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Bruno Dante #2
Mooch
El aspirante a escritor Bruno Dante lleva meses sin escribir una sola línea, bloqueado. Vive en un edificio de acogida para ex alcohólicos y se gana la vida vendiendo aspiradoras de puerta en puerta bajo el sol abrasador de Los Ángeles. Hasta que lo despiden. Desesperado, Bruno sigue el consejo de su hermano mayor en Alcohólicos Anónimos y empieza a trabajar en Consumibles Orbit, la empresa de venta telefónica del también ex adicto a la botella y ahora triunfador Eddy Kammegian. Bruno tiene un don especial para engatusar a la gente al teléfono, y rápidamente acumula suculentas comisiones en forma de cheques. Descartado el sueño de convertirse en escritor, parece que finalmente el antihéroe creado por Dan Fante podría sentar la cabeza y disfrutar de la vida cerca del océano, pero entonces se enamora de la mujer equivocada: la ex stripper mexicana y compañera de trabajo Jimmi Valiente. Bruno inicia una relación de amor-odio con la explosiva mexicana que lo llevará de nuevo a perder el control de su vida y a alejarse, una vez más, del sueño americano.
222 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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December 12, 2020
”There are no good guys or bad guys in the squalid corners and soul-destroying office spaces of Fante’s Southern California--the struggle between good and evil goes on entirely inside his hero Bruno Dante’s head. The doomed son of a doomed father, Bruno careens perilously through life, always on the verge of that last irredeemable fuck-up. It’s breathtaking writing and deliciously excruciating, like watching a crack-smoking circus knife-thrower--you just KNOW something awful will happen.
Once you read Fante, Jim Thompson will read like pure optimism.”--From the Introduction by Anthony Bourdain
Drunk or sober, Bruno Dante struggles with the concept of time. At the very beginning of the novel, he loses his job selling vacuum cleaners door to door simply because he can’t be where he is supposed to be on time. It’s a crappy job, that is a given, but all Bruno can really do is crappy jobs. He has cratered his life so many times it is like climbing the side of a skyscraper to find his way back to the top. He is in recovery, but we know that the next time life throws him a curveball that he’ll be right back to swimming in the sauce.
He finds a new job telemarketing and is good at it. People in recovery are usually pretty good at sales. I hired a lot of people just out of drug/alcohol treatment, and many proved to be gifted salespeople. They are used to fooling themselves, so fooling a customer is as natural to them as breathing. Bruno is soon one of the top salespeople.
And then, in walks….
Jimmi Valiente.
”Her ass was sensational. Hard. Packed and round like a stuffed foam pillow from Motel 6.
Exotic. Beautiful. Half Mexican, half Iranian.
She had an intense, in-your-face honesty about her. Long black hair and long legs and coffee-with-milk skin and shocking, defiant, blue eyes, and two tiny gold hoop rings piercing the skin of her left nostril. She was six months sober off rock cocaine and alcohol. That first day of our phone training, when we were all introducing ourselves around, Jimmi, like a man would, shook my hand and smiled. When I sat down, I felt my pants. My dick was hard as iron.”
Jimmi turns out to be better at sucking dicks than she is at selling products on the telephone. She is also very good at turning Bruno into a jealous, love/hate-infested puddle of desire. He’ll take the pain and keep coming back for more.
It is just impossible for Bruno to keep a good thing going. Jimmi is leading him by the hand down the black primrose path, and with his eyes glued to her swaying, sexy ass, he doesn’t even see the chaos and destruction coming until it has swept him right off his feet.
There is such an honesty to the way Dan Fante writes about Bruno Dante, which is a very unsubtle pseudonym for himself. Bruno struggles with the memory of his father, who was a “giant of words,” and so does Dan, who is the son of the writer John Fante. To see his very talented father disregarded by the industry and ignored by readers had a profound impact on him. His father’s frustration becomes Dan’s stew of demons. Fortunately, Charles Bukowski, riding a wave of popularity, convinced his publisher to bring John Fante’s works back into print.
