Nothing of myself is there any more, only the memory of old bedrooms, and the sound of my mother’s slippers walking to the kitchen.
—Author's Note
—Author's Note
March 13, 2023
اگه نسخهی ترجمه شده رو این کتاب رو میخونین، از خیر فصل نهم بگذرین و به انگلیسی بخونین، به حدی سانسور شده که متوجه نشین چی میگه. اتفاقا بهترین فصل و اوج داستان هم همینجاس.
این کتاب به تنهایی کار قابل توجه و خیلی قوییه، اما کافیه که یکم با سینمای دهه بیست و سی آمریکا آشنا باشین تا بهتر هم بشه. پسرِ ارشد باندینی، آرتورو، خیلی به سینما علاقه داره و روای بخش بزرگی از داستانه، شخصیتش با دقت زیادی از روی همون فیلمها نوشته شده. یکسری جاها دیالوگهای پیچیدهای داره و توی صحبتهاش چیزایی رو میگه که از یه پسر دوازده ساله بعیده، در حالی که تمام این بخشها از روی یکسری از آثار کلاسیکه و ترکیبی از جملات توی اون فیلمهاست.
در کل شخصیت پردازی جان فانته شگفت انگیزه، خوشحالم که سه جلد دیگه از این مجموعه مونده و میتونم سر حوصله برم سراغشون.
این کتاب به تنهایی کار قابل توجه و خیلی قوییه، اما کافیه که یکم با سینمای دهه بیست و سی آمریکا آشنا باشین تا بهتر هم بشه. پسرِ ارشد باندینی، آرتورو، خیلی به سینما علاقه داره و روای بخش بزرگی از داستانه، شخصیتش با دقت زیادی از روی همون فیلمها نوشته شده. یکسری جاها دیالوگهای پیچیدهای داره و توی صحبتهاش چیزایی رو میگه که از یه پسر دوازده ساله بعیده، در حالی که تمام این بخشها از روی یکسری از آثار کلاسیکه و ترکیبی از جملات توی اون فیلمهاست.
در کل شخصیت پردازی جان فانته شگفت انگیزه، خوشحالم که سه جلد دیگه از این مجموعه مونده و میتونم سر حوصله برم سراغشون.
July 21, 2023
Arturo Bandini Comes Of Age
John Fante (1909 -- 1983) remains one of the least appreciated American writers. Readers often come to Fante through Charles Bukowski, who admired his work intensely. There are many similarities in mood between the two.
Fante wrote several novels and stories centering upon a character named Arturo Bandini of which "Ask the Dust" remains the best-known. Fante's first published novel, and chronologically the first about Bandini is this 1938 book, "Wait until Spring, Bandini" which tells the story of Bandini as an early adolescent and of his family. In Bukowski's novel, "Women", the primary character, Chianski, describes Fante as his "favorite writer" and says of both "Ask the Dust" and "Wait until Spring, Bandini" that they display "total emotion" and that Fante was "a very brave man".
The story is set in a small fictitious Colorado town called Rocklin and describes a poor, struggling Italian family. The father, Svevo, is a bricklayer and an Italian immigrant who struggles largely unsuccessfully to pay the mortgage, buy groceries, and care for his family together with his passions for gambling and alcohol. His wife, Maria, is deeply Catholic. Maria's mother loathes Svevo and increases the tension in the marriage. There are three children, Arturo, the oldest, 14, August, and Federico. They fight and compete, as brothers do. Arturo loves baseball and dreams of playing in the major leagues.
The book is written simply in a beautifully lyric, rhythmic prose. It reminds the reader, if a reminder is necessary, that a novel need not be ponderous and obscure to be moving and worthwhile. Fante stays within himself and his subject, with detailed scenes of the life of the Bandini family. The book is tough minded and, as Bukowski noted, painfully emotionally honest. It describes an immigrant family that lives on the edge of poverty. The Bandinis also are social outcasts. Svevo and Maria live in a state of tension and the boys are more than usually violent. Catholicism has a large role in the book, as the members of the family display varying attitudes towards their Church. The boys attend a parochial school taught by nuns and pay no fees as a result of the poverty of the family.
Sexual tension gradually becomes the predominant theme of the book. Young Arturo has a crush on an Italian girl of a poor family, Rosa, but pursues her in the clumsiest of fashions. Svevo apparently becomes involved with a wealthy, educated widow, Effie Hildegarde. The novel works towards the resolution of the passions of both father and son.
"Wait until Spring, Bandini" is unsparing in its portrayals of immigrant life in the West. It is a coming-of-age novel for readers willing to go off the beaten path in exploring American literature.
Robin Friedman
John Fante (1909 -- 1983) remains one of the least appreciated American writers. Readers often come to Fante through Charles Bukowski, who admired his work intensely. There are many similarities in mood between the two.
