A late contender for my book of the year.
I only picked this up in Waterstones last week because A - it was thin, B - the title was intriguing and C - the Bukowski quote on the cover. I'd never heard of Fante before and that is entirely my loss. This guy could really write. Anyone that Bukowski quotes as inspiration, you expect a high standard. And I certainly wasn't disppointed.
Fante wrote with a clear and concise style, it's almost poetic in places. It's funny in a very droll way, beautifully descriptive without ever leaving you feeling like there are wasted words on the page. I could see young Dom and his family. I could almost smell the linament he obsessively uses on "the Arm". The sense of place in the tenement block where he shares a cramped three bedroom apartment with his parents, his Gran and his three younger siblings was amazing.
Dominic Molise is a 17 year old boy, son of an Italian immigrant bricklayer, gifted with the greatest southpaw pitching arm in the Midwest. He tells us it is at any rate. So does his best friend Kenny, one of the rich kids from across town who he plays baseball with regularly. They have a plan to skip this dead end town and try out for the major leagues.
This is as perfect as writing gets. Humorous yet quietly devastating. Every character is fleshed out and believable, the dialogue sparkles and the ending left me wanting more. Sadly, as this very short novel was published posthumously, it strikes me that there probably isn't a follow up.
This book manages to encompass an examination of friendship, awkward coming of age, first crushes, familial love and sacrifice, comedy and tragedy in a mere 100 pages, which flowed past as is it was only 20 the prose is so lucid.
I was wiping a few tears away in the closing pages of this book. One of the most moving pieces of literature I've read in many years.
Easy 9/10 - should have been longer.
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