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Motel Life
'The night it happened I was drunk, almost passed out, and I swear to God a bird came flying through my motel room window . . .'Narrated by Frank Flannigan, The Motel Life tells the story of how he and his brother Jerry Lee take to the road in a bid to escape the hit-and-run accident which kick-starts the narrative. Written with huge compassion, and an eye for the small details of life, it has become one of the most talked about debuts of recent years. 'That rare a book with the cadence of an old, well-loved song. Sad, haunting, and strangely beautiful.' John Connolly, author of The Black Angel'A serene and assured piece of minor-key Americana . . . Not many people do anything similar over here, with the same sense of small town big-sky melancholy. So British readers looking for a shot of post-Beat generation blues should reach with confidence for Vlautin's book.' Jonathan Gibbs, Independent
228 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 24, 2006
About the author
Willy Vlautin
21 books920 followersWilly Vlautin (born 1967) is an American author and the lead singer and songwriter of Portland, Oregon band Richmond Fontaine. Born and raised in Reno, Nevada, he has released nine studio albums since the late nineties with his band while he has written four novels: The Motel Life, Northline, Lean on Pete, and The Free.
Published in the US, several European and Asian countries, Vlautin's first book, The Motel Life was well received. It was an editor's choice in the New York Times Book Review and named one of the top 25 books of the year by the Washington Post.
His second, Northline was also critically hailed, and Vlautin was declared an important new American literary realist. Famed writer George Pelecanos stated that Northline was his favorite book of the decade. The first edition of this novel came with an original instrumental soundtrack performed by Vlautin and longtime bandmate Paul Brainard.
Vlautin's third novel, Lean on Pete, is the story of a 15-year-old boy who works and lives on a rundown race track in Portland, Oregon and befriends a failed race horse named Lean on Pete. The novel won two Oregon Book Awards: the Ken Kesey Award for Fiction and the Peoples Choice Award.
As a novelist, Vlautin has cited writers such as John Steinbeck, Raymond Carver, Barry Gifford, and William Kennedy as influences. HIs writing is highly evocative of the American West; all three of his novels being set in and around Oregon, Nevada and New Mexico. His books explore the circumstances and relationships of people near the bottom of America's social and economic spectrum, itinerant, and often ailed by alcohol addiction.
Published in the US, several European and Asian countries, Vlautin's first book, The Motel Life was well received. It was an editor's choice in the New York Times Book Review and named one of the top 25 books of the year by the Washington Post.
His second, Northline was also critically hailed, and Vlautin was declared an important new American literary realist. Famed writer George Pelecanos stated that Northline was his favorite book of the decade. The first edition of this novel came with an original instrumental soundtrack performed by Vlautin and longtime bandmate Paul Brainard.
Vlautin's third novel, Lean on Pete, is the story of a 15-year-old boy who works and lives on a rundown race track in Portland, Oregon and befriends a failed race horse named Lean on Pete. The novel won two Oregon Book Awards: the Ken Kesey Award for Fiction and the Peoples Choice Award.
As a novelist, Vlautin has cited writers such as John Steinbeck, Raymond Carver, Barry Gifford, and William Kennedy as influences. HIs writing is highly evocative of the American West; all three of his novels being set in and around Oregon, Nevada and New Mexico. His books explore the circumstances and relationships of people near the bottom of America's social and economic spectrum, itinerant, and often ailed by alcohol addiction.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 517 reviews
August 23, 2023
A story of bad luck, bad decisions, and cheap alcohol. A gritty no holds barred story about the down-and-out Flannigan brothers, uneducated, broke, alcoholics. Our "hero" Frank and his somewhat simple brother Jerry Lee live in seedy motels in the biggest little city in the world. That is unlit Jerry Lee gets in trouble and sucks his brother right into the mire with him.
A story about loyalty, love, family, and hope, hope for a better life, hope for a different future, hope for anything better than this shitty motel life. A story about the decisions we make in life and living with the consequences. A story about a life path any of us could have easily been sent down given the right circumstances.
Vlautins writing is simple and easy. The story flows slow and steady. This is my second Vlautin book and I'll definitely be looking for more. Vlautins' writing might be simple but his ability to convey emotions is powerful. You can connect with hid characters and feel part of the story. You feel what they feel, you'll laugh when they laugh, and you'll cry when they cry. You can't go wrong with this one.
A story about loyalty, love, family, and hope, hope for a better life, hope for a different future, hope for anything better than this shitty motel life. A story about the decisions we make in life and living with the consequences. A story about a life path any of us could have easily been sent down given the right circumstances.
Vlautins writing is simple and easy. The story flows slow and steady. This is my second Vlautin book and I'll definitely be looking for more. Vlautins' writing might be simple but his ability to convey emotions is powerful. You can connect with hid characters and feel part of the story. You feel what they feel, you'll laugh when they laugh, and you'll cry when they cry. You can't go wrong with this one.
December 12, 2017
'Frank,' he muttered. 'Frank, my life, I've ruined it.'
Jerry Lee and Frank are as close as two brothers can be. They've been through thick and thin . . . mostly thin, and now they're on the lam because of a hit-and-run accident.
'All right, Frank, it's story time.' says Jerry Lee, and Frank obliges, telling his wild imaginings about the brothers being ranch owners, or World War II fighter pilots - anything but what they are - two fugitives with a cloud of doom hanging over their heads.
Vlautin wrote one of my favorite stories from The Highway Kind, a book I read earlier in the year. I wasn't disappointed in this, one of his first longer efforts, and I plan to read more of his titles soon.
Bad luck, it falls on people every day. It's one of the certain truths. It's always on deck, it's always just waiting. The worst thing, the thing that scares me the most is that you never know who or when it's going to hit. But I knew then, that morning, when I saw the kid's frozen arms in the back of the car that bad luck had found my brother and me. And us, we took the bad luck and strapped it around our feet like concrete.
Jerry Lee and Frank are as close as two brothers can be. They've been through thick and thin . . . mostly thin, and now they're on the lam because of a hit-and-run accident.
'All right, Frank, it's story time.' says Jerry Lee, and Frank obliges, telling his wild imaginings about the brothers being ranch owners, or World War II fighter pilots - anything but what they are - two fugitives with a cloud of doom hanging over their heads.