Fante wrote several novels and stories centering upon a character named Arturo Bandini of which "Ask the Dust" remains the best-known. Fante's first published novel, and chronologically the first about Bandini is this 1938 book, "Wait until Spring, Bandini" which tells the story of Bandini as an early adolescent and of his family. In Bukowski's novel, "Women", the primary character, Chianski, describes Fante as his "favorite writer" and says of both "Ask the Dust" and "Wait until Spring, Bandini" that they display "total emotion" and that Fante was "a very brave man".
The story is set in a small fictitious Colorado town called Rocklin and describes a poor, struggling Italian family. The father, Svevo, is a bricklayer and an Italian immigrant who struggles largely unsuccessfully to pay the mortgage, buy groceries, and care for his family together with his passions for gambling and alcohol. His wife, Maria, is deeply Catholic. Maria's mother loathes Svevo and increases the tension in the marriage. There are three children, Arturo, the oldest, 14, August, and Federico. They fight and compete, as brothers do. Arturo loves baseball and dreams of playing in the major leagues.
The book is written simply in a beautifully lyric, rhythmic prose. It reminds the reader, if a reminder is necessary, that a novel need not be ponderous and obscure to be moving and worthwhile. Fante stays within himself and his subject, with detailed scenes of the life of the Bandini family. The book is tough minded and, as Bukowski noted, painfully emotionally honest. It describes an immigrant family that lives on the edge of poverty. The Bandinis also are social outcasts. Svevo and Maria live in a state of tension and the boys are more than usually violent. Catholicism has a large role in the book, as the members of the family display varying attitudes towards their Church. The boys attend a parochial school taught by nuns and pay no fees as a result of the poverty of the family.
Sexual tension gradually becomes the predominant theme of the book. Young Arturo has a crush on an Italian girl of a poor family, Rosa, but pursues her in the clumsiest of fashions. Svevo apparently becomes involved with a wealthy, educated widow, Effie Hildegarde. The novel works towards the resolution of the passions of both father and son.
"Wait until Spring, Bandini" is unsparing in its portrayals of immigrant life in the West. It is a coming-of-age novel for readers willing to go off the beaten path in exploring American literature.
Robin Friedman
November 25, 2021
«Inverno, tempo di Natale, stagione dei bambini ricchi. Ah, la primavera! Ah, lo schiocco secco della mazza da baseball»
Rocklin, Colorado, Inverno 1928. Il Natale si avvicina e le vetrine illuminate e ricche di doni rendono ancora più stridente la condizione di povertà della famiglia Bandini. Svevo, la devotissima moglie Maria e i suoi tre figli, Arturo, August e Federico vivono in miseria al 456 di Walnut Street, di proprietà della banca locale.
Svevo fa il muratore, ma in inverno, tra le nevi del Colorado, lavoro non se ne trova. Svevo sogna un lavoro, Arturo di diventare un campione di baseball. Tutti e due sanno che solo a primavera...
«Inverno, l’epoca delle riunioni attorno ai termosifoni degli spogliatoi per raccontarsi bugie. Ah, la primavera! Ah, lo schiocco secco della mazza da baseball, il prurito della pallina a contatto con le dita. Inverno, tempo di Natale, stagione dei bambini ricchi: loro avevano stivaletti alti, sciarpe colorate e guanti foderati di pelliccia. Ma a lui non importava granché. Il suo momento era la primavera...»
Ma si sa, dal caminetto arriva sempre Babbo Natale. E poco importa che quel caminetto non sia il tuo.
Nel 1989 esce Le ragioni del cuore, interpretato da Joe Mantegna, Ornella Muti e Faye Dunaway. L’azione, come nel libro, si sviluppa a ridosso del Natale, e il film introduce nel finale un ‘non detto’ che, ai miei occhi, riconcilia la figura dell’affascinante Mrs. Hildegarde (Faye Dunaway) con l’atmosfera avvolgente del Natale.
Che dire? Un racconto in chiave dickensiana, un azzeccato Christmas Tale.
Ah, ma sia chiaro! io non amo le atmosfere del Natale... «Sometimes in life, you have to lie a lot.»...
Rocklin, Colorado, Inverno 1928. Il Natale si avvicina e le vetrine illuminate e ricche di doni rendono ancora più stridente la condizione di povertà della famiglia Bandini. Svevo, la devotissima moglie Maria e i suoi tre figli, Arturo, August e Federico vivono in miseria al 456 di Walnut Street, di proprietà della banca locale.
Svevo fa il muratore, ma in inverno, tra le nevi del Colorado, lavoro non se ne trova. Svevo sogna un lavoro, Arturo di diventare un campione di baseball. Tutti e due sanno che solo a primavera...