I really enjoyed this novel even better than the first one. There are two more volumes left in the quartet, and I’m definitely going to read the final two. If you like Bukowski and edgy writing like Henry Miller and you aren’t afraid to spend some time riding around with the top down, stoned, drunk, sex crazed, and spinning wildly as your life swirls down the toilet, then this is the book for you. Isn’t it always better to experience a destructive life second hand in the pages of a novel than to descend into the chaos with your own life?
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/
Once you read Fante, Jim Thompson will read like pure optimism.”--From the Introduction by Anthony Bourdain
Drunk or sober, Bruno Dante struggles with the concept of time. At the very beginning of the novel, he loses his job selling vacuum cleaners door to door simply because he can’t be where he is supposed to be on time. It’s a crappy job, that is a given, but all Bruno can really do is crappy jobs. He has cratered his life so many times it is like climbing the side of a skyscraper to find his way back to the top. He is in recovery, but we know that the next time life throws him a curveball that he’ll be right back to swimming in the sauce.
He finds a new job telemarketing and is good at it. People in recovery are usually pretty good at sales. I hired a lot of people just out of drug/alcohol treatment, and many proved to be gifted salespeople. They are used to fooling themselves, so fooling a customer is as natural to them as breathing. Bruno is soon one of the top salespeople.
And then, in walks….
Jimmi Valiente.
”Her ass was sensational. Hard. Packed and round like a stuffed foam pillow from Motel 6.
Exotic. Beautiful. Half Mexican, half Iranian.
She had an intense, in-your-face honesty about her. Long black hair and long legs and coffee-with-milk skin and shocking, defiant, blue eyes, and two tiny gold hoop rings piercing the skin of her left nostril. She was six months sober off rock cocaine and alcohol. That first day of our phone training, when we were all introducing ourselves around, Jimmi, like a man would, shook my hand and smiled. When I sat down, I felt my pants. My dick was hard as iron.”
Jimmi turns out to be better at sucking dicks than she is at selling products on the telephone. She is also very good at turning Bruno into a jealous, love/hate-infested puddle of desire. He’ll take the pain and keep coming back for more.
It is just impossible for Bruno to keep a good thing going. Jimmi is leading him by the hand down the black primrose path, and with his eyes glued to her swaying, sexy ass, he doesn’t even see the chaos and destruction coming until it has swept him right off his feet.
There is such an honesty to the way Dan Fante writes about Bruno Dante, which is a very unsubtle pseudonym for himself. Bruno struggles with the memory of his father, who was a “giant of words,” and so does Dan, who is the son of the writer John Fante. To see his very talented father disregarded by the industry and ignored by readers had a profound impact on him. His father’s frustration becomes Dan’s stew of demons. Fortunately, Charles Bukowski, riding a wave of popularity, convinced his publisher to bring John Fante’s works back into print.
I really enjoyed this novel even better than the first one. There are two more volumes left in the quartet, and I’m definitely going to read the final two. If you like Bukowski and edgy writing like Henry Miller and you aren’t afraid to spend some time riding around with the top down, stoned, drunk, sex crazed, and spinning wildly as your life swirls down the toilet, then this is the book for you. Isn’t it always better to experience a destructive life second hand in the pages of a novel than to descend into the chaos with your own life?
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/
January 12, 2018
LA HERENCIA DE LOS MALDITOS
En Mooch, Dan Fante va mucho más allá de sus homenajes y reivindicaciones de Bukowski, cummings, Carver y de su propio padre, John Fante. Se ha liberado del peso que ha dejado vertido en las páginas de Chump Change y, ahora, puede desencadenar una trama propia que evoluciona efervescente e hipnótica. Evidentemente, sigue habiendo mucho en Dan Fante de los autores anteriormente enumerados, pero ahora su trabajo abandona ese estilo de patchwork literario, ya no es un Frankestein de referencias literarias, el monstruo ha encontrado una autonomía propia y arrancado a caminar con paso fuerte, gracias a la solidez de los personajes, y a mostrarnos que, esta vez y a diferencia de la novela anterior, el mundo que se expande más allá de la narración en primera persona, el mundo externo al protagonista es un mundo macizo y atractivo, con personajes complejos.