Vlautin wrote one of my favorite stories from The Highway Kind, a book I read earlier in the year. I wasn't disappointed in this, one of his first longer efforts, and I plan to read more of his titles soon.
Bad luck, it falls on people every day. It's one of the certain truths. It's always on deck, it's always just waiting. The worst thing, the thing that scares me the most is that you never know who or when it's going to hit. But I knew then, that morning, when I saw the kid's frozen arms in the back of the car that bad luck had found my brother and me. And us, we took the bad luck and strapped it around our feet like concrete.
August 3, 2007
I live in Reno, knew Willy in the nineties, and drive by many of the places he writes about, nearly every day. This book was instantly engaging to me. Nevada really does tend to be the lonesome place he describes. The characters never really complain about their hard times. Seems they are used to it by now. Everything that happens is endearingly communicated through a simple universal language.
January 27, 2024
4.5 stars
short review for busy readers: Vlautin’s first novel and his seminal work. Just as bleak, sparse and full of real emotion as his later books. The story gains strength as it moves forward. Highly atmospheric of Nevada in the winter. A few of the non-PC word choices and cursing may rub some readers wrong.
in detail:
The Motel Life is the seed from which all of Vlautin’s later works (to date) spring. Typical characters have their origins here and even some details in the novel fully blossom in later works. Here a short list:
A skinny, half-starved dog travelling with two brothers as well as the money-end of boxing reappear in “Don’t Skip Out on Me.”
An honest, hardworking girl being forced into casual prostitution through her mother’s egotism shows up in “The Night Always Comes.”
A severely wounded young man who escapes his pain through highly dramatic action stories makes up a third of “The Free.”
A brief encounter with a teenage boy trying to get to Wyoming where his horse is becomes the entire plot of “Lean on Pete.”
And then there are the typical Vlautin themes. The bleakness of life on the losing end. The necessity of having people you care about and can rely on. Wanting to die simply because you have nothing to live for and the philosophical question of if some people are just unlucky. Could unlucky ever become lucky?
Unfortunately, the plot of The Motel Life is all over the place.
The narrating character, Frank, makes decisions that are little more than “one step forward, one step back”. He and his brother grow older, things happen, but they both stay locked in place by fate and defeatism. It feels like things happen to them, but never for them.
There is also far more drinking and sex in this one and women are not shown in as positive a light as they are in later works. This is partially due to the main characters’ mentality and lack of adult life experience, as well as the ubiquitous presence of alcohol and alcoholism in working class male society.
Even in this very early work, Vlautin is already showing his mastery of dialogue in which he has the enviable ability to display masses of emotion in very simple, direct language.
In short: The Motel Life is a seminal work, if not THE seminal work, in Vlautin’s catalogue. It’s also among his best.
short review for busy readers: Vlautin’s first novel and his seminal work. Just as bleak, sparse and full of real emotion as his later books. The story gains strength as it moves forward. Highly atmospheric of Nevada in the winter. A few of the non-PC word choices and cursing may rub some readers wrong.
in detail:
The Motel Life is the seed from which all of Vlautin’s later works (to date) spring. Typical characters have their origins here and even some details in the novel fully blossom in later works. Here a short list:
A skinny, half-starved dog travelling with two brothers as well as the money-end of boxing reappear in “Don’t Skip Out on Me.”
An honest, hardworking girl being forced into casual prostitution through her mother’s egotism shows up in “The Night Always Comes.”
A severely wounded young man who escapes his pain through highly dramatic action stories makes up a third of “The Free.”
A brief encounter with a teenage boy trying to get to Wyoming where his horse is becomes the entire plot of “Lean on Pete.”
And then there are the typical Vlautin themes. The bleakness of life on the losing end. The necessity of having people you care about and can rely on. Wanting to die simply because you have nothing to live for and the philosophical question of if some people are just unlucky. Could unlucky ever become lucky?
Unfortunately, the plot of The Motel Life is all over the place.
The narrating character, Frank, makes decisions that are little more than “one step forward, one step back”. He and his brother grow older, things happen, but they both stay locked in place by fate and defeatism. It feels like things happen to them, but never for them.
There is also far more drinking and sex in this one and women are not shown in as positive a light as they are in later works. This is partially due to the main characters’ mentality and lack of adult life experience, as well as the ubiquitous presence of alcohol and alcoholism in working class male society.
Even in this very early work, Vlautin is already showing his mastery of dialogue in which he has the enviable ability to display masses of emotion in very simple, direct language.
In short: The Motel Life is a seminal work, if not THE seminal work, in Vlautin’s catalogue. It’s also among his best.
February 19, 2018
THE FLANNIGAN BROTHERS
Three High Rolling Hard Going Travelers
In the dead of night Jerry Lee Flannigan wakes his brother Frank to tell him that he’s accidentally struck and killed a young boy in the street while driving… fear and guilt propel the brothers to flee, and they take to the road with their car, the clothes on their back, a couple hundred bucks, and some booze.
I easily lost myself in this story which on its surface appears to be about two brothers on the run and down on their luck. On a deeper level, it is not so simplistic. Vlautin writes about his characters’ struggles with keen observations on familial bonds, compassion for those suffering, and resilience to physical and emotional struggles. As their situation becomes more grim, do they dare to hope for a change in circumstance? For redemption?
“We’re fuck ups, Frank, so we’re gonna be with people that are fuck ups. And to me, to me, that makes sense. But that doesn’t make them bad people, does it? If you’ve had bad luck, it doesn’t mean you’ll always have bad luck, does it? Some people that are unlucky, they can get lucky. Not everyone’s cursed, I don’t think.”
Frank and Jerry Lee are brothers with a strong bond, and you get the feeling that it couldn’t ever have been any other way. It’s exactly the kind of thing that always wins me over when it’s done right. The wildly imaginative stories that Frank tells Jerry Lee, the pictures that Jerry Lee draws (featured in the beginning of each chapter), and the dog that Frank rescues along way, all these things add color and vibrancy to what could otherwise be a tale of sadness and gloom. The ray of light in their darkness is hope.
"I hoped. Because hope, it’s better than having nothing at all."