«Inverno, l’epoca delle riunioni attorno ai termosifoni degli spogliatoi per raccontarsi bugie. Ah, la primavera! Ah, lo schiocco secco della mazza da baseball, il prurito della pallina a contatto con le dita. Inverno, tempo di Natale, stagione dei bambini ricchi: loro avevano stivaletti alti, sciarpe colorate e guanti foderati di pelliccia. Ma a lui non importava granché. Il suo momento era la primavera...»
Ma si sa, dal caminetto arriva sempre Babbo Natale. E poco importa che quel caminetto non sia il tuo.
Nel 1989 esce Le ragioni del cuore, interpretato da Joe Mantegna, Ornella Muti e Faye Dunaway. L’azione, come nel libro, si sviluppa a ridosso del Natale, e il film introduce nel finale un ‘non detto’ che, ai miei occhi, riconcilia la figura dell’affascinante Mrs. Hildegarde (Faye Dunaway) con l’atmosfera avvolgente del Natale.
Che dire? Un racconto in chiave dickensiana, un azzeccato Christmas Tale.
Ah, ma sia chiaro! io non amo le atmosfere del Natale... «Sometimes in life, you have to lie a lot.»...
May 31, 2021
ها قد انتهيت من الجزء الأول من ملحمة أرتورو بانديني، في البداية دعني أطلعك على سر صغير، كنت أحلم منذ عدة سنوات أن أمتلك تلك الرباعية وأقرأها. وأخيراً اقتنيتها مع كثير من التردد والحذر. محمود يا صديقي لماذا لا تأخذ جزء بجزء؟ لم أسمع سوى صوت بداخلي ينادي الملحمة. فاستجبت للنداء السري، وامتلكتها. لا أخفيك سراً كم كنت سعيداً وأنا عائد بها إلى محرابي.
في هذا الجزء، يحكي لنا فانتي عن سفيفو بانديني وعائلته المكونة من زوجته وأبنائه الثلاثة. أرتورو أكبر أبناءه، وهو بطل الملحمة، ذلك الفتى المراهق الذي يذكرني بـ هولدن كولفيلد بطل رواية الحارس في حقل الشوفان. فـ أرتورو مراهق يمقت العالم، حتى والديه لم يسلما من كراهيته. تدور الأحداث في فصل الشتاء في مدينة كولورادو الأمريكية، يعمل سفيفو بنّاء، وفي الشتاء يقل العمل جداً، فنرى معاناة الأسرة الغارقة في الديون، الأب الذي اعتاد أن يسكر ويلعب مع أصدقائه فينتهي به الحال بخسارة المزيد من النقود. تمرد أرتورو الدائم على ظروف حياتهم، مشاكسة الأخوين الصغيرين. ربما الأمل في قدوم الربيع حتى تتحسن أحوالهم.
ما يميز الرواية، أسلوب فانتي في الكتابة، طوال الوقت كنت أشعر بأنه أسلوبه مختلف تماماً عن كل ما قرأته من قبل. لا أعلم إذا كان هذا شيء جيد أم لا. لكن هناك انطباع واحد شعرت به، وأتمنى أن أكون مخطئ. أخاف أن ينتهي الحال بالرباعية إلى أن أهديها لعم سيد بائع الفلافل. فالبداية لم تكن مشجعة. لا أعلم ما المشكلة معي!
ريفيو الجزء الثاني - الطريق إلى لوس أنجلوس
ريفيو الجزء الثالث - إسأل الغبار
ريفيو الجزء الرابع - أحلام من بنكر هيل
.
في هذا الجزء، يحكي لنا فانتي عن سفيفو بانديني وعائلته المكونة من زوجته وأبنائه الثلاثة. أرتورو أكبر أبناءه، وهو بطل الملحمة، ذلك الفتى المراهق الذي يذكرني بـ هولدن كولفيلد بطل رواية الحارس في حقل الشوفان. فـ أرتورو مراهق يمقت العالم، حتى والديه لم يسلما من كراهيته. تدور الأحداث في فصل الشتاء في مدينة كولورادو الأمريكية، يعمل سفيفو بنّاء، وفي الشتاء يقل العمل جداً، فنرى معاناة الأسرة الغارقة في الديون، الأب الذي اعتاد أن يسكر ويلعب مع أصدقائه فينتهي به الحال بخسارة المزيد من النقود. تمرد أرتورو الدائم على ظروف حياتهم، مشاكسة الأخوين الصغيرين. ربما الأمل في قدوم الربيع حتى تتحسن أحوالهم.
ما يميز الرواية، أسلوب فانتي في الكتابة، طوال الوقت كنت أشعر بأنه أسلوبه مختلف تماماً عن كل ما قرأته من قبل. لا أعلم إذا كان هذا شيء جيد أم لا. لكن هناك انطباع واحد شعرت به، وأتمنى أن أكون مخطئ. أخاف أن ينتهي الحال بالرباعية إلى أن أهديها لعم سيد بائع الفلافل. فالبداية لم تكن مشجعة. لا أعلم ما المشكلة معي!