A pesar de cierta querencia por el rasgo estereotipado, Dan Fante suple esa manía con una presentación atractiva de los personajes y un reflejo vivo y con relieve de las situaciones. El mundo reflejado es todo lo contrario al sueño norteamericano, pero sí que muestra las dobleces terribles y ocultas del american way of life con un Los Ángeles por donde pululan prostitutas, drogadictos, pervertidos, desarrapados y desahuciados, ex alcohólicos, reincidentes y, los personajes estrella de la novela: vendedores a comisión capaces de cualquier cosa por cerrar una venta.
En Mooch, Dan Fante afina su universo narrativo atisbado en Chump Change centrándose en una oficina de ventas telefónicas a comisión, que permite exponer todo un muestrario de seres humanos que hacen gala de las más variadas miserias, en un despliegue de envidias, venganzas, violencia, cinismo, traición y cobardía, que recuerda un poco a ese mundo de la venta de inmuebles retratado en la película Glengarry Glen Ross o que recientemente hemos podido ver en esas salas de ventas telefónicas que aparecen en El lobo de Wall Street.
Referencias cinematográficas aparte, sin duda, este es el acierto del autor, insertar a su protagonista, Bruno Dante, en un mundo real con el cual poder interactuar, desde cajeros en tiendas de comida china o licorerías, hasta inquisitivos y competitivos jefes en la sala de ventas. Algo que en Chump Change no sucedía del todo, dando la impresión de que el mundo desfilaba por delante de los ojos de Bruno Dante como si asistiera a una representación irreal de la que siempre saldría indemne, como si la vida fuera el delirium tremens de una de sus borracheras, al estilo de cuando el Chinaski de Bukowski se quedaba hastiado de cervezas y whisky derrumbado en el sillón del apartamento y entregado a ver el desfile de la vida que se paseaba por delante.
Ahora, en Mooch, el protagonista interactúa con su entorno desde la sobriedad en unas ocasiones, y desde la borrachera desmesurada, en otras, y la novela se multiplica así, gana una realidad y una presencia demoledoras que la hacen atractiva, adictiva y fascinante. Hay trama, hay personajes, hay historia, independientemente de que haya homenaje (pero ya no servidumbre) a Bukowski y a John Fante, algo que no siempre se podía decir que ocurría en Chump Change.
Un texto plagado de fuerza y furia, con ganas de contar y narrar, nervio y mala uva, literatura como desagravio a los agravios de la vida, desde luego.
En Mooch, Dan Fante va mucho más allá de sus homenajes y reivindicaciones de Bukowski, cummings, Carver y de su propio padre, John Fante. Se ha liberado del peso que ha dejado vertido en las páginas de Chump Change y, ahora, puede desencadenar una trama propia que evoluciona efervescente e hipnótica. Evidentemente, sigue habiendo mucho en Dan Fante de los autores anteriormente enumerados, pero ahora su trabajo abandona ese estilo de patchwork literario, ya no es un Frankestein de referencias literarias, el monstruo ha encontrado una autonomía propia y arrancado a caminar con paso fuerte, gracias a la solidez de los personajes, y a mostrarnos que, esta vez y a diferencia de la novela anterior, el mundo que se expande más allá de la narración en primera persona, el mundo externo al protagonista es un mundo macizo y atractivo, con personajes complejos.
A pesar de cierta querencia por el rasgo estereotipado, Dan Fante suple esa manía con una presentación atractiva de los personajes y un reflejo vivo y con relieve de las situaciones. El mundo reflejado es todo lo contrario al sueño norteamericano, pero sí que muestra las dobleces terribles y ocultas del american way of life con un Los Ángeles por donde pululan prostitutas, drogadictos, pervertidos, desarrapados y desahuciados, ex alcohólicos, reincidentes y, los personajes estrella de la novela: vendedores a comisión capaces de cualquier cosa por cerrar una venta.
