Northline

Northline by Willy Vlautin is a very sad book. It was also a quick and captivating read. This is the second novel I have read by this author and I was not disappointed. His dialogue is believable, his narration is sensitive and his characters are relatable and lovable. I think Willy Vlautin may be destined to be to Reno and the rest of the high western desert what Faulkner was for the South. When I read his books I feel as if I see these characters everyday. When he introduces a character, I usually place a common face seen down at Pete's or 1918 Lounge in the place of his descriptions. That is a quality that made Northline much more sad, yet much more life altering than it could have been. Needless to say, this was a great book with a touching and moving story. (It also came with a pretty sweet soundtrack. A book with a soundtrack, who knew?)

Northline was written from the prospective of a young woman who has crippling social anxiety. She has an awful speed addicted boyfriend that is abusive. She lies to everyone around her to avoid any type of self exposure, and she runs from all of her problems by drinking enough alcohol to create more problems from which to run. Allison is one of the most flawed and self afflicting characters I have seen in a long time, and yet she is also one of the most used and abused as well. The story is about her attempting to fight against herself and her antagonists by moving to Reno and detaching herself from her shady past completely. Along the way she meets many characters that are as depressed and victimized as herself, but many of them have some sort of coping mechanism that she lacks.

After reading this book there wasn't much interpretation to be done, it is pretty straightforward. Vlauting introduces us to some of the most disgusting sides of our culture's lower class and doesn't judge most of the people involved. He merely gives us a realistic view into the lives of those we see and choose to ignore or don't understand. We get to make up our own minds about whether Allison is a weak individual destined for failure or a victim to be cared for or an immoral degenerate to be avoided. All of those things are likely, and not one of them is completely true, this is why the novel is so compelling to me. It is intensly real, and intensly senstive. I don't have much else to say except that anyone reading this should probably go pick up a copy soon. Or just borrow mine.