ريفيو الجزء الثاني - الطريق إلى لوس أنجلوس
ريفيو الجزء الثالث - إسأل الغبار
ريفيو الجزء الرابع - أحلام من بنكر هيل
.
May 12, 2019
Uno spaccato perfetto della vita della famiglia di un emigrante, fra ristrettezze e povertà, in una terra lontana e straniera. Il piccolo Arturo Bandini è diviso fra l’ammirazione che prova nei confronti del padre, manovale che trova un’amante ricca in attesa di riprendere il lavoro, e l’amore per la madre, essere fragile che vede soffrire per l’insensibilità del padre. Un uomo che conosce solo alcool, soldi, e gioco. Solo una cosa può salvarli: l’arrivo della primavera. Porterà nuovo lavoro al padre, ed un ritorno alla retta via, e il sogno di un gioco a baseball per il giovane figlio.
I personaggi sono ben caratterizzati, la storia avvince ma per il mio primo Fante mi aspettavo qualcosa di più. Forse l’averlo fatto aspettare così tanto, come Arturo aspetta la sua primavera ne ha nutrito aspettative più alte.
“ Inverno, l'epoca delle riunioni attorno ai termosifoni degli spogliatoi per raccontarsi bugie. Ah, la primavera! Ah, lo schiocco secco della mazza da baseball, il prurito della pallina a contatto con le dita. Inverno, tempo di Natale, stagione dei bambini ricchi: loro avevano stivaletti alti, sciarpe colorate e guanti foderati di pelliccia. Ma a lui non importava granchè. Il suo momento era la primavera.
Niente stivaletti alti, niente sciarpe eleganti sul campo da gioco! Non si faceva una battuta vincente solo perchè s'indossava una cravatta di lusso.”
I personaggi sono ben caratterizzati, la storia avvince ma per il mio primo Fante mi aspettavo qualcosa di più. Forse l’averlo fatto aspettare così tanto, come Arturo aspetta la sua primavera ne ha nutrito aspettative più alte.
“ Inverno, l'epoca delle riunioni attorno ai termosifoni degli spogliatoi per raccontarsi bugie. Ah, la primavera! Ah, lo schiocco secco della mazza da baseball, il prurito della pallina a contatto con le dita. Inverno, tempo di Natale, stagione dei bambini ricchi: loro avevano stivaletti alti, sciarpe colorate e guanti foderati di pelliccia. Ma a lui non importava granchè. Il suo momento era la primavera.
Niente stivaletti alti, niente sciarpe eleganti sul campo da gioco! Non si faceva una battuta vincente solo perchè s'indossava una cravatta di lusso.”
August 7, 2018
Lo primero a destacar de este libro, es su seriedad, apenas te ríes, no como pasaba con 'Llenos de vida' o 'La hermandad de la uva'. Nuestros protagonistas son la familia Bandini, y sobre todo Arturo Bandini, alter ego del propio Fante. ¿Os ha pasado alguna vez que lo que estabais leyendo parecía sacado de vuestra vida? Pues esto mismo me ha pasado a mí. Muchas situaciones por las que pasan los protagonistas las he pasado yo también, lo que me ha hecho pensar en el doloroso pasado.
A destacar lo bien escrito que está el libro. Te cuenta las cosas de manera sencilla y al mismo tiempo disfrutas con su prosa. En fin, muy recomendable, como todos los libros de este autor, por lo que parece.
A destacar lo bien escrito que está el libro. Te cuenta las cosas de manera sencilla y al mismo tiempo disfrutas con su prosa. En fin, muy recomendable, como todos los libros de este autor, por lo que parece.
September 24, 2022
3,5/4.
Read
December 24, 2022“No ocurría otra cosa a las personas que morían: algún día moriría él también y en
algún lugar de la tierra se repetiría aquel acontecimiento. Él ya no estaría allí,
aunque no era necesario estarlo, pues todo no sería ya más que un recuerdo.
Estaría muerto y sin embargo los vivos no le serían desconocidos, pues aquello
volvería a suceder, recuerdo de la vida antes de haberla vivido. “
“Días intensos, días tristes”
Con Fante hay un dato que no deja de ser curioso, casi se le podría achacar al
destino. Bukowski no habría existido sin Fante, Fante no se conocería sin Bukowski.
