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dalenat's review against another edition
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Dan Fante is a fantastic writing. Everything flowed seamlessly.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism
adammck's review against another edition
2.0
While there are some interesting family anecdotes in this memoir, particularly for John Fante fans, it gets bogged down in a hurry when the rest of the Fantes recede into the background and we're left with just Adult Dan Fante at center stage. As a writer, Dan Fante is a poor man's John Fante, consumed with all the same basic literary themes and plagued by some of the same real-life demons. Dan goes through a tough childhood. Dan grows into a womanizing alcoholic with a bad temper and no sense of direction. Dan meets shady characters rendered in two dimensions on the page. Dan falls in and out of love, jobs and sobriety. Etc, etc, you surely know this drill well.
He fancies himself as an EXTREME fella - as if the only way someone could reject his workmanlike writing would be if they couldn't handle the searing raw truth of a world where cocaine and underage hookers exist. He thinks "profound" is a dirty word and abhors literary pretension (while quoting Kafka), but is there anything more pretentious than an author thinking he's peered into the abyss of an otherwise unseen darkness? At the end of the day, at the end of 382 pages, the most (and perhaps only) remarkable and utterly unique thing about Dan Fante is that John Fante was his dad. That's harsh, but this isn't a family that sought to avoid harsh truths.
He fancies himself as an EXTREME fella - as if the only way someone could reject his workmanlike writing would be if they couldn't handle the searing raw truth of a world where cocaine and underage hookers exist. He thinks "profound" is a dirty word and abhors literary pretension (while quoting Kafka), but is there anything more pretentious than an author thinking he's peered into the abyss of an otherwise unseen darkness? At the end of the day, at the end of 382 pages, the most (and perhaps only) remarkable and utterly unique thing about Dan Fante is that John Fante was his dad. That's harsh, but this isn't a family that sought to avoid harsh truths.
sshabein's review against another edition
4.0
This is a good, entertaining book. I reread many chapters, and I find the included family photos interesting. Now, would his siblings have a different version of events or say he is glossing over some of his own issues? Maybe, but what he presented was compelling. Repeatedly I've said that I like knowing the life stories of people. I like knowing what shaped their character, and Fante is a 2-for-1 deal. Well played, Dan.
(My full review can be found on Glorified Love Letters.)
(My full review can be found on Glorified Love Letters.)
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