John Fante

Arturo Bandini arrives in Los Angeles with big dreams. But the reality he finds is a city gripped by poverty. When he makes a small fortune from the publication of a short story, he reinvents himself, indulging in expensive clothes, fine food, and downtown strip clubs. But Bandini's delusions take a worrying turn when he is drawn into a relationship...

West of Rome's two novellas, "My Dog Stupid" and "The Orgy," fulfil the promise of their rousing titles. The latter novella opens with virtuoso description: "His name was Frank Gagliano, and he did not believe in God. He was that most singular and startling craftsman of the building trade—a left-handed bricklayer. Like my father, Frank came from Torcella Peligna, a...

This quartet of novels tells of Fante's fictional alter-ego Bandini, an impoverished young Italian-American escaping his suffocating home in Colorado for Depression-era Los Angeles. In the beginning, it is the triple weights of poverty, father, and Church that Bandini struggles under. However, though the physical escape is complete, the psychological imprint continues as he comes to terms with love, desire,...