THE PAESANOS

Here is one of those regional stories of a small, integrated unit -- a bit of Italy in America, in this instance, very successfully done, with the same warmth, tenderness and high color as in Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat, but without the amorality and anti-social attitudes. California -- Italians, the fathers of two families, friends in Italy, coal miners together, and migrating to California together, where one becomes a prosperous produce merchant, and the other is constantly in his debt. There are chuckles in the relationship -- episodic treatment of the high spots -- shadows with the light, all in all an appealing picture of unassimilated Americans.