Three High Rolling Hard Going Travelers
In the dead of night Jerry Lee Flannigan wakes his brother Frank to tell him that he’s accidentally struck and killed a young boy in the street while driving… fear and guilt propel the brothers to flee, and they take to the road with their car, the clothes on their back, a couple hundred bucks, and some booze.
I easily lost myself in this story which on its surface appears to be about two brothers on the run and down on their luck. On a deeper level, it is not so simplistic. Vlautin writes about his characters’ struggles with keen observations on familial bonds, compassion for those suffering, and resilience to physical and emotional struggles. As their situation becomes more grim, do they dare to hope for a change in circumstance? For redemption?
“We’re fuck ups, Frank, so we’re gonna be with people that are fuck ups. And to me, to me, that makes sense. But that doesn’t make them bad people, does it? If you’ve had bad luck, it doesn’t mean you’ll always have bad luck, does it? Some people that are unlucky, they can get lucky. Not everyone’s cursed, I don’t think.”
Frank and Jerry Lee are brothers with a strong bond, and you get the feeling that it couldn’t ever have been any other way. It’s exactly the kind of thing that always wins me over when it’s done right. The wildly imaginative stories that Frank tells Jerry Lee, the pictures that Jerry Lee draws (featured in the beginning of each chapter), and the dog that Frank rescues along way, all these things add color and vibrancy to what could otherwise be a tale of sadness and gloom. The ray of light in their darkness is hope.
"I hoped. Because hope, it’s better than having nothing at all."
August 20, 2024
I think this book offered me what other people get out of depressing country music, which I personally can't stand.
January 20, 2014
I've been studying ideas about empathy and perspective-taking that happen when we read, and I feel a bit apologetic to be approaching this book from that scholarly in, because I know Vlautin didn't write this book for that purpose. In fact, I'd like to corner Vlautin at the horse tracks, ply him with a beer, and let him tell me who he wrote this book for; I have a feeling he would tell me he wrote it for himself. This novel is a perfect example of the reader-attitudes I try to deconstruct in a university library, and Vlautin does it naturally, and intentionally, in the dark, dank watering holes and cheap motels of the Southwest. You'll enjoy reading this book if you know the smell of stale beer, the fear and pressure of "mattering" in the world, living in a town where everyone is more desperate than the next guy. My only issue with Motel Life is that Vlautin constricts his storytelling too much to his narrator's voice, and may exclude some readers who don't initially empathize. He solved that problem in his newest novel, The Free, because his omniscient narrator is allowed a wider palette to speak and reflect, and outliers are more easily invited in.
I loved Vlautin's peripheral comments on literacy -- Jerry Lee, through all his painful life, is sustained by his brother's storytelling. And when he wants to make amends with a family he feels he's destroyed, he gives them a hard-won $1000, but also, subscriptions to a variety of magazines, because "most people like magazines." That just sits there on the page without armor, and make of it what you will. What I made of it, and other subtle descriptors, is that Jerry Lee was redeemable, was the guy who could have turned things around, had deep goodness and an eye for beauty, if he'd just had the space to follow it, and the tragedy is he couldn't realize it for himself. The hope we're left with is that his brother will.
I loved Vlautin's peripheral comments on literacy -- Jerry Lee, through all his painful life, is sustained by his brother's storytelling. And when he wants to make amends with a family he feels he's destroyed, he gives them a hard-won $1000, but also, subscriptions to a variety of magazines, because "most people like magazines." That just sits there on the page without armor, and make of it what you will. What I made of it, and other subtle descriptors, is that Jerry Lee was redeemable, was the guy who could have turned things around, had deep goodness and an eye for beauty, if he'd just had the space to follow it, and the tragedy is he couldn't realize it for himself. The hope we're left with is that his brother will.
September 16, 2022
Kan olyckliga människor bli lyckliga?
Enligt arbetarklassförfattaren Willy Vlautin är svaret: ja! Han är troligen själv ett exempel. Vlautin växte upp med sin fabriksarbetande mamma och sin bror i Reno (Nevada, USA). Han slog igenom 2006 med den här debutromanen som handlar om just två talangfulla bröder med otur, från Reno. Storebror Jerry Lee tecknar och Frank – förstapersonsberättare – skriver. De saknar föräldrar och hem, kör runt mellan olika motell, försörjer sig på tillfälliga ströjobb, super, spelar och fantiserar om ett annat liv.
Precis som varje gång jag läser Vlautin får skildringen mig att störta ner i en stark sinnesrörelse. Jag landar åter på det amerikanska samhällets skuggsida och får träffa många sjaviga människor, mest män. Motellivet är en inifrånskildring vars prosa levandegör så fenomenalt att det är knappast tal om karaktärer här, utan människor av kött och blod. Dessa människor är så vana vid sin misär att de varken klagar eller kanske ens vet något annat. De är smutsiga och luktar illa, är fula i mun, småkriminella, ofta berusade och högljudda men flertalet har minst lika god moral som vilken entreprenör som helst vars spel och casinos är en anledning till samhällets olycka. Jag blir både förtvivlad och lycklig på samma gång av att läsa om dessa stackars människor som författaren berättar om med samma värme som om det var de egna barnen det handlade om.
Högvattnet stiger i min blick och vid ett flertal tillfällen är jag tvungen att lägga ifrån mig boken en stund för att samla mig. Broderkärleken vilken präglar Frank och Jerry Lees relation tar mig med storm. Det är uppfriskande och närapå feministiskt hur han skriver om pojkarnas förmåga att bry sig om varandra och andra. Jag känner en intensiv glädje och lättnad tillsammans med Jerry Lee när Frank delger sina fantasifulla berättelser. Vlautin lyfter fram berättelsers förmåga att avleda och bryta tankemönster, leda rätt, muntra upp, skydda, inge hopp, bjuda på en paus, rädda livet ta mig fan. Hurra för böcker!
Det här är feelbad som ändå stämmer upp mig ett tonläge. Jag lämnas med känslan av att det finns hopp om en inneboende godhet i människan. Vlautins axiom: Fattigdom, trauma, bristande trygghet och/eller känslan av att inte ha något att förlora kan leda till utsatthet och desperation som kan leda till att man gör dåliga saker, vilket man sedan mår dåligt över och kanske försöker dämpa med droger. Droger leder inte sällan till att man gör dåliga saker och så snurrar spiralen gärna på. Detta innebär dock inte att man är en dålig människa.
