The novel by the classic of American literature John Fante (1909–1983) is the story of a young Italian, Arturo Bandini, who comes to Los Angeles to start a new, “American” life and gain fame as a famous writer. But a chance meeting with the Mexican beauty Camilla, pouring beer in a cheap “Colombian buffet,” overnight ruins his plans...

...One day I took another book, opened it and tried to read. A few moments later I was already carrying it to table, like a man who discovered a gold nugget among a pile of trash... Finally, I found a man who was not afraid of emotions. Humor and pain were interspersed with amazing simplicity. The beginning was so violent that it shocked me, like an unheard-of miracle. Charles Bukowski