Algunos nombran a Fante con el primer beat, no tengo pruebas, pero tampoco
dudas de que así fue. Antes que nada, hay que tener en cuenta de que fue una
novela publicada en 1938, pero tiene un lenguaje y una cadencia que podría pasar
por el actual, incluso el trabajo de algunas fábricas se asemeja al horario de hoy en
día, de eso puedo dar fe. Representante de una generación rota por el alcoholismo
y el fracaso del sueño americano, nunca quiso ser guionista, su vocación siempre
fue la de escritor, por desgracia no vivió lo suficiente como para disfrutar del todo de
su éxito, a pesar de que en Hollywood sí tuvo cierto renombre. Un escritor a dos
dedos veloz y furioso como el rayo, según su hijo pequeño. Pero la escritura de
Fante es el idioma de lo complicadamente sencillo, un subtexto que resuena como
una vibración para después terminar de explotar d euna forma elegante y directa.
Bandini, su alter ego está lleno de fracasos, como los de su padre, también con un
paralelismo a la vida de John Fante. Tiene muy buen dominio de la cadencia del
drama, y algo que no me deja de resultar curioso es lo ridículo que es Bandini, con
un ego más grande que él, sin sentido del ridículo pero sensible, sobre todo sensible
porque es consciente de que ha hecho el ridículo. Nos muestra a uno de los
personajes más redondos de la literatura americana del siglo pasado. El abandono,
el fracaso, la aspiración, la constancia, la cabezonería, la soledad, la familia
desestructurada, las lágrimas, el pasado, la aspiración de un futuro esperado,
trabajos de mierda, alcoholismo, cajetillas de tabaco a punta pala, calles mugrientas,
calles bellas, cristianismo, crítica social, amor a la literatura, amor por lo que un es.
Todo eso es lo que nos presenta John Fante de fora magistral con Bandini. John
Fante es el padre de muchos escritores. De eso tampoco tengo dudas.
Días intensos, días tristes, Bandini si esperó por fin a la primavera.
algún lugar de la tierra se repetiría aquel acontecimiento. Él ya no estaría allí,
aunque no era necesario estarlo, pues todo no sería ya más que un recuerdo.
Estaría muerto y sin embargo los vivos no le serían desconocidos, pues aquello
volvería a suceder, recuerdo de la vida antes de haberla vivido. “
“Días intensos, días tristes”
Con Fante hay un dato que no deja de ser curioso, casi se le podría achacar al
destino. Bukowski no habría existido sin Fante, Fante no se conocería sin Bukowski.
Algunos nombran a Fante con el primer beat, no tengo pruebas, pero tampoco
dudas de que así fue. Antes que nada, hay que tener en cuenta de que fue una
novela publicada en 1938, pero tiene un lenguaje y una cadencia que podría pasar
por el actual, incluso el trabajo de algunas fábricas se asemeja al horario de hoy en
día, de eso puedo dar fe. Representante de una generación rota por el alcoholismo
y el fracaso del sueño americano, nunca quiso ser guionista, su vocación siempre
fue la de escritor, por desgracia no vivió lo suficiente como para disfrutar del todo de
su éxito, a pesar de que en Hollywood sí tuvo cierto renombre. Un escritor a dos
dedos veloz y furioso como el rayo, según su hijo pequeño. Pero la escritura de
Fante es el idioma de lo complicadamente sencillo, un subtexto que resuena como
una vibración para después terminar de explotar d euna forma elegante y directa.
Bandini, su alter ego está lleno de fracasos, como los de su padre, también con un
paralelismo a la vida de John Fante. Tiene muy buen dominio de la cadencia del
drama, y algo que no me deja de resultar curioso es lo ridículo que es Bandini, con
un ego más grande que él, sin sentido del ridículo pero sensible, sobre todo sensible
porque es consciente de que ha hecho el ridículo. Nos muestra a uno de los
personajes más redondos de la literatura americana del siglo pasado. El abandono,
el fracaso, la aspiración, la constancia, la cabezonería, la soledad, la familia
desestructurada, las lágrimas, el pasado, la aspiración de un futuro esperado,
trabajos de mierda, alcoholismo, cajetillas de tabaco a punta pala, calles mugrientas,
calles bellas, cristianismo, crítica social, amor a la literatura, amor por lo que un es.
Todo eso es lo que nos presenta John Fante de fora magistral con Bandini. John
Fante es el padre de muchos escritores. De eso tampoco tengo dudas.
Días intensos, días tristes, Bandini si esperó por fin a la primavera.
May 8, 2016
This was my first John Fante book, and it was an interesting start to his work. I had originally intended to begin with Ask the Dust, which appealed to me in that it follows a misanthropic writer, but after purchasing the Bandini Quartet, I knew I had to start at the beginning and go in chronological order through the character's life.
For those who like plot-heavy books, this is definitely not for you. Not much happens in this book at all. We follow primarily Arturo (Arthur) Bandini, a poor Italian-American boy living with his two younger brothers, mother, and father in a run-down house where they barely have enough money to feed themselves, sometimes not at all (surviving on 'benevolence' and credit). He goes to school, he moons over the love of his life Rosa, and he has a tumultuous relationship with his father who he both admires and hates, and his mother who he loves but believes is weak.