Vlautin skriver osentimentalt och rakt på utan krusiduller eller svåra ord vilket gör hans berättelser väldigt lättillgängliga utan att vara banala eller klyschiga. Jag tänker att ungdomar med fördel kunde läsa och berikas av hans böcker, gärna borgarbarnen.
Och vad glad och överraskad jag blev av att möta Charlie från Lean on Pete – honom tycker jag också mycket om. Jag känner att jag älskar män som grupp nu när jag läst den här boken, och det hör väl inte direkt till vanligheten.
Enligt arbetarklassförfattaren Willy Vlautin är svaret: ja! Han är troligen själv ett exempel. Vlautin växte upp med sin fabriksarbetande mamma och sin bror i Reno (Nevada, USA). Han slog igenom 2006 med den här debutromanen som handlar om just två talangfulla bröder med otur, från Reno. Storebror Jerry Lee tecknar och Frank – förstapersonsberättare – skriver. De saknar föräldrar och hem, kör runt mellan olika motell, försörjer sig på tillfälliga ströjobb, super, spelar och fantiserar om ett annat liv.
Precis som varje gång jag läser Vlautin får skildringen mig att störta ner i en stark sinnesrörelse. Jag landar åter på det amerikanska samhällets skuggsida och får träffa många sjaviga människor, mest män. Motellivet är en inifrånskildring vars prosa levandegör så fenomenalt att det är knappast tal om karaktärer här, utan människor av kött och blod. Dessa människor är så vana vid sin misär att de varken klagar eller kanske ens vet något annat. De är smutsiga och luktar illa, är fula i mun, småkriminella, ofta berusade och högljudda men flertalet har minst lika god moral som vilken entreprenör som helst vars spel och casinos är en anledning till samhällets olycka. Jag blir både förtvivlad och lycklig på samma gång av att läsa om dessa stackars människor som författaren berättar om med samma värme som om det var de egna barnen det handlade om.
Högvattnet stiger i min blick och vid ett flertal tillfällen är jag tvungen att lägga ifrån mig boken en stund för att samla mig. Broderkärleken vilken präglar Frank och Jerry Lees relation tar mig med storm. Det är uppfriskande och närapå feministiskt hur han skriver om pojkarnas förmåga att bry sig om varandra och andra. Jag känner en intensiv glädje och lättnad tillsammans med Jerry Lee när Frank delger sina fantasifulla berättelser. Vlautin lyfter fram berättelsers förmåga att avleda och bryta tankemönster, leda rätt, muntra upp, skydda, inge hopp, bjuda på en paus, rädda livet ta mig fan. Hurra för böcker!
Det här är feelbad som ändå stämmer upp mig ett tonläge. Jag lämnas med känslan av att det finns hopp om en inneboende godhet i människan. Vlautins axiom: Fattigdom, trauma, bristande trygghet och/eller känslan av att inte ha något att förlora kan leda till utsatthet och desperation som kan leda till att man gör dåliga saker, vilket man sedan mår dåligt över och kanske försöker dämpa med droger. Droger leder inte sällan till att man gör dåliga saker och så snurrar spiralen gärna på. Detta innebär dock inte att man är en dålig människa.
Vlautin skriver osentimentalt och rakt på utan krusiduller eller svåra ord vilket gör hans berättelser väldigt lättillgängliga utan att vara banala eller klyschiga. Jag tänker att ungdomar med fördel kunde läsa och berikas av hans böcker, gärna borgarbarnen.
Och vad glad och överraskad jag blev av att möta Charlie från Lean on Pete – honom tycker jag också mycket om. Jag känner att jag älskar män som grupp nu när jag läst den här boken, och det hör väl inte direkt till vanligheten.
August 26, 2012
I hoped this would be good, I was disappointed. The art was good however.
The story of two down on their luck brothers as they deal with one of them doing something stupid.
It's a series of melancholy episodes, one brother seemingly mentally challenged, the other a nice but angry guy.
I can't really recommended this in any way. I wouldn't have finished it if it wasn't such a quick read combined with the fact I didn't have another book for my trip to and from work.
The story of two down on their luck brothers as they deal with one of them doing something stupid.
It's a series of melancholy episodes, one brother seemingly mentally challenged, the other a nice but angry guy.
I can't really recommended this in any way. I wouldn't have finished it if it wasn't such a quick read combined with the fact I didn't have another book for my trip to and from work.
November 8, 2023
Two brothers hoping their lives amount to more than they had thus far. Rough yet honest, fearful but true- this story hurts while it smiles.
3 1/2 Living Stars
3 1/2 Living Stars
April 3, 2011
The blurb notices on this book were particularly hyperbolic so i picked it up on a whim. The author was compared to steinbeck, the book was said to be a rock and roll ballad in book form and filled with compassion and courage. It was going to haunt me with its beauty in fact it was a bibliophiles dream with its line drawings. Having read it I am sure the author is a nice guy if a bit hipster pretentious, its not his fault he has an awesome pr machine but the book is merely an ok simplistic story of two brothers with little goingfor them but a knack to make everything worse. Fine as it goes but not worth bothering with.
December 5, 2020
Due fratelli.
Il senso di colpa.
La fuga.
La voglia di riscatto.
La delicatezza nei racconti.
Il senso di colpa.
La fuga.
La voglia di riscatto.
La delicatezza nei racconti.
May 16, 2023
Down And Out Brothers In Reno
Willy Vlautin's novel "The Motel Life" (2007) tells the story of two young brothers. Frank and Jerry Lee Flannigan who are hopelessly down on their luck. The novel is set in Reno and its environs. It explores the underside of the "Biggest Little City in the World" from the perspective of its lower-middle class and trapped residents rather than from the tourists who visit for fun. The novel portrays a Reno of small, dingy motels, snowy and lonely streets, cheap diners and used car lots, casinos where the locals go to gamble, and hospitals.
