The Motel Life: A Novel (P.S.) [Paperback]

Willy Vlautin (Author)

Book Description

Series: P.S. | Publication Date: April 24, 2007

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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 (à 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. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Author Vlautin, a member of the critically acclaimed alt-country band Richmond Fontaine, has crafted a beautifully artless first novel. It tells the story of Frank and Jerry Lee Flannigan, who are on the run because of a hit-run-and-run accident in which Jerry Lee was involved. Eschewing compound sentences and even similes, Vlautin illuminates the lives of two decent young men from Reno who have been dealt a very bad hand; their mother died when they were teens, and their father, a thief and an inveterate gambler, left years before. They live in down-at-the-heels motels, drink too much, and work at dead-end jobs. Jerry Lee is a self-described "loser"--but with a conscience. He fails at suicide occasioned by grief, but Frank is there, inventing naive stories to keep him going. It's as ineffably sad as a lyric by Willie Nelson, but it's also a richly compassionate and sweetly sad meditation on what Billy Clyde Puckett in Dan Jenkins' Semi-Tough (1972) called "life itsownself." If there's any justice, anywhere, The Motel Life will be widely read and widely admired. Thomas Gaughan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 206 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (April 24, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061171115
• ISBN-13: 978-0061171116
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.5 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #545,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A heartbreaker for sure, May 19, 2007

By 

Lemon Magic (Omaha, NE USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Motel Life: A Novel (P.S.) (Paperback)

I picked this one up on the strength of the copy on the back page and critic's quotes on the cover, and I'm glad I did. The setting is so bleak and the characters so desparate and destitute that it was hard for me to get started, but once I settled in, I found plenty of warmth and tenderness to balance out the hard luck stories of the two main characters.

The novel isn't perfect - it's a little too derivative of "Of Mice And Men" to be considered an original work. And the plot simply doesn't have a lot of depth or development to it; the flashbacks and the stories the younger brother makes up to pass the time aren't enough to flesh the book out into a major work. But you can't beat "The Motel Life" for atmosphere or dialog. The "extras" at the end of the book (interview with the author, author's guide to Reno. etc) are a nice touch, so I can't really complain about the short page count for the price of a trade paperback.

Really good stuff. I hope Vlautin continues to write and to grow as an author.

I liked this book a lot.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Open a can of beer, watch TV, drift aimlessly....., January 7, 2011

By 

Kiwifunlad (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Motel Life: A Novel (P.S.) (Paperback)

The down and out directionless lifestyle novel is a genre I would not normally read. If this book had been longer I would most probably have given up but I am glad I finished it. An American once described to me that the USA is like a donut, the East and West Coasts and a big hole in the middle. Reading this novel reminded me of that observation as the story of two brothers living a hand to mouth existence and where life seemed to be perpetually repetitive: centred on beer, films on TV and every so often hitting the road. What warmed me to the book was the endearing fraternity between the brothers and it is this that Vlautin captures very well. The stories Frank makes up for Jerry Lee together with the dog were welcome relief from the otherwise bleak life.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Motel Life, June 11, 2007

By 

Ruth E. Mckinsey "retired teacher" (Battle Mtn. ,NV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Motel Life: A Novel (P.S.) (Paperback)

The linear narrative of the story with some flshbacks isn't bad, but I wanted the characters to be fleshed out a bit more.I want to know more of their thoughts and motivations other than just, "Mom died." The lives of these young men is depressing but they represent a good part of society. I have seen many disenfranchised students like them in my teaching career. I liked the authenticity of the setting--actual places in Nevada -and I thought the book ended on a somewhat hopeful note.