The Motel Life **1/2

By Willy Vlautin.
Published by Harper Perrenial 2006.
First UK Paperback published 1999 by Faber and Faber Lmtd.
206 pages.

This is Vlautin's first novel. I had already discussed his later book, "Northline", several weeks ago. It is similar in many ways to that novel, though I think "Northline" is a better book. The problem with this one is that it tends to plod along after a while. Not that "Northline" doesn't have it's plodding moments - it's episodic in nature, but "The Motel Life" seems to be more so.

But "The Hotel Life" still has those aspects that I liked so much about "Northline". The characters are gritty and desperate. Yet there's a pervading humaneness and kindness that they display under their gruff exterior. It a portrait of the working and not so working poor. The reader becomes empathetic with these characters.

The story takes place in and around Reno, Nevada. The main character, Frank, is visited in the middle of a cold, snowy night by his older brother Jerry Lee. Jerry Lee is very upset. He had a hit and run accident in which a young boy had been killed. He states that he is not to blame since the kid just appeared out of nowhere on his bicycle in the middle of a snow storm, but he was drunk and he thinks that the police won't see it his way.

So they go on the lam. But they don't make it to their destination. Jerry Lee is wracked with guilt and he deserts his brother in the woods and shoots himself in the leg. Frank is forced to return home and brings him to the hospital.

Back home Frank does some thinking, especially about his ex-girlfriend who he still loves. Jerry Lee is not doing well, because his leg was in very bad shape previously to the shooting. The two brothers decide to go on the lam again, and go to a motel.

This book is compared to "Of Mice and Men" because the one brother seems to take care of the other, though Jerry Lee is not mentally challenged. At the motel the resolution of the story is very different for these men - tragic for one and hopeful for the other.

A trailer for the book. The end says it's going to be a movie!?!?!? Really?



A reading by the author...