Ask the Dust by John Fante

Set during the the Great Depression era in Los Angeles.  It is one of a sseries of novels featuring the character Arturo Bandini, a struggling writer,  much of it autobiographical in nature. Bandini falls in love with Camilla Lopez, who is in love with a bartender named Sam.  Bandini struggles with his poverty, Catholic guilt and his love for the unstable Camilla. Her mental state deteriorates and she is admitted to a mental hospital. She escapes, Bandini looks for her - finds her waiting for him in his apartment.  They move to the beach but when he returns he find that she has gone to Sam who is dying.  Before he arrives Sam throws her out and she wanders into the desert.  Bandini never finds her. 

The discussion really centred around the hand over the eyes feeling of watching someone doing what is only going to work out badly for them.  Every step he takes is wrong - and he can't see it.  The sparse and concise writing evoking the harshness of the era.  It was a good lead on from reading Grapes of Wrath and many could see the influence it had had on other later American writers.  The book has been made into a film with Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek.

Words used to describe it:  cringe-worthy, evocative, off the wall, beat classic, roller coaster, harrowing, full of angst, enjoyed it
Marks out of 10 - between 7 - 10.

Next Book 

The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill

Next Meeting

31 May at 117 Harbord St

Important Note:  

I am also going to try and get the journalist Lynne O'Donnell

 to come to one of our meetings possibly
14 June at 126 Harbord St

So buy her book 

High Tea in Mosul.

The Woman In Silk by Reg Gadney

A brief synopsis of the book:  Hal Stirling a bomb disposal expert is suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome after an incident in Afghanistan.  He is recuperating back in the UK, when news come of the death of his mother.    Hal journeys back to the large, Gothic ancestral home via his married Japanese lovers house.  Here the story changes into either a  psychological thriller or a horror ghost story depending on how you understood it.  The mother and daughter team who had been caring for his mother are either completely lovely or completely psychotic!  The plot twists and turns with spectral manifestations, psychological intrigue and moody weather!  

Reg Gadney, author and excellent artist,  kindly came to the book club to discuss the book - below is a highly edited version of the evenings discussion.  Thank you Reg for so kindly answering our question and giving us some insight into the construction/thought that goes into the background of planning a book.

Q - Who was, in your mind, the intended audience for this story?

A - Not sure!  However all good books should have three memorable characters, an interesting plot and some intrigue where the reader has to do some of the work.    I had in mind Turn of the Screw, the psychological twists and turns.  Not sure that it is a horror or a psychological thriller.

I visit Broadmoor Prison as part of a charity that I  am involved in.  Part of the idea for the story came from an inmate there.  

Q - Do you believe in the Super Natural?

A - Umm maybe.  I used be a complete sceptic, but now, I'm not sure.  I think that people do leave behind an 'essence' of being once they have gone.  The universe is such a large concept how can we know whether this is 'it'!  I visited the Spiritualist Society in Belgrave Square once - went to a seance - it neither confirmed nor disproved that there isn't anything after this life.  As I grow older I begin to think that there maybe something.  Many people have had 'ghostly' experiences - experiences which don't have a completely logical explanation.

Q - Who scares you?

A - People who should be reliable.  Doctors, nurses, nannies, soldiers - people you can usually rely on but for some reason have become psychologically disturbed.  A friend of mine Patrick Wall, an eminent neuroscientist developed a theory of the threshold of pain and the TENS machine with Bill Sweet - the electro transmission of pain in the body and how by disrupting this you could alter perception of pain.

Q - The house, was it real?

A - Yes, it's a real house.  My father bought the large Gothic house and this was where I was born. You can see the large bell tower which plays its part in the story.  It's now a school. Behind on the Yorkshire moors was where the Brontes lived and where Wuthering Heights is set.

Link to Malis Hall history.

The discussion then turned general.

Words used to describe the book:  intriguing, a psychological thriller - not a ghost story, confusing, a book of two halves, 

Marks out of 10:  between 3 - 9  

The next meeting is at Amanda's and the book:  Ask the Dust by John Fante, 26th April.

I would like to thank Reg for taking time to come and talk to us about his book.  For answering our questions and showing us his paintings - which are excellent - we hope to come to his next exhibition!