Product Description

Fiction. John Fante recalls his first novel, recently republished by Black Sparrow Press: "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 an early work will mesmerize me and in a half dream I will entwine it with 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...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" (from the Preface). Other Fante works again available from Black Sparrow Press and SPD are ASK THE DUST and THE ROAD TO LOS ANGELES.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #346353 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-05
• Released on: 2002-05-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 266 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780876855546
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author

John Fante began writing in 1929 and published his first short story in 1932. His first novel, Wait Until Spring, Bandini, was published in 1938 and was the first of his Arturo Bandini series of novels, which also include The Road to Los Angeles and Ask the Dust. A prolific screenwriter, he was stricken with diabetes in 1955. Complications from the disease brought about his blindness in 1978 and, within two years, the amputation of both legs. He continued to write by dictation to his wife, Joyce, and published Dreams from Bunker Hill, the final installment of the Arturo Bandini series, in 1982. He died on May 8, 1983, at the age of seventy-four.

Customer Reviews

A beautifully written Italian-American family story
"Wait Until Spring, Bandini," by John Fante, is a novel about an Italian-American family living in Colorado. The story focuses on Arturo Bandini, a teenager who is the eldest of the family's three sons. His father, Svevo, is a bricklayer and an immigrant to the United States. Very Americanized, Arturo loves baseball and is tormented inside over his family's poverty.

Fante richly develops the relationships among the members of this often dysfunctional family. He also vividly evokes the experience of raising a family in poverty. Particularly interesting is Fante's portrayal of Roman Catholicism within the life of the Bandini family; religion is shown to be a very ambiguous force. There are some dark, even cruel episodes as the family's story unfolds.

As much as I enjoyed "Wait," I did not find it in the end to be as satisfying as the other Fante novels which I have read ("1933 Was a Bad Year" and "Full of Life"). Still, it's a powerful family story that is graced by Fante's excellent prose style.

great
Wait Until Spring, Bandini is a masterfully crafted novel by an amazingly underapreciated author. John Fante's name is like a password, those who know it cannot deny their bookishness. His writing is powerful and touching in its simplicity as he tells the tale of Aurturo Bandini, the son of Italian immigrants living in Colorodo. There are no wars, explosions, or black holes in this book. Its a tiny little story about one winter in a boy's life. Its power is in the realization that it provokes, the realization that growing up is something we all had to go through, that we've all made mistakes, and we're all human.

Fante-stic!!!
A poignant book, wonderfully written. In my opinion, this was his first and best novel. Even better than "Ask the dust", regarded as his masterpiece... A brilliant beginning for such a writer!