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Official Willy Vlautin Webstie
Official Harper Perennial Website
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A Review of Vlautin's The Motel Life (2006)
By
Jason Jordan,
Oct 1, 2007
The Motel Life (Harper Perennial, 2006) is writer/musician (or is it musician/writer?) Willy Vlautin’s first foray into novel writing, and the result is solid yet underwhelming. It’s important to note, however, that this first appeared in the U.K. in 1999, courtesy of Faber and Faber Limited, so the Harper Perennial edition is actually the U.S. copy, which comes with bonus features that shed light on the author, story, and artwork.
Needless to say, no matter which edition you read, the story remains the same: Nevadan brothers Frank and Jerry Lee Flannigan find themselves on the run after Jerry Lee hits and kills a kid. Rather than face charges, the implicated two decide to skip town. After that, their trip becomes a routine of drinking, driving, and reminiscing. Since the police fail to connect the dots, though, Frank and Jerry Lee aren’t pursued as they figured they would be, so returning to Reno becomes the inevitable.
 What separates The Motel Life from a host of other novels is its use of fitting, hand-drawn illustrations that, thanks to Nate Beaty, appear above each chapter. Though the drawings are black and white, they presumably work just as well as a color counterpart would, and because every chapter spans only a few pages, there are a lot of ‘em. Other strong points include the realism in relation to the action, dialogue, and specific pop cultures references (movies, songs, etc.).
Unfortunately, the flaws are difficult to ignore. The stories that Frank tells/writes to console Jerry Lee always distract from the story at hand, in addition to the backfill and flashbacks regarding Frank’s ex-girlfriend Annie, ex-boss Earl, and others. Eventually Frank seeks out said characters to bridge the respective gaps, but at the expense of stealing focus away from the main plot. Still, Frank’s actions do give us more insight into his character. Even considering that, though, I wonder if there couldn’t have been more fat trimmed from the 206-page The Motel Life, which, for me, triggered mixed feelings.
Jason Jordan's introduction to decomP came in July 2004 when he won our 4th of July contest. He joined the staff of decomP in September 2004 as Staff Reviewer and was promoted to Assistant Editor in January 2007, continuing to write reviews for the magazine, while assuming responsibilities as poetry editor. He has never slowed down in his work on the magazine and will assume the role of Editor in January 2008. Jason has hosted the Bean Street Reading Series, edited the IUS Review, and has been a featured writer at numerous venues throughout the midwest. His work appears in UltimateMetal, The2ndHand, Verbsap, Automiguel, RAGAD, and Pindeldyboz. He is currently pursuing his MFA in Creative Writing at Chatham University in Pittsburgh.
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