I happened to be around 4th and Keystone today, near the Gold 'n' Silver Restaurant. I found myself looking for Frank and Jerry Lee Flannigan and their friends Tommy Locowane and Al Casey and wondering how they were all doing.

I'm talking about characters in The Motel Life, a book by Willy Vlautin that is set in Reno. I know it's been out for a while and anything I say about it at this point is probably of little interest by now. I asked for the book for Christmas after reading previous reviews. I liked the idea of a novel with recognizable places, and I was interested in learning more about the lives of people who live in Reno's weekly motels.

The book is slim and very readable. Most of the 33 chapters have only a few pages each, and somehow Vlautin kept me reading one more chapter to see what happened next until I reached the end.

I rarely take the time to read fiction because I do so much nonfiction reading, and when I do read it I'm picky about the writing. This book must be well written because it didn't make me stumble and become aware I was reading very often; for the most part I just flew along with Vlautin's story. My only real complaint would be the side stories Frank Flannigan makes up for people. I still don't see the reason they are included, and they are pretty boring. (It's interesting that Vlautin can completely separate his style of story telling from his character's style of story telling.)

I still remember a high school English teacher lecturing us (way back in the late 1960s) about how fiction writers "create reality." I had a hard time understanding that concept—reality and fiction are the opposite of each other! How can you create reality? But every time I see an author succeed in making something in fiction seem real, I understand what Mr. Parsons was trying to teach us and I appreciate what the author has done. I think Vlautin succeeds.

The absolute most effective thing Vlautin does, I think, is write about what Frank and Jerry Lee do and say in a way that lets the reader get to know them very well. He shows the reader the brothers rather than telling the reader about them, and he does it very well. The relationship between the two is so real it reminds me of the relationship between a couple of brothers in my family. I would think about the Flannigans while I wasn't reading the book, and I find I'm still thinking about them now that I've finished it. (I'm not so sure about Frank's girlfriend, Annie. I don't think Vlautin is nearly as successful in making her come across as a real person, but she is not a constant part of the story. Come to think of it, I don't think Frank knows Annie very well.)

If you haven't read this book yet, I recommend it. I hope Vlautin keeps writing. Maybe he'll write a sequel to The Motel Life so I can find out how the characters are doing now.