The characters in this book are not likeable, but they feel very real. The writing is simple (much like Bukowski, who was heavily inspired by Fante) and to the point, and can often be repetitive. If you find the first chapter of this book difficult to get into though, please continue, as this is told from the perspective of the father Svevo and is by far the least interesting chapter of the whole book.
I'm interested to see what the next book in Bandini's chronology will be like (having been published posthumously after Fante's death I believe), but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how Arturo Bandini's character evolves over his lifetime.
For those who like plot-heavy books, this is definitely not for you. Not much happens in this book at all. We follow primarily Arturo (Arthur) Bandini, a poor Italian-American boy living with his two younger brothers, mother, and father in a run-down house where they barely have enough money to feed themselves, sometimes not at all (surviving on 'benevolence' and credit). He goes to school, he moons over the love of his life Rosa, and he has a tumultuous relationship with his father who he both admires and hates, and his mother who he loves but believes is weak.
The characters in this book are not likeable, but they feel very real. The writing is simple (much like Bukowski, who was heavily inspired by Fante) and to the point, and can often be repetitive. If you find the first chapter of this book difficult to get into though, please continue, as this is told from the perspective of the father Svevo and is by far the least interesting chapter of the whole book.
I'm interested to see what the next book in Bandini's chronology will be like (having been published posthumously after Fante's death I believe), but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how Arturo Bandini's character evolves over his lifetime.
October 28, 2014
Non riesco a convincermi che una cosa scritta tanto tempo fa mi risulti così dolce nel dormiveglia e tuttavia non riesco a guardarmi indietro, riaprendo e rileggendo il mio primo romanzo. Ho paura, non sopporto l’idea di vedermi sotto la luce della mia prima opera. Sono certo che non la rileggerò più. Di una cosa però son sicuro: tutta la gente della mia vita di scrittore, tutti i miei personaggi si ritrovano in questa mia prima opera. Di me non c’è più niente, solo il ricordo di vecchie camere da letto, e il ciabattare di mia madre verso la cucina. (John Fante, Prefazione ad “Aspetta primavera, Bandini”)
Arturo Bandini: 14 anni, italiano, inguaribile sognatore in lotta costante contro l’ascendenza italiana, causa, a suo parere, di tutti i problemi che lo assillano. Per di più è inverno: essere povero, italiano, in Colorado durante l’inverno è una delle peggiori iatture che si possano immaginare! Inverno significa freddo, piedi gelati, nessun regalo di Natale, anzi nessuna atmosfera natalizia perché il padre di Arturo, Svevo, odia quella stagione dell’anno anche più del figlio. La neve e il freddo fanno gelare la calce e questo significa niente lavoro, niente soldi, debiti per mangiare e pensiero costantemente rivolto a Helmer, il banchiere, che gli ricorda che la casa, dove abitano sua moglie e si suoi tre figli, non è sua e forse non lo sarà mai. Svevo d’inverno sfoga la sua frustrazione giocando a poker e ubriacandosi, due attività che gli procurerebbero maggiori soddisfazioni se anche sua moglie, Maria, gli desse motivo di lamentarsi e invece no! Maria, donna che trova nella fede in Dio un balsamo per tutte le difficoltà da affrontare, lo ama appassionatamente e lo accetta così com'è, innescando maggiormente il senso di colpa di Svevo e rendendolo ancora più scontroso in un circolo vizioso che lo porta spesso ad allontanarsi dalla famiglia.
Fante racconta le vicende della famiglia Bandini con tono ironico e intriso di nostalgia per un periodo certamente difficile ma in cui il futuro è ancora tutto da scoprire per il giovane Arturo. La voce narrante è interna alla storia: il punto di vista adottato è, di volta in volta, quello di Arturo, di Svevo o di Maria e lo stile si adatta ai caratteri dei personaggi: periodi brevi e affermazioni secche che riprendono le contrapposizioni nette degli adolescenti se la focalizzazione è quella di Arturo; affermazioni assolute che non ammettono sfumature o possibilità di replica nel caso di Svevo; un tono rassegnato e dimesso per Maria.
I tre punti di vista si differenziano rispetto alla religiosità e al senso di appartenenza alle proprie radici italiane ponendosi lungo un continuum che va da un estremo (Svevo) all’altro (Maria), con la posizione intermedia di Arturo che esprime il punto di vista più articolato e problematico.
