Chump Change by Dan Fante
Chump Change is a largely autobiographical novel and as such is a moving homage to the author's father John Fante, the acclaimed LA novelist who so heavily influenced and inspired Charles Bukowski. Chump Change tracks three crazy weeks in the turbulent, alcohol-bingeing life of Bruno Dante as he awaits the death of his father, Jonathan Dante, a talented fiction writer who in later life sells his soul for Hollywood gold. The result is a harrowing descent through a Hollywood hell that roars with anger at the falseness of American values and is both deadpan hilarious and deeply moving.