Willy Vlautin – The Left and The Lucky – Book Review
by Killian Laher

It has to be said at this stage that Willy Vlautin, ex-Richmond Fontaine and current member of the Delines, is one of the finer fiction writers out there.  This, I believe, is his eighth novel and, like the rest of his works, it’s a tale of ordinary people struggling to make a go of things, and dreams dashed in the process.

Although it is called ‘The Left and The Lucky’, you know that these characters’ luck is unlikely to be good.  It’s the tale of Russell, a somewhat marginalised eight-year-old kid taken under the wing of painter Eddie, the genuine hero of the book.  The book is full of tragic, or at least damaged, characters and one genuinely annoying one (Cordarell)!  The profound ‘normalness’ of the characters is what makes them relatable, and in some cases, empathetic.  Willy Vlautin’s writing is economic and sparse; he lets the story do the work rather than florid prose.

Not the grimfest that Vlautin sometimes gets painted with, it’s a story that lurches from harrowing to hilarious, and back again.  The book staggers towards a gruesome climax, but the story doesn’t end there; it finishes with shreds of hope.  It’s a hugely compelling read.