With its scenes of night and cold and its plot of two essentially good people who find themselves caught up in circumstances, the book has a noir ambience. The writing is simple with a world-weary rather than hardboiled tone. The younger brother, Frank, narrates the story which is based upon the faithfulness to each other of the two troubled brothers. Jerry Lee, driving home to the brothers' shabby rooming hourse after a failed date, accidentally kills a young boy who runs into a dark street. He flees the scene rather than reporting the accident to the police and tells Frank, who is drunk, of the incident. The two young men impulsively decide to run away making Frank an accomplice and exposing the brothers to the threat of substantial trouble with the law.
The book moves in and out of becoming a "road novel" as the brothers shortly find themselves back in Reno. Jerry Lee is consumed with guilt over the accident and both brothers are frustrated and lonely. They regret their drinking, aimlessness, lack of education, and failure to make anything of their lives. Some of the past life of the Flannigan brothers is recounted in flasbacks. Jerry Lee tries to commit suicide but instead shoots himself in an already bad leg out of his sense of guilt and uselessness. While in the hospital, he comes under a mild degree of suspicion and questioning by the police. The brothers, with Jerry Lee's festering wound, take to the road again in the company of a stolen dog for the novel's final scenes.
For all their problems, the brothers each display a talent. Frank is a born writer and storyteller with several of his impromptu tales interrupting and commenting upon the flow of the novel. Jerry Lee has a gift for drawing and his spare pictures of cars, buses, highways, and motel signs begin each chapter of the book. (Nate Beaty was the illustrator.) Besides telling the story of Frank and Jerry Lee, the book explores Frank's troubled relationship with a former girlfriend, Annie. Like the lives of the Flannigan brothers, Annie's life has been harsh.
The book shows the influence of many writers, most immediately of Charles Bukowski and of a writer Bukowski admired, John Fante. John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" also weighs heavily on the book. The book reminded me of the noir writer David Goodis and his stories of troubled lost and lonely people who become caught in trouble.
"The Motel Life" was Vlautin's first novel and my first exposure to him. He is the singer and songwriter of a country music band called Richmond Fontaine and has subsequently written three additional novels. In November, 2013, "The Motel Life" was released as a movie starring Emile Hirsch, Stephen Dorff, and Dakota Fanning.
This sadly atmospheric story of lonely places and troubled lives was an unexpected find. Readers of Bukowski, noir, or gritty writing will enjoy getting to know "The Motel Life".
Robin Friedman
Willy Vlautin's novel "The Motel Life" (2007) tells the story of two young brothers. Frank and Jerry Lee Flannigan who are hopelessly down on their luck. The novel is set in Reno and its environs. It explores the underside of the "Biggest Little City in the World" from the perspective of its lower-middle class and trapped residents rather than from the tourists who visit for fun. The novel portrays a Reno of small, dingy motels, snowy and lonely streets, cheap diners and used car lots, casinos where the locals go to gamble, and hospitals.
With its scenes of night and cold and its plot of two essentially good people who find themselves caught up in circumstances, the book has a noir ambience. The writing is simple with a world-weary rather than hardboiled tone. The younger brother, Frank, narrates the story which is based upon the faithfulness to each other of the two troubled brothers. Jerry Lee, driving home to the brothers' shabby rooming hourse after a failed date, accidentally kills a young boy who runs into a dark street. He flees the scene rather than reporting the accident to the police and tells Frank, who is drunk, of the incident. The two young men impulsively decide to run away making Frank an accomplice and exposing the brothers to the threat of substantial trouble with the law.
The book moves in and out of becoming a "road novel" as the brothers shortly find themselves back in Reno. Jerry Lee is consumed with guilt over the accident and both brothers are frustrated and lonely. They regret their drinking, aimlessness, lack of education, and failure to make anything of their lives. Some of the past life of the Flannigan brothers is recounted in flasbacks. Jerry Lee tries to commit suicide but instead shoots himself in an already bad leg out of his sense of guilt and uselessness. While in the hospital, he comes under a mild degree of suspicion and questioning by the police. The brothers, with Jerry Lee's festering wound, take to the road again in the company of a stolen dog for the novel's final scenes.
For all their problems, the brothers each display a talent. Frank is a born writer and storyteller with several of his impromptu tales interrupting and commenting upon the flow of the novel. Jerry Lee has a gift for drawing and his spare pictures of cars, buses, highways, and motel signs begin each chapter of the book. (Nate Beaty was the illustrator.) Besides telling the story of Frank and Jerry Lee, the book explores Frank's troubled relationship with a former girlfriend, Annie. Like the lives of the Flannigan brothers, Annie's life has been harsh.
The book shows the influence of many writers, most immediately of Charles Bukowski and of a writer Bukowski admired, John Fante. John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" also weighs heavily on the book. The book reminded me of the noir writer David Goodis and his stories of troubled lost and lonely people who become caught in trouble.
"The Motel Life" was Vlautin's first novel and my first exposure to him. He is the singer and songwriter of a country music band called Richmond Fontaine and has subsequently written three additional novels. In November, 2013, "The Motel Life" was released as a movie starring Emile Hirsch, Stephen Dorff, and Dakota Fanning.
This sadly atmospheric story of lonely places and troubled lives was an unexpected find. Readers of Bukowski, noir, or gritty writing will enjoy getting to know "The Motel Life".
Robin Friedman
December 27, 2010
This is the kind of book that I think would be best enjoyed in one sitting. It's short and fast and all about subtle detail. Nice characterization and brisk style in the writing.
The book captures the atmosphere of Reno beautifully. Fans of Bukowski will really enjoy this book, not only for its down-and-out characters, but the overall tone that explores the thin line between hope and desperation.
While for some this may be a little thin, I found the simplicity of the story and its depth more than made up for the amorphous shape of the story.
The book captures the atmosphere of Reno beautifully. Fans of Bukowski will really enjoy this book, not only for its down-and-out characters, but the overall tone that explores the thin line between hope and desperation.
While for some this may be a little thin, I found the simplicity of the story and its depth more than made up for the amorphous shape of the story.
May 21, 2014
This is an amazing book about the so called marginal people in life. The people who fall through the cracks. The people who don't really belong anywhere. The people who never really had a chance in life. The Flannigan boys are those types of people. Their father has a severe gambling problem and shouldn't be living in Reno. After accumulating a huge debt, he leaves and their mother dies while they are still in their teens.
