Ask the Dust by John Fante

[Cec]

I cannot understand what is this dust...

 

could you help me pls to understand it?

 

Cec

[Chrissy]

I have just read the book's synopsis on Amazon,

 

Arturo Bandini is a twenty-year-old burgeoning writer, spending his days hungry for success, life and food in a dingy hotel in Los Angeles. Full of the enthusiasm of youth, and the thrill of having one short story published, the reality of poverty and prejudice has hit him hard. He meets a local waitress, Camilla Lopez, and embarks on a strange and strained love-hate relationship. Slowly, but inexorably, it descends into the realms of madness. Fante depicts the highs and lows of the emotional state of Bandini with conviction, but without easy sentiment. In Ask the Dust, Fante is truly 'telling it like it is' as a poverty-stricken son of an immigrant in 'perfect' California.

 

From reading the synopsis I would say that the 'dust' in this context is just that ~ dust. Asking the dust would probably relate to the poverty depicted in the book, and the lack of hope, a kind of "Don't ask me as I don't know - ask the dust".

 

 

[Milo MInderbinder]

Hi Cec. I love John Fante's stuff. If you like 'Ask the Dust' save yourself some money and get the one volume 'Bandini Quartet'. It'll be chaeper than buying the individual books. 'Brotherhood of the Grape' is worth a look as well.