Wednesday 12 December 2012

DAN FANTE - CORKSUCKER (2005)


Blurb........

"A running commentary on the truth behind Los Angeles' gleaming façade - a life of brief encounters, desperation addiction and the chasm-sized distance between people - Corksucker digs into the dark landscape of the real America. In eight brutally-honest short stories Dan Fante takes the traditional cab driver 'knowledge' to a deeper place fuelled by raw emotion, wine guzzling existentialism and fleetingly hopeful poetic epiphanies. Here, the City of Angels' halo has definitely slipped..." Ben Myers


Eight short stories about a cab driver in Los Angeles. A bleak, grim existence; terminal drudgery interspersed by joyless sex, alcohol abuse and domestic discontent.
Not much to envy in this hack driver's American dream.

I've been interested in reading Fante, after some web-browsing threw up his name alongside the likes of father John, Charles Bukowski and Hubert Selby Jr.

Dan Fante - an authentic literary outlaw says The New York Times.

He has written a series of 4 books about an alcoholic writer cum alter-ego Bruno Dante, that I'm looking forward to reading;

1. Chump Change (1998)
2. Mooch (2000)
3. Spitting Off Tall Buildings (2001)
4. 86'd (2009)

On the whole; sad, amusing and entertaining and I'm looking forward to his full-length work.

4 from 5.

I borrowed this reading copy from Leighton Buzzard Library.
As a further aside, Corksucker was the title of the UK edition, Shortdog is the US equivalent. 

2 comments:

  1. Glad you enjoyed this collection, Col. I must say I'd have to wait on it until I'm ready for something quite that bleak and dark. But good writing's good writing. Happy for you that this ticked most of the boxes.

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    1. Thanks Margot - I'm a wee bit disappointed in myself that in the 2 plus years since I read this I still haven't gotten to his novels, but hey one day I will!

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