They don't want to go to foster care so they decided to fly under the radar. They don't want to attract attention. When the oldest boy has an accident and has to go to the hospital, they don't avail themselves of the free health care that would have been available because of their age and spend their savings. From then on there is no cushion. Any hopes or aspirations they had are gone and now it's just a struggle to survive.
Reno has a very seedy underbelly. I went to the University of Nevada, Reno, and there is so much more than the casinos. The casinos almost have a separate life from the rest of the town. The author talks about the Basque cooking which is one of the best things about living there. There are lots of mom and pop motels left over from Reno was the divorce capitol of the USA. Although the author talks about Fitzgerald's Casino, he doesn't talk about the back story of it which is such a great story. This book made Reno come to life for me and brought a flood of memories.
We all know stories like Jerry Lee and Frank's. People who just never had a chance for whatever reason. It breaks your heart. I'm so glad Willy Vlautin gave them a voice.
They don't want to go to foster care so they decided to fly under the radar. They don't want to attract attention. When the oldest boy has an accident and has to go to the hospital, they don't avail themselves of the free health care that would have been available because of their age and spend their savings. From then on there is no cushion. Any hopes or aspirations they had are gone and now it's just a struggle to survive.
Reno has a very seedy underbelly. I went to the University of Nevada, Reno, and there is so much more than the casinos. The casinos almost have a separate life from the rest of the town. The author talks about the Basque cooking which is one of the best things about living there. There are lots of mom and pop motels left over from Reno was the divorce capitol of the USA. Although the author talks about Fitzgerald's Casino, he doesn't talk about the back story of it which is such a great story. This book made Reno come to life for me and brought a flood of memories.
We all know stories like Jerry Lee and Frank's. People who just never had a chance for whatever reason. It breaks your heart. I'm so glad Willy Vlautin gave them a voice.
June 4, 2023
Had Willy Vlautin’s debut, The Motel Life been the first one I read by him, I’m not sure I would actually bother to buy his books. However, I did read it after the excellent The Night Always Comes and Don’t Skip out on me and I saw it merely as a solid first novel.
The plot focuses on two brothers, Frank and Jerry Lee. One day Jerry Lee accidentally runs over a child and the duo escape their town, only to return. The guilt affects Jerry lee so much that he tries to find ways of escaping. meanwhile Frank is trying to mend some past mistakes and hone his storytelling craft as well.
There are a lot of bugs in The Motel Life, the story lags a bit, the characters are not so convincing and the dialogue feels forced. There’s a lot of potential and one feels it as the plot has a decent structure and Vlautin does capture small town mentality well. It does not feel fully realised.
Thankfully in future novels, these problems have been ironed out. My advice, don’t start with this one and explore the other instead.
The plot focuses on two brothers, Frank and Jerry Lee. One day Jerry Lee accidentally runs over a child and the duo escape their town, only to return. The guilt affects Jerry lee so much that he tries to find ways of escaping. meanwhile Frank is trying to mend some past mistakes and hone his storytelling craft as well.
There are a lot of bugs in The Motel Life, the story lags a bit, the characters are not so convincing and the dialogue feels forced. There’s a lot of potential and one feels it as the plot has a decent structure and Vlautin does capture small town mentality well. It does not feel fully realised.
Thankfully in future novels, these problems have been ironed out. My advice, don’t start with this one and explore the other instead.
March 15, 2013
I never quite understood the optimists, there is something alarming about the human equivalents of the happy face, but the f*ck ups of various varieties are much easier to figure out and they certainly make for some really good stories. This is one of them. A tale of lives of quiet desperation, two brothers trying to get by in a cruel and largely indifferent world. It's a slice of americana, very moving and affecting story about how much of a struggle day to day living can be. Set in and around Reno, Nevada, it does feature a fair share of motels and from a very informative author's interview additional features in the back of the book the reader can see just how much of real Reno Vlautin brings to life with this story. I liked the book's layout (pictures and all) and particularly the very ending of the story. Sad, but a lovely read all the same. Recommended.
January 18, 2011
Willie Vlautin has an optimistic view of humanity, which should be weird statement considered how filled with violence, drug and alcohol abuse, sadness, anxiety, grinding poverty, accidents, and injury his books are. But, read him and you find a very fragile but still there humanity to his portraits of the inhabitants of the third world regions of America’s New West. Vlautin is the bandleader of Richmond Fontaine a band in between the Midwest grimness of Uncle Tupelo and the high desert yearn of Calexico with a literary bent provided by Vlautin that earns his band and him comparisons to O’Conner, Johnson, Carver, Steinbeck, McMurty, Jim Thompson and others.
December 24, 2021
3.5 stars. An engaging novel about Frank Flanagan and his brother Jerry Lee, two high school drop outs who live in cheap motel rooms, working odd jobs and drinking heavily. One night while driving drunk during a blizzard, Jerry Lee accidentally kills a young teenage boy on a bike. Jerry Lee panics, believing he will be imprisoned, convinces his brother Frank to leave Reno, Nevada.
Throughout this short novel, Frank, the narrator, to pass the time and help Jerry Lee to calm down, tells short made up stories, all of which are quite engaging.
This book was first published in 2006.
Throughout this short novel, Frank, the narrator, to pass the time and help Jerry Lee to calm down, tells short made up stories, all of which are quite engaging.
This book was first published in 2006.
March 7, 2009
I dug Vlautin's book a lot: there's an understated way of rendering the story that isn't flat or monotonous, but true to the nature of the person telling the story. A quiet book but one with a strong and smart subtext.
May 6, 2013
Q: You know what happens when you play a country song backwards?
A: You get your house back, you get your girl back, and your dog comes back to life.
The two brothers Frank and Jerry Lee Flannigan are losers in every sense of the word. They lost their parents when they were young, they've lost their chances at making something of themselves, they lost their house, Frank lost his girlfriend and Jerry Lee lost his leg; now they're stuck in Reno, surviving from day to day in any way they can, drinking far too much and hanging onto their dreams not because they have any illusions about them coming true anymore but just because it seems to be all that's left. Until Jerry Lee bursts into Frank's room one night, inconsolable, and tells him he got behind the wheel after one drink too many, ran over a kid and now he doesn't know what to do. And all the things in their lives that have remained at a shaky status quo for years suddenly get put to the test.
