The Motel Life
Willy Vlautin, . . Harper Perennial, $13.95 (206pp) ISBN 978-0-06-117111-6
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
Reviewed on: 02/26/2007
Genre: Fiction
Other - 240 pages - 978-0-06-212728-0
Paperback - 240 pages - 978-0-06-216510-7
Paperback - 206 pages - 978-0-571-22807-2
Paperback - 240 pages - 978-2-226-17359-1
Paperback - 240 pages - 978-0-06-232593-8