The Brotherhood of the Grape (Paperback)

Now sees more of a Fante-revival, with 'The Brotherhood of the Grape' being published in the U.K. for the first time, alongside the wonderful collection of Arturo Bandini novels now known as 'The Bandini Quartet.' Recently Robert Towne has announced a film-adaptation of 'Ask the Dust' and the BBC's Radio 4 have done features on Fante. He's now finding the audience that sadly he would not in his own lifetime; he easily belongs to a set of American writers of the 20th Century that also include the aforementioned Bukowski, Richard Yates (whose works have similarly been reissued recently), Raymond Carver, John Cheever, Richard Ford, John Kennedy Toole, Richard Brautigan & the non-SF-works of Philip K. Dick.

This novel was one of his last works (Dreams from Bunker Hill being the last- dictated to his wife as Fante had gone blind) and is one I had neither read of or knew much about until its paperback-issue in the U.K. this year. Like many great works of art, I kicked myself for not having read this earlier- like the other works of Fante that I had read, it is utterly brilliant and a masterpiece if you like that kind of term.

'The Brotherhood of the Grape' tells the story of Henry Molise, a middle-aged writer with marital-discord who is dragged back to his estranged Italian-family in a Californian smalltown. We enter a work where the rest of his family resent him, where memories from the past resurface and the conflict with his father Nick comes to the fore. Events then turn on a construction job Henry's father has been offered...and to say more would spoil this brilliant novel.

'The Brotherhood of the Grape' is a book that captures an Italian-American family, that nails the nasty business and histories that are sometimes tagged 'family.' Despite being written by a man in his seventies in California, it has that universal quality of empathy and recognition common to all great works. It's both a breeze and a joy to read - an absolute travesty that Fante was appreciated by so few - it would serve as an ideal introduction to Fante's works. It also has some wonderful black-comedy and humour alongside the sometimes depressing events and relationships - Henry's revenge on his mother-in-law for her abuse of his golf-clubs is hilarious...

So kick back with some Californian red, picture that smokehouse in the hills and enjoy.A twentieth-century classic issued in the twenty-first century; aspiring-writers will weep...I did!

The writing is less spectacular than the flowing prose of Fante’s earlier novels, and the novel is more mature and understated, but there are parts in which the old Fante magic shines through. The most striking thing about this novel is the way it portrays the complex relationship between the main character and his wine-loving, womanising father, who is now nearing the end of his life. It is touching how he remembers the suffering his family went through at the hands of his father - though his drinking and the way he frittered away his wages on gambling - yet his deep devotion to the old man still shines through. He even agrees to accompany his ageing father on one last building project, a bizarre quest to construct a smokehouse in the woods for one of his father’s friends. This ridiculous, Sisyphean quest forms the backbone of the story.

This is an excellent, well-written and perceptive look at the inexplicable bonds of love that exist in families, and the effect on people of ageing and change. It is also in parts very funny. It also raises many questions, as it suggests that Fante could have become one of the acknowledged greats if he had carried on writing, while at the same time suggesting that, even if he had continued, he might never have managed to come up with an alternative to the same themes and characters that recurred again and again in his work. Unfortunately, we’ll never know which is true.