And us, we took the bad luck and strapped it around our feet like concrete. We did the worst imaginable thing you could do. We ran away.
Vlautin's debut novel has a fantastic sense of... presence. He plants his reader right in the narrator Frank's head as he tries to save his brother and himself, in a succinct but incredibly descriptive prose. You could make much of the similarities to American storytellers like Carver, Denis Johnson or Yates, and the dustjacket does, repeatedly; but at the same time, Vlautin is a musician as well and The Motel Life reminds me of nothing so much as some song Tom Waits should have written - perhaps "Burma Shave", the story of a young girl who hitches a ride with Elvis Presley's ghost and ends up dead in a ditch to the tune of "Summertime", or "Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis", or "9th and Hennepin"... it's all dingy bars, used car lots and empty whiskey bottles, but also a set of characters that for all their fucked-up lives never come across as clichéd white trash jokes. Vlautin genuinely loves his losers and wants them to make it even though both he and his readers know they probably won't, and there is something beautiful in all of them. Jerry Lee draws every part of his life in black and white, and Frank keeps telling elaborate stories that all seem like fictional variations on his own life and dreams; anything to stay alive.
Look, here's a piece of advice. I don't know if it's any good or not for you, you're the only one who'll know if it is. What you got to do is think about the life you want, think about it in your head. Make it a place where you want to be; a ranch, a beach house, a penthouse on the top of a skyscraper. It doesn't matter what it is, but a place that you can hide out in. When things get rough, go there. And if you find a place and it quits working, just change it. (...) Hope is the key. You can make shit up, there's no law against that. Make up some place you and your brother can go if you want. It might not work, but it might. Ain't too hard to try.
And it does work, if not always for Frank then at least for Vlautin. Sure, there's a few points where you wonder just how much more he is going to put his characters through the wringer, but he always stays on just the right side of melodrama... after all, what is a good country song but a series of just slightly exaggerated everyday stories set to music that tugs at something in your chest? Willy Vlautin knows how to make a typewriter sound like a weeping pedal steel guitar, I just got to know Frank and Jerry Lee better than I might have wanted to, and it breaks my fucking heart.
A: You get your house back, you get your girl back, and your dog comes back to life.
The two brothers Frank and Jerry Lee Flannigan are losers in every sense of the word. They lost their parents when they were young, they've lost their chances at making something of themselves, they lost their house, Frank lost his girlfriend and Jerry Lee lost his leg; now they're stuck in Reno, surviving from day to day in any way they can, drinking far too much and hanging onto their dreams not because they have any illusions about them coming true anymore but just because it seems to be all that's left. Until Jerry Lee bursts into Frank's room one night, inconsolable, and tells him he got behind the wheel after one drink too many, ran over a kid and now he doesn't know what to do. And all the things in their lives that have remained at a shaky status quo for years suddenly get put to the test.
And us, we took the bad luck and strapped it around our feet like concrete. We did the worst imaginable thing you could do. We ran away.
Vlautin's debut novel has a fantastic sense of... presence. He plants his reader right in the narrator Frank's head as he tries to save his brother and himself, in a succinct but incredibly descriptive prose. You could make much of the similarities to American storytellers like Carver, Denis Johnson or Yates, and the dustjacket does, repeatedly; but at the same time, Vlautin is a musician as well and The Motel Life reminds me of nothing so much as some song Tom Waits should have written - perhaps "Burma Shave", the story of a young girl who hitches a ride with Elvis Presley's ghost and ends up dead in a ditch to the tune of "Summertime", or "Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis", or "9th and Hennepin"... it's all dingy bars, used car lots and empty whiskey bottles, but also a set of characters that for all their fucked-up lives never come across as clichéd white trash jokes. Vlautin genuinely loves his losers and wants them to make it even though both he and his readers know they probably won't, and there is something beautiful in all of them. Jerry Lee draws every part of his life in black and white, and Frank keeps telling elaborate stories that all seem like fictional variations on his own life and dreams; anything to stay alive.
Look, here's a piece of advice. I don't know if it's any good or not for you, you're the only one who'll know if it is. What you got to do is think about the life you want, think about it in your head. Make it a place where you want to be; a ranch, a beach house, a penthouse on the top of a skyscraper. It doesn't matter what it is, but a place that you can hide out in. When things get rough, go there. And if you find a place and it quits working, just change it. (...) Hope is the key. You can make shit up, there's no law against that. Make up some place you and your brother can go if you want. It might not work, but it might. Ain't too hard to try.
And it does work, if not always for Frank then at least for Vlautin. Sure, there's a few points where you wonder just how much more he is going to put his characters through the wringer, but he always stays on just the right side of melodrama... after all, what is a good country song but a series of just slightly exaggerated everyday stories set to music that tugs at something in your chest? Willy Vlautin knows how to make a typewriter sound like a weeping pedal steel guitar, I just got to know Frank and Jerry Lee better than I might have wanted to, and it breaks my fucking heart.
December 13, 2007
This is one of the best novels I read this year, and one of the best I've read in a long time. It brought me back to the days of harder fictions from Denis Johnson and Raymond Carver, which seems to be the unanimous vote going round. Those were some of the first authors I ever fell in deep with and it was nice to go back there.
Don't mistake though, this novel was authentic. You never got the sense the author was rubbing your face in it, or winking at you. It was bleak and beautiful and one hell of a first book. I only give it four stars as it was very classic. But imperfection is what this author knows and all he seems to expect. I will read this again.
Don't mistake though, this novel was authentic. You never got the sense the author was rubbing your face in it, or winking at you. It was bleak and beautiful and one hell of a first book. I only give it four stars as it was very classic. But imperfection is what this author knows and all he seems to expect. I will read this again.
