Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Willy Vlautin: 5 great books set in the West

Willy Vlautin, author of The Motel Life, named these "five great books set in the West" for a Q & A with Powell's.
Winter in The Blood by James Welch
Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
Sweet Promised Land by Robert Laxalt
Montana 1948 by Larry Watson
True Grit by Charles Portis
Read more of the Q & A at Powell's.

Here's how Vlautin described his novel:
The Motel Life is a novel set in Reno, Nevada. It's about two brothers, Frank and Jerry Lee Flannigan, who end up living on their own in a motel at an early age, 14 and 16. These are decent kids who end up bouncing around for the next nine years living from place to place and going from job to job. Then one night Jerry Lee, while driving home, accidentally hits a boy on a bike and kills him. This changes the brothers' lives forever, because instead of reporting it, Jerry Lee goes to his brother for help and the two decide to run.
--Marshal Zeringue