Svevo si sente sia italiano sia americano e questo non comporta per lui alcuna lacerazione interiore: parla in inglese nella quotidianità e ricorre all’italiano solo per rievocare con gli amici le sue conquiste amorose. Maria, al contrario, si sente italiana e sa che non potrà mai essere come le donne americane, belle e sorridenti, stampate sulle riviste patinate che ogni tanto sfoglia. Arturo (che, come i genitori, è cittadino statunitense) si sente un povero italiano con una madre italiana che prega in continuazione e un padre italiano che sbraita sempre; lui però vorrebbe essere un americano e questo status non dipende da un documento ufficiale (come invece pensa Svevo), ma da un modo di essere e di comportarsi alieno alla sua famiglia e contro il quale Arturo si scontra ogni giorno a casa e a scuola:
Di nome faceva Arturo, ma avrebbe preferito chiamarsi John. Di cognome faceva Bandini ma lui avrebbe preferito chiamarsi Jones. Suo padre e sua madre erano italiani ma lui avrebbe preferito essere americano. Suo padre faceva il muratore ma lui avrebbe preferito diventare il battitore della squadra di baseball dei Chicago Cubs. […]
Perché sua madre era diversa dalle altre madri? Era proprio così, come poteva constatare ogni giorno. La madre di Jack Hawley lo faceva andare su di giri: aveva un modo tale d’offrirgli i biscotti che il cuore gli faceva le fusa. […]
Ma perché suo padre doveva sempre esprimersi urlando? Possibile che non sapesse parlare a bassa voce? Se il vicinato sapeva tutto della famiglia Bandini era solo perché suo padre gridava senza ritegno. I loro vicini, i Morey, non li sentiva fiatare, mai; gente tranquilla, americani. A suo padre, invece, non bastava essere italiano, lui doveva essere un italiano rumoroso.
La vita quotidiana di Arturo è scandita dalla religione, o meglio dal senso di colpa per la violazione continua dei dieci comandamenti e dalla conseguente paura dell’inferno; a differenza di Svevo che non si pone proprio il problema, Arturo ha trovato una soluzione che è perfettamente in linea con la sua educazione cattolica: peccare, provare rimorso, confessarsi per riconciliarsi con se stesso e con Dio, peccare di nuovo. Le considerazioni di Arturo sugli effetti della morale cattolica sulla sua vita sono, a mio parere, tra le più riuscite del romanzo per il tono lieve e ironico che usa Fante, il quale riesce a comunicare al lettore tutta la serietà della questione per Arturo mantenendo l’atteggiamento benevolo e distaccato dell’adulto che ricorda i tormenti dell’adolescenza.
Aspetta primavera, Bandini è un libro piacevole che lascia insoddisfatto il lettore curioso di sapere cosa accadrà ad Arturo in primavera e negli inverni successivi; non rimane allora che buttarsi a capofitto nei romanzi di Fante e seguire le vicissitudini di Arturo, Svevo e Maria attraverso tutti i loro alias, che poi non sono altro che alter ego di Fante e dei suoi genitori.
December 30, 2016
Joe Mantegna no filme "A Primavera Virá, Bandini (1989)/Wait Until Spring, Bandini
"A Primavera Há-de Chegar, Bandini" - primeiro livro da saga do Arturo Bandini, foi originalmente publicado em 1938, escrito pelo pouco "conhecido" e "reconhecido" escritor norte-americano John Fante (1909-1983).
No prefácio John Fante escreve "Agora que estou velho, não consigo pensar em "A Primavera Há-de Chegar, Bandini" sem perder o seu rasto no passado. Certas noites, deitado na cama, evoco uma frase, um parágrafo ou uma personagem desse velho livro... É pouco provável que um livro escrito há tanto tempo me reconforte como esse meio sonho... Tenho medo, não suporto ver-me exposto pela minha própria escrita..."
"Quando um homem se deita ao lado da mulher numa noite de quinta-feira, será que precisa que ela lhe diga que amanhã é sexta?" (pág. 21)
"Como podia um homem dormir naquela casa em constante alvoroço, com uma mulher que estava sempre a sair da cama sem dizer ai nem ui?" (Pág. 22)
"Também ele estava constipado - na alma... mas Svevo Bandini sofria sozinho - não de dores no corpo, mas de dores na alma, que eram muito piores. Haveria no mundo sofrimento mais insuportável que o da alma?" (Pág. 22)
"Maria podia confiar em Svevo. Afogaria o cérebro num mar de whisky, mas não lhe seria infiel. Ela sabia. Mas, e se estivesse errada? Deixou-se cair sobre a cadeira junto à mesa, enterrou a cara nas mãos e chorou." (Pág. 40)
"Arturo Bandini um dos três filhos de Svevo e Maria: "Olhou para as primeiras estrelas da noite e os maus pensamentos abandonaram-no sem deixar rasto. Estava demasiado frio para maus pensamentos." (Pág. 50)
“O Arturo detestava ovos... - Arturo! Os ovos estão a arrefecer!
