How could there be so much beauty in the world?

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	• Full of Life John Fante Harper Perennial, 2002 - 168 pages average customer review:based on 11 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A GREAT "FEEL GOOD" BOOK

PROBABLY ONE OF THE MORE ENJOYABLE BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ. THE MOVIE VERSION WITH JUDY HOLIDAY AND RICHARD CONTE WAS ALSO MEMORABLE. I WISH IT WAS ON DVD.

Enjoy

This book is probably not the masterpiece of John Fante, but anyway has some peculiar carateristics. It is the only one in which the author uses his own name to describe a piece of his real life with his wife, Joyce.
It is funny, ironic, deep, sometimes philosophical, like any other Fante's book. I think it is worth to buy it. If you have loved the author of "Ask the Dust" and "The brotherhood of the grape", you'll find "Full of life" a very good book.

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How could there be so much beauty in the world?

This is a beautiful book, in the fullest sense of the term. Practically autobiographical, Full of Life tells the tale of Fante and his pregnant wife, Joyce, as well as his father and mother. It is beyond anything, a message of beauty, joy, wonder, astonishment, blissfulness, impending fatherhood, family and love.

Written in a most direct and simple style, Fante expresses very succinctly the emotions of a soon-to-be father, and the rises and falls of being married to a woman who is pregnant for the first time. His trepidation, her alterations at the hands of hormonal shifts and their fluctuating connections to each other, make for a sweetness, pervasive throughout the book, that inspires the deepest of respect for marriage, coupling and home.

When a surprising home accident occurs, Fante decides to venture to his parents home in the Sacramento Valley, from Los Angeles where he and Joyce live in their newly purchased house. His father and mother, the very image of emotional, visceral, animated Italian immigrants, welcome and cajole him, as his appearance is unanticipated. Papa Fante was for many years a bricklayer, and John hopes to engage him in help for his own home, unsure of the high costs hiring out will bring. After some dramas, Papa and son return to L.A., where the coming child brings together Joyce and her father-in-law, leaving John to struggle with issues of marriage, son-hood, fatherhood, and Joyce's new found religion, as if alone.

In the end, Full of Life is an interesting, beautifully written, funny, sweet story of family, in the best sense. The emotions of everyone involved, the observances of scathing insecurity which Fante makes of himself and those around him, the sense of warmth and hope, make this a superb experience. Another terrific time with the Great John Fante.

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New tenderness in Fante

Fante leaves behind the extreme characters that used to colour his stories and draws new feelings in his writing. With a parsimony that perhaps Fante gained with maturity, Full of Life discloses a part of Fante that I wouldn't expect from him, but at the same time is as much as his as the Bandini saga. Nonetheless, faithfull to Fante's style Full of Life leaves you that bitter-sweet taste in your mouth that can only come from honest writing.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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