I bet Fante just loves to be mentioned in the same breath as Bukowski...not. Dan has great writing chops but I have trouble reading him because he seems wound up as tight as an 8-day clock so much of the time. I need more space between the words and sentences...more breathing room and the comic relief that humor brings. But I'm glad he's getting more attention, because he's stood up to the pressure of having a legendary-writer father and carved a place for himself that is distinctly his own. If father Fante had had his son's grite and toughness, he might have said "screw you!" to the bloodsucking film industry years earlier and written more novels. I think he would have died a happier less embittered man.