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The Motel Life
 
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The Motel Life (Paperback)

by Willy Vlautin (Author)
4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
RRP: £10.99
Price: £7.69 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Product details

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Faber and Faber (6 April 2006)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0571228070
  • ISBN-13: 978-0571228072
  • Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 15.2 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 37,021 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

"'If McMurtry, Johnson, McGuane and Carver need a fifth to make up a literary five-a-side team, they need look no further than Willy Vlautin. Redemption comes through story - telling, and this is a tale told in a beautiful tone of deadpan wonder.' Niall Griffiths, author of Grits and Wreckage"


David Peace, author of GB84

'The finest American novel I’ve read in some time, so simple, so spare and so honest.'
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Customer Reviews

16 Reviews
5 star:
 (14)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.9 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Destined to be a cult classic, 16 May 2006
By GB100 "GB100" (Edinburgh) - See all my reviews
I bought this book after reading a sample chapter online and I certainly wasn't disappointed. This is a cracking novel with realistic, likeable and fully-realised characters. It is a story that is by turns beautiful and bleak, uplifting and sad. If you are a fan of writers such as John Fante, JD Salinger and Charles Bukowski then this is one for you. The Motel Life is a great achievement by a first-time author, albeit one who is already established as a great writer of songs in Richmond Fontaine (a band that I have investigated further since reading this book). The illustrations featured at the beginning of each chapter are a nice touch, too. You won't want it to end but, when it does, the story remains vivid in your mind for a long time afterwards. Highly recommended.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars First rate, 14 April 2006
By Fox (Ireland) - See all my reviews
It been a long time since I read a book that was so brutally honest and heartbreaking. This is a story of love, not of your sentimental boy\girl type, but of two brothers trying to survive in a harsh world.
The themes that run through this book will be familiar to fans of Richmond Fontaine; loss, abandonment, betrayal, but most of all understanding and compassion. This book is such a natural extension to Willy Vlautin's songwriting, that for the first chapter it felt I was reading lyrics for Richmond Fontaine's next album.



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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Effortless transition....., 17 Feb 2006
I'm sure a lot of people will come upon this new novel from Willy Vlautin because they cherish the sublime music he has put out over the years with his bandmates in Richmond Fontaine. Even if this is not the case I would urge readers who enjoy this book to make a beeline for the nearest record store & dig into the rich seam that is the Richmond Fontaine back catalogue.

A coldness pervades the pages of The Motel Life, you can really feel the biting chill of the harsh North American winter and the slow, cold desperation of the characters in this story, as they face up to & look back at the harsh hands life has dealt them.

Yet there is also a warmth, the warmth of the bond between brothers, the warmth that exists between neighbours out here in the chilly, little towns dotting this great continent & the warmth sometimes created by even the most passing of human relationships.

A beautifully rendered story, from a writer with more talent than is possibly fair. Fans of Richmond Fonatine will not be dissapointed.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard to fault
Like many others, I bought this book because I went to a Richmond Fontaine gig and was blown away by the sheer poetic misery of the songs. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Honor

4.0 out of 5 stars Great debut
I've never heard of Willy Vlautin's band, but my goodness he can write. "The Motel Life" is a fairly bleak novel in places but is an effortless read, and one of the better debuts... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Peter Lee

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved the book, and I haven't even heard any Richmond Fontaine
This is a very good book. I came to this cold, I've never heard any of Mr Vlautin's music. Beautifully written, with at the heart of the story the essentially tragic relationships... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Robert I. Campbell

5.0 out of 5 stars literary gold
As someone who normally avoids fiction, I was attracted to reading the motel life through a love of willy's band Richmond Fontaine, there is an honesty and haunting beauty to his... Read more
Published 18 months ago by John F Rowan

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book
The Motel Life is written in a simple and sparse style that makes it a very easy read. But this ease of reading doesnt take away any drama from the plot which I found engaging... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Dillinger

5.0 out of 5 stars I can only agree.............................
Having set out to praise this offering from Willy Vlautin I find that all of my thoughts have been encapsulated in the previous Amazon reviews....... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Jack Babrovskie

5.0 out of 5 stars Of Mice and Men for this generation
Not one third of the way through this book, I was reminded of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. I read that one in just over an hour at the airport waiting for a flight to Nice almost... Read more
Published 24 months ago by M. Y. Ker

5.0 out of 5 stars The birth of a quiet genius.
Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Charles Bukowski and Townes Van Zandt all sprung to mind after blasting through the first four chapters of the book un-interuppted over my lunch hour... Read more
Published on 29 Sep 2007 by Mr. A. J. Quaeck

5.0 out of 5 stars Just like his songs
I bought this book because it is written by the main man in the American band Richmond Fontaine. Don't listen to this band if you want happy country music but listen if you want... Read more
Published on 22 May 2007 by M. Henshall

5.0 out of 5 stars astonishing
This is fantastic writing. A fine portrait of the loneliness and bleakness of life on the road for two brothers out of money and luck. Read more
Published on 20 Feb 2007 by P. J. Mowat

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