Chump Change

Chump Change, Dan Fante, Sun Dog Press, 1998

The life of Bruno Dante, one-time poet, is heading downhill, fast. He drifts from job to job, that is, when he isn't in detox. Married, and living in New York City, he gets a call from Los Angeles, saying that his famous screenwriter father is dying. They fly west, and after his father takes longer than expected to die, Bruno takes off, with Rocco, his father's bull terrier, and lives on the streets.

He spends some time in a cheap motel with a teenage hooker who has a severe stuttering problem that only goes away when she's drunk. He indulges in seemingly mass quantities of less expensive alcohol. He gets a job with a video dating service that involves going to people's homes and getting them to sign up for full, and expensive, membership. He gets his fill of Hollywood stories from friends of his father.

This story is not without heart and tenderness, but it is quite a raw novel, too. Fante certainly pulls no punches here. He also knows how to write an interesting story that doesn't stop moving from start to finish. One can almost smell the cigarettes and cheap wine all over this novel.