July 22, 2019
Like 'Animals Eat Each Other', another tale of naivety, here parentless brothers (young adults) get into deep trouble and go on the run, make terrible mistakes and have regrets. They try but cannot dodge the mess that fate has in store for them. Instead they cling to shared moments - driving in the car listening to Willie Nelson, getting drunk in motel rooms, the one brother making up tales where their alter egos are heroes and triumphant. (To tell the truth I got a bit weary of those tales, told in full over many pages). Both are talented - the literary one's stories are illustrated by the other and pictures precede each chapter - but doomed.
May 26, 2016
Willy Vlautin's superb short novel can be seen as an advert for education.
Frank narrates, and tells many stories, but chiefly about his brother Jerry Lee and their months after an accident. Both dropped out of school early after the death of their mother. They both have talent though, Jerry Lee as an artist, and Frank as a storyteller.
There is subtle black humour throughout and their road trip and motel life is made more compelling by the Reno backdrop.
The characters that pass through the brothers' lives during this time are wonderfully described. In that brief paragraph, you are feeling that you know them, or certainly would want to. Frank's stories, however ridiculous, are very special also.
A review I read quoted Vlautin as being the literary equivalent of Shane McGowan and Tom Waites. Certainly Waites must be a major influence for him. But for me the analogy is with Willie Nelson who is mentioned and played frequently by the brothers.
I not sure why it's taken me so long to read Vlautin, but I will go through his back catalogue pretty quickly now, unfortunately it isn't that big.
Frank narrates, and tells many stories, but chiefly about his brother Jerry Lee and their months after an accident. Both dropped out of school early after the death of their mother. They both have talent though, Jerry Lee as an artist, and Frank as a storyteller.
There is subtle black humour throughout and their road trip and motel life is made more compelling by the Reno backdrop.
The characters that pass through the brothers' lives during this time are wonderfully described. In that brief paragraph, you are feeling that you know them, or certainly would want to. Frank's stories, however ridiculous, are very special also.
A review I read quoted Vlautin as being the literary equivalent of Shane McGowan and Tom Waites. Certainly Waites must be a major influence for him. But for me the analogy is with Willie Nelson who is mentioned and played frequently by the brothers.
I not sure why it's taken me so long to read Vlautin, but I will go through his back catalogue pretty quickly now, unfortunately it isn't that big.
August 21, 2015
I wanted to like this novel so much, it being about set in two places I lived and know well.
But it just could not make it. Also, although I know it's just a character, I had a hard time swallowing the unabashed and unchanged view of the protagonist toward sex workers.
It's so short, even though it's supposedly 200 pages, it's almost a novella. (Spacing and type size.) Also, I don't understand why it's in British formatting, but being sold in the US.
I'd probably read another book by the author, assuming it was not much longer.
All in all, meh. Just meh. A disappointing meh.
But it just could not make it. Also, although I know it's just a character, I had a hard time swallowing the unabashed and unchanged view of the protagonist toward sex workers.
It's so short, even though it's supposedly 200 pages, it's almost a novella. (Spacing and type size.) Also, I don't understand why it's in British formatting, but being sold in the US.
I'd probably read another book by the author, assuming it was not much longer.
All in all, meh. Just meh. A disappointing meh.
September 8, 2021
La mia videorecensione: https://youtu.be/3UjYA1dY98c
August 23, 2018
The Motel Life is one of the most depressing novels I’ve ever read. I’m amazed that this book was made into a movie. I can honestly say that after reading it, I have no desire to see the movie.
The basic plot of the book is that Frank’s brother Jerry Lee accidentally runs over and kills a young boy one night when he is drunk. Jerry Lee decides to leave town and takes Frank with him.
The 2 brothers have had a rough life. Their mother died when they were 14 and 16. Their father had been in prison and when he was released, he came home but disappeared a few weeks later. Their grandfather was unable to take them in after their mother’s death, so they were both on their own as teenagers. Frank’s boss tries to lend a hand and encourages him to stay in school. Frank ignores his advice and drops out. When his boss offers to help him pay for college if he will complete his GED, Frank quits this job. The whole book seems like one bad decision after another.
The book takes place in Reno and gambling plays a part in the story. Both boys talk about luck all the time or more specifically about their bad luck. They never consider their bad decisions.
This was a compulsive read, though. I couldn’t put the book down for wanting to find out what was going to happen to the boys. I loved the illustrations that head each chapter. But, be warned – this is a definitely a downer of a book.
The basic plot of the book is that Frank’s brother Jerry Lee accidentally runs over and kills a young boy one night when he is drunk. Jerry Lee decides to leave town and takes Frank with him.
The 2 brothers have had a rough life. Their mother died when they were 14 and 16. Their father had been in prison and when he was released, he came home but disappeared a few weeks later. Their grandfather was unable to take them in after their mother’s death, so they were both on their own as teenagers. Frank’s boss tries to lend a hand and encourages him to stay in school. Frank ignores his advice and drops out. When his boss offers to help him pay for college if he will complete his GED, Frank quits this job. The whole book seems like one bad decision after another.
The book takes place in Reno and gambling plays a part in the story. Both boys talk about luck all the time or more specifically about their bad luck. They never consider their bad decisions.
This was a compulsive read, though. I couldn’t put the book down for wanting to find out what was going to happen to the boys. I loved the illustrations that head each chapter. But, be warned – this is a definitely a downer of a book.
September 3, 2024
Oh the beauty of agony in Vlautin’s work! This stands as such a perfect example of how he can create characters that feel so similar, at least to me, I’ve met them in the dives of the Pacific Northwest…the raw simplicity to the surface of these characters thinly veils their existential, empathetic, complicated and hopeful depths. Vlautin explores them with a truthful familiarity that makes their stories and their downtrodden luck feel so lovable and hopeful.
March 30, 2022
Quite different to what I was expecting. As the blurb says, the brothers flee town after one kills a boy whilst drink driving, and whilst shacked up in a Motel, the other makes up stories to pass the time and distract them from their predicament. War battles, love stories, some other made up domestic situations etc. It's quite lucid because of this, and you can see why it's compared to Steinbeck and the Mice and Men "tell me the story again" characters. It's very well written and a pretty frank representation of the everyman.
December 20, 2023
Love all of WV’s work. This was an audio version narrated by himself and was fantastic. A bittersweet - mostly bitter - story of two outcast downtrodden brothers and the little failings and cumulative mistakes that send them down a certain path.
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