En Mooch, Dan Fante afina su universo narrativo atisbado en Chump Change centrándose en una oficina de ventas telefónicas a comisión, que permite exponer todo un muestrario de seres humanos que hacen gala de las más variadas miserias, en un despliegue de envidias, venganzas, violencia, cinismo, traición y cobardía, que recuerda un poco a ese mundo de la venta de inmuebles retratado en la película Glengarry Glen Ross o que recientemente hemos podido ver en esas salas de ventas telefónicas que aparecen en El lobo de Wall Street.
Referencias cinematográficas aparte, sin duda, este es el acierto del autor, insertar a su protagonista, Bruno Dante, en un mundo real con el cual poder interactuar, desde cajeros en tiendas de comida china o licorerías, hasta inquisitivos y competitivos jefes en la sala de ventas. Algo que en Chump Change no sucedía del todo, dando la impresión de que el mundo desfilaba por delante de los ojos de Bruno Dante como si asistiera a una representación irreal de la que siempre saldría indemne, como si la vida fuera el delirium tremens de una de sus borracheras, al estilo de cuando el Chinaski de Bukowski se quedaba hastiado de cervezas y whisky derrumbado en el sillón del apartamento y entregado a ver el desfile de la vida que se paseaba por delante.
Ahora, en Mooch, el protagonista interactúa con su entorno desde la sobriedad en unas ocasiones, y desde la borrachera desmesurada, en otras, y la novela se multiplica así, gana una realidad y una presencia demoledoras que la hacen atractiva, adictiva y fascinante. Hay trama, hay personajes, hay historia, independientemente de que haya homenaje (pero ya no servidumbre) a Bukowski y a John Fante, algo que no siempre se podía decir que ocurría en Chump Change.
Un texto plagado de fuerza y furia, con ganas de contar y narrar, nervio y mala uva, literatura como desagravio a los agravios de la vida, desde luego.
April 19, 2012
MY Favorite Dan Fante book. In a world filled with boring books and boring authors. Dan Fante is a welcome relief. Takes you inside the world of telemarketing and alcoholism. The book is really about hustling and what people do each other. A very American story. The most important thing is Fante is never boring. All the warts of human soul are illuminated in his writing. Can't recommend this book any higher. Read all his books.
August 2, 2012
At the end of Chump Change I wondered if Fante would be able to keep up the pace for 3 more semi-autobiographical novels. I also wondered whether I could keep up if in fact he did. Now having read them in close succession I can say that he’s kept it interesting without wearing me out. Bruno Dante continues to be a serial juicer with a masochistic edge and a deep dislike of people. With women, his relationships (if they can be called that) are cruel and dehumanizing, almost as bad as the jobs he takes to support his habits. As a boiler room salesman, taxi driver, movie usher, window washer, limo driver and working in other terrible jobs Bruno is in one bad situation after another. All the while he is trying to put his words on paper, scratching out poems in the cab or typing short stories in his motel room. The stories were hard to read, but the prose was direct and approachable. In the end I’d say reading these books is like having an eloquent tour guide to the dark side of a city you don’t care about: I don’t think I wanted to know more about these aspects of life, but I couldn’t resist Fante as a story teller.
August 12, 2015
Dan Fante, hijo de uno de mis autores favoritos, John Fante, signo que tal vez lo identifica pero que puede llegar a ser un estigma al no evitar compararlo con el padre. Sin embargo, no desilusiona mis expectativas y, dejando a un lado las comparaciones, me encantó este libro.
Una novela llena de alcohol, ilusiones, desilusiones, amor, desamor y sexo. Tal vez de esta forma no sea la mejor para realizar una reseña del libro, pero en pocas palabras es un gran libro, esta vez podemos encontrar un Dan Fante con mayores ilusiones y con tal vez un mejor futuro.
