What A Start!
I recently finished reading John Fante’s novel Ask the Dust, and was immediately stricken by the first few paragraphs of this short, relatively obscure work:
One night I was sitting on the bed in my hotel room on Bunker Hill, down in the very middle of Los Angles. It was an important night in my life, because I had to make a decision about the hotel. Either I paid up or I got out: that was what the note said, the note the landlady had put under my door. A great problem, deserving acute attention. I solved it by turning out the lights and going to bed.
In the morning I awoke, decided that i should do more physical exercise, and began at once. I did several bending exercises. Then I washed my teeth, tasted blood, saw pink on the toothbrush, remembered the advertisements, and decided to go out and get some coffee.
Definitely one of the more memorable opening passages that I’ve found, a great display of the youthful richness that makes Fante’s work worth reading.
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