The Road to Los Angeles

by John Fante
The Road to Los Angeles
book data
359 ratings, 3.94 average rating, 26 reviews (more data...)
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published
June 5th 1985 by Black Sparrow Books

binding
Paperback, 164 pages

setting
The United States

isbn
0876856490   (isbn13: 9780876856499)






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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 462)



Bob
Bob rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
08/05/08

bookshelves: owned
The first three chapters are well-paced and have pulled me in. Although it's Fante's first novel (which wasn't published until after his death), this takes place after Wait Until Spring, Bandini

UPDATE: The protagonist is ostentatiously verbose in his conversations with others, using colorfully large words like bobdingnagian. He's especially vigorous when excoriating his sister. He postures as a writer for quite a while before he actually writes anything.

There is a lot of gratuitou...more
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Matt
Matt rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
10/08/07

Read in October, 2007
Bandini is less sympathetic here than in Ask the Dust. We don't always have to fall in love with the narrators of stories, I hope. In my review of that book, I nominated it as a Catcher in the Rye for people in their 20s; this book would probably resonate more with a typically teenage Catcher audience.

Two brilliant sections worth mentioning: the putting down of the crab insurrection (Chapter 4), and a description of the euphoria following a inspired moment of artistic cr...more
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1jargoncomputer
1jargoncomputer rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
08/02/07

Although many people are, undoubtedly, familiar with Ask the Dust, I believe that this text is a much better point of initiation. Fante provocatively explores the problems that confront the poor, the disadvantaged, the writer. This book exists as a tumultous onslaught of meditations and frantic scenes of desperation. Add the intensity of Fante's constant introspective barrage and absurdly self-saturated humor, and you have the road to Los Angeles (A road that will later be covered in dust as the...more
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Mitch
Mitch rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
05/22/08

Bukowski said the library first came alive when he discovered Fante's work. A semi-autobiographical novel (unpublished for years) chronicling the earliest days of an aspiring author & introducing the continuing character of Arturo Bandini, this has a great self-deprecating style & amusingly depicts the mad rush of creativity when a writer's floodgates finally break open, followed by the next morning when he realizes how mediocre his first efforts turned out to be. I'm in for the series.
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shannon
shannon rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
06/11/07

Read in June, 2007
this reminds me a lot of confederacy of dunces...so if you like that book, you will love this one. i am not such a fan of that kind of character, i am not sure why some people find him so funny but there are other redeeming/actually funny things that happen in this book. i haven't explored the rest of john fante so maybe i will appreciate this book more if i read more - or so i understand.
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Guillermo
Read in October, 2008
¿Cómo escribir una novela que sea la biblia de los pésimos escritores, de los fracasados, de los perdedores, de los pusilánimes sin morir en el inttento? Una primer novela publicada póstumamente en la que un joven Fante no nos perdona nada y nos muestra cómo se hace la mala literatura en una novela cargada de humor e ingenio a cada página. Solo para fans.
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Brent
Brent rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
11/28/07

recommends it for: international playboys, closet floggers
My favorite memory of this novel is when the "hero", obsessed with a girl who couldn't care less about him, licks the wall where she'd just struck a match. I like it, I think, because it sounds like something a much younger me might've done or would've liked to have done. Fante's guys, modeled after himself, were always the angriest clowns!
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Glenn
Glenn rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
08/05/08

Read in January, 1993
recommended to Glenn by: Charles Bukowski
I loved every John Fante book I have read, which is most of his books. Great story telling, some of the best and most original scenes I've encountered, and great showing of the character's thought process in a very organic way. Some of the funniest, and some of the saddest, fiction I've read.
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Jeremy
Jeremy rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
09/22/08

bookshelves: fiction-general
Read in September, 2008
recommends it for: all
Unpublished until after his death because it was unsuitable for the mid-1930's this book is a much different take on his usual character Arturo Bandini. Still a woman hater, and the other characters are still amazingly simplistic. This is of course part of the charm of his writting.
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Jim
Jim rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
03/30/08

Boy, this was a difficult one to like. Not the smoothest intro to the world of Fante, but it still made me laugh out loud a few times. And the language is fantastic, despite how much of it made me feel a bit ill.
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Zack
Zack rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
12/03/08

This book was written in 1933, and considered too risque sociopolitically for publication at the time. One of the greatest books I've read, despite all its flaws--still postmodern after all these years.

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Ben
Ben rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
12/11/07

I read this book a long time ago, but I loved it. Arturo Bandini is confused yet sure of himself. I remember being like that when I first got to college.
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Stephen
Stephen rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
02/10/08

book was amazing....reminded me of a chaacter from a nelson Algren book... but younger... the only dissapointment was the crab attack part....
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Trey
Trey rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
06/25/08

I learned how a narrative can be arrogant, terrifying and humorous in its vision. The Road to Los Angeles is a wonderful read.
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Ben
Ben rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
08/28/08

the war against the crab section was unbelievable. the rest was mainly annoying.
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Alexa
Alexa added it
09/13/07

Read in August, 2007
ask the dust is a lot better
this book is like the bad album recorded in the 80's
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Jenny
Jenny rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
08/24/07

Read in January, 1996
best when read aloud. preferably when standing on a coffee table or a chair.
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Mistress
Mistress rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
08/28/08

bookshelves: currently-reading
If you like pages full of kind of hilarious ranting, highly recommended.
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Erin
Erin rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
06/07/08

Another one that has made it to my favorites shelf. Good period piece.
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autolytic
autolytic added it
03/21/08

Arturo Bandini! Polecat!!
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The Road to Los Angeles ("Rebel Inc." Classics)
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The Road to Los Angeles (Hardcover)
La route de los angeles (Paperback)
The Road to Los Angeles (Hardcover)