No me queda la menor duda, seguiré a este escritor y leeré lo que pueda de él. Una pena que ya haya terminado todos los libros de su padre.
Una novela llena de alcohol, ilusiones, desilusiones, amor, desamor y sexo. Tal vez de esta forma no sea la mejor para realizar una reseña del libro, pero en pocas palabras es un gran libro, esta vez podemos encontrar un Dan Fante con mayores ilusiones y con tal vez un mejor futuro.
No me queda la menor duda, seguiré a este escritor y leeré lo que pueda de él. Una pena que ya haya terminado todos los libros de su padre.
April 12, 2015
Well written, but not my thing. A frustrating read.
Read
June 19, 2009ead the STOP SMILING interview with author Dan Fante
Q&A: Dan Fante
By Anthony Reynolds
Novelist, playwright and poet Dan Fante is the second son of John Fante.
He is well regarded in Europe and his novels include Mooch, Chump Change and Spitting off Tall Buildings
Stop Smiling: As both a novelist and a screenwriter, what are the main similarities between the processes? And what are the major differences?
Dan Fante: I don't mean to be overly unkind here, but screenwriting is a process quite unlike legitimate prose. Screenwriters are the errand boys for producers and directors. The do what they are told to do: "Fix this. Make her tits bigger. Let's have her be a victim of incest." That kind of nonsense. Screenwriting is not writing. It is a collaborative process in which the so-called creative person becomes an underpaid, over-ruled typist.
SS: What are your experiences with Hollywood? How close have you gotten to a script becoming a film?
DF: My book Mooch will be a film this year or next. I wrote the screenplay. Thankfully, having written the original document, the book itself is our point of reference in writing the movie. But make no mistake, what I said above still holds sway, to at least some extent.
SS: Have you met many in the business who are aware of the Fante name within the history of Hollywood?
DF: Most people in Hollywood know the name John Fante. Of course they haven't read his stuff, they've just heard he was a good novelist. And, by having an option on one or more of his books, they might become rich. John Fante is a commodity — like fertilizer is a commodity.
Read the complete interview...
Q&A: Dan Fante
By Anthony Reynolds
Novelist, playwright and poet Dan Fante is the second son of John Fante.
He is well regarded in Europe and his novels include Mooch, Chump Change and Spitting off Tall Buildings
Stop Smiling: As both a novelist and a screenwriter, what are the main similarities between the processes? And what are the major differences?
Dan Fante: I don't mean to be overly unkind here, but screenwriting is a process quite unlike legitimate prose. Screenwriters are the errand boys for producers and directors. The do what they are told to do: "Fix this. Make her tits bigger. Let's have her be a victim of incest." That kind of nonsense. Screenwriting is not writing. It is a collaborative process in which the so-called creative person becomes an underpaid, over-ruled typist.
SS: What are your experiences with Hollywood? How close have you gotten to a script becoming a film?
DF: My book Mooch will be a film this year or next. I wrote the screenplay. Thankfully, having written the original document, the book itself is our point of reference in writing the movie. But make no mistake, what I said above still holds sway, to at least some extent.
SS: Have you met many in the business who are aware of the Fante name within the history of Hollywood?
DF: Most people in Hollywood know the name John Fante. Of course they haven't read his stuff, they've just heard he was a good novelist. And, by having an option on one or more of his books, they might become rich. John Fante is a commodity — like fertilizer is a commodity.
Read the complete interview...
December 5, 2017
Wow! A brilliant, passionate explosion of a novel. It fizzes on every page. We follow the fortunes of Bruno Dante, a recovering alcoholic and what happens when he meets the devastatingly beautiful and smart, but full of problems, Jimmi Valiente and many other fascinating characters. I read this book 13 years ago and happened to jot down my thoughts on it. The characters have stayed with me to this day but I'd forgotten the title until I found my 'books I've read' notebook. This novel is all sensational stuff in the best possible way. The writing style and how Dan Fante draws the characters is to create real living, flawed yet relatable human beings. As you can probably tell, I loved it. Now thanks to goodreads, I've discovered it's part of a series and have to read read the rest!
