John Fante is a lost gem of American literature and the man who was
credited by Charles Bukowski as the inspiration for him to start writing.
In a life that spanned 74 years, Fante wrote several great novels, such as
Ask the Dust, and numerous screenplays. He died in 1983 from diabetes-
related complications.Trapped in a small, poverty-ridden town in 1933,
seventeen-year-old Dominic Molise yearns to fulfil his own dreams of
becoming an American sports hero. This teenage southpaw aspires to the big
leagues, big recognition and big love. He struggles, though, against the
reality of his Italian parents, and comes under pressure to go into the
family business. Brick-laying is not for Dominic. His father, however,
seeks to pre-empt the inevitable road to failure by wanting Dominic to pick
up a trowel instead of a pitcher's glove. His mother's response is to
pray.At once the story of class and an individual's struggle during hard
times in America, 1933 was a Bad Year is a wonderful tale of childhood and
its dissipation into adulthood.ion into adulthood.