Ovos. Meu Deus, como ele detestava ovos. Estavam frios, sim, mas não tão frios como os olhos do pai, cravados nele quando se sentou à mesa." (Pág. 50)
"Arturo estava "maravilhado com o talento do pai para conseguir coisas sem dinheiro. Não era de espantar que o pai se embebedasse. Também ele se embebedaria se fosse obrigado a comprar coisas sem dinheiro." (Pág. 52)
"Augusto o filho de Svevo que quer ser padre era para a sua mãe Maria "uma fonte de profunda satisfação." (Pág. 52)
"Um dia Augusto seria padre e nada havia de mais importante; Maria podia sofrer e mourejar, podia morrer mil vezes, mas o seu ventre tinha dado um sacerdote a Deus, santificando-a."
"Bandini via o assunto com outros olhos: "ora, essas ideias em breve lhe passariam. Havia de crescer e ser um homem como os outros..." (Pág. 59)
"Arturo Bandini estava bastante certo que não iria para o Inferno depois de morrer." (Pág. 93)
"Mas o Purgatório, esse lugar a meio caminho entre o Inferno e o Paraíso, perturbava-o. O catecismo expunha em termos muito claros os requisitos necessários para entrar no Paraíso: a alma tinha que estar absolutamente limpa, sem a mais pequena mácula de pecado." (Pág. 93)
"A Primavera já não tarda aí." (Pág. 223)
A história da família italiana Bandini, com os seus valores culturais e éticos, predominantemente, católicos, numa América dos anos 30, magistralmente escrita pelo alter-ego de Arturo - John Fante.
Amores platónicos, desgostos fulminantes, adultério e paixão, perdão e redenção numa escrita deliciosamente inventiva e hilariante.
Primeiro adorei o Svevo Bandini - o pai...
No final anseio por continuar a ler a história do Arturo Bandini - o filho...
John Fante e a saga do Arturo de Bandini vão fazer parte das minhas prioridades literárias..."
July 1, 2011
Fante's writing style is in some ways so refreshing given how so many current writers flex their vocabulary as a bodybuilder on too much steroids (kind of like this sentence). His words aren't overwrought, and there's very little that's unnecessary. When he describes something it's simple, yet still poignant.
The story revolves around a young immigrant boy in Colorado in the 20s I believe, along with his unemployed father, and catholic mother. Fante's two male main characters can be truly despicable in what they do through the story. Due to the way that Fante gives you their story though, you come to understand their motivations, and almost relate to their weaknesses. While the mother is portrayed as a martyr that the author seemingly wants you to loathe for being one, and feel pity on at the same time.
He just does a wonderful job of giving you a description of the hard life of being poor, and the people that live in it, and how it affects them.
Enough superlatives, read the book. It's really good.
The story revolves around a young immigrant boy in Colorado in the 20s I believe, along with his unemployed father, and catholic mother. Fante's two male main characters can be truly despicable in what they do through the story. Due to the way that Fante gives you their story though, you come to understand their motivations, and almost relate to their weaknesses. While the mother is portrayed as a martyr that the author seemingly wants you to loathe for being one, and feel pity on at the same time.
He just does a wonderful job of giving you a description of the hard life of being poor, and the people that live in it, and how it affects them.
Enough superlatives, read the book. It's really good.
October 17, 2017
مالذي كان ينتظره بانديني؟ الربيع. مالذي كانت تنتظره زوجته ممسكةً بخرزات سبحتها؟ الربيع. مالذي كان كلٌ من أوغست وفدريكو ينتظرانه؟ الربيع. وآرتورو؟ الربيع، مجددًا. لأنّ الربيع هو الفصل المأمول، الصيف مفرطٌ في حرارته، الشتاء يثلج القلب، والخريف يحزنه. أما الربيع، فيُزهر الدنيا وما فيها. لم يكن الربيع المنتظر فصلًا، وإنما كل مأمول. المال، المنصب، الحياة العائلية الجيدة، الحب.
أنهي قراءة الرواية لأتساءل: ماذا لو كان الربيع قد جاء وانقضى؟
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أول قراءةٍ لملهم بوكوڤسكي، فانتي الذي قرأت عنه أكثر مما قرأت له، وقد وجد له مكانًا في نفسي. أستطيع أن أقول بأنني أفهم لِم كان بوكوڤسكي معجب به، إذ أنه يكتب بذات الأسلوب البسيط السلس، ولكن بشاعريةٍ استثنائية.
أنهي قراءة الرواية لأتساءل: ماذا لو كان الربيع قد جاء وانقضى؟
.
أول قراءةٍ لملهم بوكوڤسكي، فانتي الذي قرأت عنه أكثر مما قرأت له، وقد وجد له مكانًا في نفسي. أستطيع أن أقول بأنني أفهم لِم كان بوكوڤسكي معجب به، إذ أنه يكتب بذات الأسلوب البسيط السلس، ولكن بشاعريةٍ استثنائية.
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