April 26, 2017
Brilliant and beautiful read that kept my fingers flipping the pages until the end. The most honest thing I have read in a while. The words were incredibly emotional and jarring and had me gripped from the beginning to the end. It had the perfect balance or sadness, happiness, pain, suffering, hope and raunchiness that any brilliant piece should have. It ended with a sad note that left me wondering what will come next. I dear say that he writes just as brilliantly as his father did. Similar to ask the dust in plot but with biting and punchy sentences akin to bukowski. I can't wait to read another piece by Dan, another story with Bruno in it.
September 1, 2007
In my humble opinion this is Dan's best. It takes you straight into the harrowing world of telemarketing and doesn't let you go. A lean, spare master at the top of his form, not a wasted word in here.
April 26, 2012
Probablemente lo hubiera disfrutado más de no haber leído justo antes Chump Change, porque de esta forma me pareció más de lo mismo, ya que las dos historias guardan unas cuantas similitudes. Lo recomiendo, pero si se tiene la intención de leer Chump Change, mejor dejar algo de margen entre ambos.
June 1, 2014
More solid Buk-ness from Dan Fante. Enjoyable rolling around in the ashes stuff. Bang on characterizations, and jaw droppingly good dialogue. Entertaining angry man books. Relishing the final two, to be read in the next few days.
January 2, 2020
great!
December 5, 2010
decent. more of the same. quick read. full of despair and other feelings.
Read
July 25, 2011Très bien.
September 21, 2011
Un digne héritier de son père, dans la tradition de Buckowski. L'univers du télémarketing est particulièrement bien rendu, donnant corps à cette histoire parfois drôle, au rythme soutenu.
October 3, 2011
down and dirty. loved it. will read more.
September 10, 2016
i liked this even better than 'chump change'. need to reread this sometime soon.
March 16, 2012
Couldn't finish this one...Was getting a little bored. Perhaps it gets better the more you get into it but I just couldn't get there
April 10, 2012
Similar to his dad's Ask the Dust, but still great on its own. I'll be reading more of Dan (and John) Fante.
March 27, 2013
CHINASKI!!
April 18, 2014
A winner!
April 7, 2015
By far Dan Fante's best book, Mooch contains Bukowski-like content with a writing style similar to his father. A quick and easy book to read.
October 20, 2017
recovering alkie falls for recovering lapdancer, dt's return, vomit, ....twist at the end
August 24, 2024
Mooch dijo y me conquistó. Este tipo de novela, con personajes tan reventados me puede. Pero la forma de escribir de Dan Fante, es alucinante. Mientras la leí me la despachaba con Tom Waits y 👌
June 9, 2020
Much like the first entry in the series, I enjoyed this continuation of the exploits of Bruno Dante. Dan Fante isn't as strong a writer as his father or as Bukowski, but I feel this also helps define his own style somehow. The protagonist, Bruno, is in so much pain. I believe this is a lot of the pain the author's own father left him with, and I think, more than anything, that's what keeps me reading. The writing doesn't standout, there are no brilliant observations, but it's that lucid translation of pain directly to the page that makes me care about this character. I feel for him. He is not likeable, and possibly not even forgivable, and never gives you any reason to believe, at almost 40 years old, that he's ever going to make the right choice. He isn't so much arrogant as he is wreckless, not caring that he never gets the best of anyone he picks an argument with. Bruno deliberately chooses to live in alcohol induced idiocy. Even though Bruno proves his dedication to this choice repeatedly, there are brief flashes that suggest maybe he's realizing there is a different version of himself who he wants to be.
The ending to this book, in its own way, was much more optimistic than the 1st book in the series. I hope the next book picks up where it left off, instead of being a loose sequel picking up from a different point. It helps that these books are super short. I'm not a fast reader and I think I finished this in about 4 hours. Kindle said it was around 180 pages. If you like watching people struggle because the past scarred them so badly they never built a foundation as a person, then this depressing series could be for you.
