Wait Until Spring, Bandini

The Saga of Arturo Bandini #1

by John Fante

"Mean, moody, disturbing and intensely atmospheric.” —The Times

John Fante's first published novel, Wait Until Spring, Bandini chronicles a trying winter in the lives of the Bandinis, a poor and dysfunctional but oddly endearing Italian-American family living in Colorado during the Great Depression.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Novels, American, The United States Of America, Literature, Americana

266 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1938

About the author

Fante's early years were spent in relative poverty. The son of an Italian born father, Nicola Fante, and an Italian-American mother, Mary Capolungo, Fante was educated in various Catholic schools in Boulder and Denver, Colorado, and briefly attended the University of Colorado.

In 1929, he dropped out of college and moved to Southern California to concentrate on his writing. He lived and worked in Wilmington, Long Beach, and in the Bunker Hill district of downtown Los Angeles, California.

He is known to be one of the first writers to portray the tough times faced by many writers in L.A. His work and style has influenced such similar authors as "Poet Laureate of Skid Row" Charles Bukowski and influential beat generation writer Jack Kerouac. He was proclaimed by Time Out magazine as one of America's "criminally neglected writers."

Reviews

[Marijana☕✨]

The Great Depression indeed.
Fante ima naizgled jednostavan stil kojim pronikne u srž bića o kojima piše. Nisam mogla da zamislim da će mi ovaj roman biti toliko težak i da ću 200 strana razvući kao da ih je 600. Očigledno nisam najbolje podnela Fanteov prikaz italijansko-američke porodice koja preživljava tokom ciče zime i balansira između maštanja o boljem životu i surove stvarnosti ispunjene siromaštvom i porodičnim konfliktima. Ne mogu da osporim kvalitet i ocena je tu, ali u ovoj knjizi nisam našla svetle tačke i mislim da neću želeti da je pamtim.

[Pavle Živković]

Bildungsroman čija se radnja odvija u vreme velike ekonomske krize tridesetih godina (simptomatično!). Treća Fanteova knjiga koju sam pročitao, posle Snova sa Bunker Hila i Puta za Los Anđeles i za sada omiljena njegova. U svim knjigama zanimljivo je posmatrati antimigrantsko ponašanje američkog društva tridesetih godina, koje je očigledno ostavilo veliki trag i na autora. Zbog prohodnog stila za sada Fanteova dela mi najviše prijaju u ovim mučnim vremenima.

[Janko Zivaljevic]

Мало смотан крај

[Зоран Филиповић]

Непосредно искрено и са доста емоција написана књига о тешком одрастању младог Артура.