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The Motel Life (UK Edition)

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Staff Pick

Vlautin is a natural. He's managed to craft a debut novel that is funny, sad, uplifting, and honest, in a voice that seems effortless and yet leaves room for both the imagination of the reader and the growth of the writer. Vlautin is the kind of author you fall in love with, the kind you know you'll be reading for the rest of your life.
Recommended by Kevin Sampsell, Powell's City of Books

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

With "echoes of Of Mice and Men"(The Bookseller, UK), The Motel Life explores the frustrations and failed dreams of two Nevada brothers — on the run after a hit-and-run accident — who, forgotten by society, and short on luck and hope, desperately cling to the edge of modern life.

Review:

"In a gritty debut, Vlautin explores a few weeks in the broken lives of two working-class brothers, Frank and Jerry Lee Flannigan, who abruptly ditch their Reno motel after Jerry Lee drunkenly kills a boy on a bicycle in a hit-and-run. The two are case studies in hard luck: their mother died when they were 14 and 16, respectively; their father is an ex-con deadbeat; neither finished high school. Frank has had just one girlfriend, motel neighbor Annie, whose mother is an abusive prostitute. An innocent simpleton, Jerry Lee is left feeling suicidal after the accident, despite his younger brother's efforts ( la Of Mice and Men's Lenny and George) to console him: 'It was real quiet, the way he cried,' says Frank, 'like he was whimpering.' On returning to Reno, an eventual reckoning awaits them. Vlautin's coiled, poetically matter-of-fact prose calls to mind S.E. Hinton — a writer well-acquainted with male misfit protagonists seeking redemption, no matter how destructive. Despite the bleak story and its inevitably tragic ending, Vlautin, who plays in the alt-country band Richmond Fontaine, transmits a quiet sense of resilience and hopefulness." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"This guy writes like the secret love child of Raymond Carver and Flannery O'Connor — just plain, true, tough, irony-free, heartrending American fiction about people living in the third-world sections of our country. It's a book that makes you feel like you've been shot but will probably recover." Michael Gruber

Review:

"Full of tenderness, and truth and life. I haven't read a novel this good in a long, long time." Guillermo Arriaga, Academy Award nominated screenwriter of Babel and 21 Grams

Review:

"The Motel Life is that rare beast: a book with the cadence of an old, well-loved song. Sad, haunting, and strangely beautiful." John Connolly

Review:

"A brilliant read-in-one-sitting novel, so simple, so spare and so honest." David Peace, author GB84 and The Red Riding Quartet

Review:

"A hugely compassionate, wildly original road movie of a novel about two brothers, Frank and Jerry, who are trying to escape the ramifications of a fatal hit-and-run accident. The warm-hearted folksy balladeer proves he’s just as much at home on the printed page as he is behind a mic, with detailed yet understated drawings complementing the tale." Esquire (UK)
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About the Author

Willy Vlautin is a member of the internationally acclaimed band Richmond Fontaine. he lives in Portland, Oregon.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
Richard Godsell-Jures, August 4, 2012 (view all comments by Richard Godsell-Jures)
A year or so, I read "Lean on Pete" by Willy Vlautin. Naturally, when you love a book you want to see what else the author has written. It was recently, that I read "Motel Life" also, by Willy Vlautin. It was gritty, but very real and the book took you to a place that would make most readers uncomfortable. That's why I gave it a 4 star rating. But none the less, it's a book that is well written, interesting, and at times will make you uncomfortable when reading. Why? Because most of our live's we live in shelter, safe places. "Motel Life" will change that!
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780571228089
Author:
Vlautin, Willy
Publisher:
Faber and Faber
Binding:
MASS MARKET
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The Motel Life (UK Edition) New Mass Market
0 stars - 0 reviews
$12.50 In Stock
Product details pages Faber and Faber - English 9780571228089 Reviews:
"Staff Pick" by ,

Vlautin is a natural. He's managed to craft a debut novel that is funny, sad, uplifting, and honest, in a voice that seems effortless and yet leaves room for both the imagination of the reader and the growth of the writer. Vlautin is the kind of author you fall in love with, the kind you know you'll be reading for the rest of your life.

by Kevin Sampsell
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "In a gritty debut, Vlautin explores a few weeks in the broken lives of two working-class brothers, Frank and Jerry Lee Flannigan, who abruptly ditch their Reno motel after Jerry Lee drunkenly kills a boy on a bicycle in a hit-and-run. The two are case studies in hard luck: their mother died when they were 14 and 16, respectively; their father is an ex-con deadbeat; neither finished high school. Frank has had just one girlfriend, motel neighbor Annie, whose mother is an abusive prostitute. An innocent simpleton, Jerry Lee is left feeling suicidal after the accident, despite his younger brother's efforts ( la Of Mice and Men's Lenny and George) to console him: 'It was real quiet, the way he cried,' says Frank, 'like he was whimpering.' On returning to Reno, an eventual reckoning awaits them. Vlautin's coiled, poetically matter-of-fact prose calls to mind S.E. Hinton — a writer well-acquainted with male misfit protagonists seeking redemption, no matter how destructive. Despite the bleak story and its inevitably tragic ending, Vlautin, who plays in the alt-country band Richmond Fontaine, transmits a quiet sense of resilience and hopefulness." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
"Review" by , "This guy writes like the secret love child of Raymond Carver and Flannery O'Connor — just plain, true, tough, irony-free, heartrending American fiction about people living in the third-world sections of our country. It's a book that makes you feel like you've been shot but will probably recover."
"Review" by , "Full of tenderness, and truth and life. I haven't read a novel this good in a long, long time."
"Review" by , "The Motel Life is that rare beast: a book with the cadence of an old, well-loved song. Sad, haunting, and strangely beautiful."
"Review" by , "A brilliant read-in-one-sitting novel, so simple, so spare and so honest."
"Review" by , "A hugely compassionate, wildly original road movie of a novel about two brothers, Frank and Jerry, who are trying to escape the ramifications of a fatal hit-and-run accident. The warm-hearted folksy balladeer proves he’s just as much at home on the printed page as he is behind a mic, with detailed yet understated drawings complementing the tale."
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