SOURCE: Crotta, Carol A. Review of West of Rome, by John Fante. Los Angeles Times Book Review (30 November 1985): 4.

In the following review, Crotta offers a mixed assessment of the two novellas comprising West of Rome.

John Fante's screenplays (Jeanne Eagels, Walk on the Wild Side) may have garnered him more recognition than his short stories and novels, but since Fante's death in 1983, Black Sparrow's reprints and first printings have thankfully kept his vivid and expertly crafted fiction from slipping into obscurity. This latest, a pairing of two never-before-published novellas, should by all rights attract new blood to the growing Fante cult.

The first is the real gem here. In My Dog Stupid, we meet screenwriter/novelist Henry J. Molise: “Reputed to be insane, suffering from ulcers, no longer attends Writers' Guild meetings, regularly observed at the liquor store and the State Department of Employment. Or walking the beach...