1933 Was a Bad Year Quotes

“Oh, God, help me! And I walked faster, my thoughts pursuing me, and I began to run, my frozen shoes squealing like mice, but running didn't help, the thoughts to the left and right and behind me. But as I ran, The Arm, that good left arm, took hold of the situation and spoke soothingly: ease up, Kid, it's loneliness, you're all alone in the world; your father, your mother, your faith, they can't help you, nobody helps anybody, you only help yourself, and that's why I'm here, because we are inseperable, and we'll take care of everything.”
― John Fante, 1933 Was a Bad Year

“It was a bad one, the Winter of 1933. Wading home that night through flames of snow, my toes burning, my ears on fire, the snow swirling around me like a flock of angry nuns, I stopped dead in my tracks. The time had come to take stock. Fair weather or foul, certain forces in the world were at work trying to destroy me.”
― John Fante, 1933 Was a Bad Year

“Lei si mosse appena, e provai il piacere dato da un casuale contatto del suo ginocchio contro il mio. Come un bacio. Quello che sarebbe accaduto poi era insondabile, superava l'immaginazione. Avrebbe anche potuto parlarmi.”
― John Fante, 1933 Was a Bad Year

“Ero steso in quella notte bianca e guardavo il mio respiro che formava piume di vapore. Sognatori, eravamo una casa piena di sognatori. La nonna sognava la sua casa nel lontano Abruzzo. Mio padre sognava di essere senza più debiti e di fare il muratore a fianco di suo figlio. Mia madre sognava la sua ricompensa celeste con un marito allegro che non scappava via. Mia sorella Clara sognava di fare la suora, e il mio fratellino Frederick non vedeva l'ora di crescere per diventare un cowboy. Se chiudevo gli occhi riuscivo a sentire il ronzio dei sogni per tutta la casa, poi mi addormentai.”
― John Fante, 1933 Was a Bad Year

“So this is the American way,' she said. 'To kill the soul of a man, and then chop off his hands.”
― John Fante, 1933 Was a Bad Year

“A man could bear up under any temporary crisis if he had faith in the future.”
― John Fante, 1933 Was A Bad Year: A Depression-Era Coming-of-Age Story—Trapped Between Father and Dreams