Eddie Wilkins is a forgiving soul, but the one person he can’t forgive is himself. After his wife, Marlene, left him for another man, he has kept in touch with her and never blames her for what happened. A housepainter, Eddie has too many jobs and too few workers. His one mainstay, Houston, frequently fails to show up, either sleeping off a bender, or chasing a woman. Eddie forgives him, too, making sure his friend is safe.
Russell lives next door with Gladys, his frail grandmother, Connie, his mother who works nights in a strip club, and Curtis, his 15 year-old brother, whose favorite pastime is bullying his younger brother. To escape the abuse, Russell seeks refuge with Eddie, waiting for the painter’s truck to turn into the driveway. Eddie, concerned about Russell, provides a safe refuge. After a greeting, their conversation follows a familiar pattern. “Are you hungry?” Eddie asks Russell. “I’m hungry if you’re hungry,” Russell answers. If Eddie doesn’t have food in the house, they venture to a food truck or restaurant. Eager to repay Eddie and make himself useful, Russell volunteers to clean the paint brushes. Soon, however, he’s doing even more, accompanying Eddie to jobs and applying masking tape to borders.
Curtis’s girlfriend, Yvette is pregnant, and her parents order Connie to keep her teenage boy away from their daughter. Curtis and Russell have different fathers and Connie says that Curtis is like his dad, angry and violent. She even admits that as Curtis grows and becomes bigger and stronger, she’s afraid of him. But it’s Russell who bears the brunt of Curtis’s anger. Along with his two friends, Josh and Berny, they do their best to make Russell’s life miserable. On one occasion, they dress him in Connie’s lingerie, duct-taping the bikini bottom to his skin. Eddie has to put Russell in a bath to remove the sticky tape. Other times, they become physical, punching and kicking Russell.
Connie isn’t so much a bad mother as she is overwhelmed. Working from late night to early morning, she’s often too exhausted to give Russell, or Curtis, for that matter, any attention. Her own mother is soon removed to a nursing home, eliminating another ally for Russell. Eddie thus becomes the little boy’s only safe harbor.
While Eddie rescues Russell, in the end it’s Russell who saves Eddie. Since his younger sister died by suicide, Eddie has carried that guilt with him. Caring for Russell, he’s ready to let that burden go. And, he’s finally able to cut ties with the needy Marlene.
Russell is timid, but he’s also brave when he’s on a mission to help Eddie, and on several occasions, Houston. He rides his bike at night even in the rain, when he knows one of the men needs him. And he finds Donny, a sometime musician who is also a painter, to augment Eddie’s staff.
Vlauti is a musician, too. He was the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter of the Portland, Oregon rock band Richmond Fontaine from 1994 to 2016, which produced 14 studio albums. He’s now a member of The Delines. Reading summaries of Vlauti’s other novels, he has his finger on the pulse of Americans living at the bottom or on the fringes of society. These are the people who may struggle with substance abuse and fight to hold onto hourly jobs that barely cover their expenses. They seek to be loved while finding themselves unloveable.
One of Vlauti’s novels, Lean on Pete, the story of a 15-year-old boy who works and lives on a rundown race track in Portland, Oregon, and befriends a failed race horse, was made into a film starring Charlie Plummer, Chloë Sevigny, Travis Fimmel, and Steve Buscemi.
Vlautin is now on my list. He should be on yours.
The Left and the Lucky
Willy Vlautin
Top Bigstock photo by Goodmoments
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