The ending to this book, in its own way, was much more optimistic than the 1st book in the series. I hope the next book picks up where it left off, instead of being a loose sequel picking up from a different point. It helps that these books are super short. I'm not a fast reader and I think I finished this in about 4 hours. Kindle said it was around 180 pages. If you like watching people struggle because the past scarred them so badly they never built a foundation as a person, then this depressing series could be for you.
August 12, 2025
A Vicious, Unrelenting Masterclass in Self-Destruction
Dan Fante’s “Mooch” is Bruno Dante at his most brutally captivating, a downward spiral so raw and electrically written that you can’t look away, even when you want to. This isn’t just a sequel to “Chump Change”; it’s a deeper, darker excavation of addiction, wasted talent, and the gnawing ghost of familial legacy.
Fante’s prose is a live wire, crackling with the same unfiltered rage and dark humor that made Bruno’s voice iconic, but here it’s sharper, more desperate. The scenes of drunken oblivion and cringe-worthy self-sabotage aren’t just repetitive benders—they’re grotesque, tragic, and weirdly poetic.
Bruno’s relationship with his father (a stand-in for John Fante) adds a layer of aching vulnerability, turning this into more than just a bender chronicle, it’s a fucked-up love letter to the curse of inheritance.
Then the toxic dance between Bruno and Jimmi, his on-again-off-again girlfriend, becomes one of the novel’s most compelling tragedies. Jimmi isn’t just a victim, she’s a mirror to Bruno’s chaos. Their relationship is a car crash in slow motion.
What elevates “Mooch” above its predecessor in moments is its sheer emotional brutality. When Bruno crashes, he crashes harder. When he almost, “almost”, glimpses redemption, it’s devastating because you know he’ll never grab it. The structure still meanders but the writing’s ferocity and the flashes of humanity make it impossible to dismiss.
Dan Fante’s “Mooch” is Bruno Dante at his most brutally captivating, a downward spiral so raw and electrically written that you can’t look away, even when you want to. This isn’t just a sequel to “Chump Change”; it’s a deeper, darker excavation of addiction, wasted talent, and the gnawing ghost of familial legacy.
Fante’s prose is a live wire, crackling with the same unfiltered rage and dark humor that made Bruno’s voice iconic, but here it’s sharper, more desperate. The scenes of drunken oblivion and cringe-worthy self-sabotage aren’t just repetitive benders—they’re grotesque, tragic, and weirdly poetic.
Bruno’s relationship with his father (a stand-in for John Fante) adds a layer of aching vulnerability, turning this into more than just a bender chronicle, it’s a fucked-up love letter to the curse of inheritance.
Then the toxic dance between Bruno and Jimmi, his on-again-off-again girlfriend, becomes one of the novel’s most compelling tragedies. Jimmi isn’t just a victim, she’s a mirror to Bruno’s chaos. Their relationship is a car crash in slow motion.
What elevates “Mooch” above its predecessor in moments is its sheer emotional brutality. When Bruno crashes, he crashes harder. When he almost, “almost”, glimpses redemption, it’s devastating because you know he’ll never grab it. The structure still meanders but the writing’s ferocity and the flashes of humanity make it impossible to dismiss.
October 29, 2023
Novela entretenida, bastante corta y fácil de leer. Recuerda a las novelas de Bukowski, aunque su prosa es más discreta, hay menos momentos de lirismo y su realismo es menos sucio. He echado en falta que el autor profundizara más en el protagonista, sobre todo en cuanto a su pasado. El resto de los personajes vienen siendo meras comparsas. El final es más bien flojo. Un 6,5 sobre 10.
Reseña completa: http://callekultura.blogspot.com/2023...
Reseña completa: http://callekultura.blogspot.com/2023...
May 27, 2020
This book grabs you by your guts and gives them a good squeeze. In short but powerful sentences Dan Fante dissects life, love and addiction like no other.
"Now, I hoped, I could stay drunk and drown my life."
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