Chapter 1 Summary

Los Angeles in 1939 is a booming land of promise for Arturo Bandini, whose fondest dream is to become a real, published author. Having moved from a small town in Colorado, Bandini rides a roller coaster of emotions as he tries to make a life for himself in the big city. Arturo forms a stormy relationship with a Mexican waitress named Camilla, who becomes an obsession for him nearly as powerful as his career. Their mutual love and hatred for one another, and for themselves, provides an intensely dark comedy that exposes their inner conflicts, their racial bigotry and their low self-esteem, as they struggle to survive in a contrived culture to which neither will ever really belong.

John Fante's description of Los Angeles during the depression—of gaunt faces and lost humanity—is haunting and riveting, as told through the eyes...