Willy Vlautin's newest book, Lean on Pete, is a coming-of-age tale set in Oregon. It is also so much more. Charley Thompson’s fifteen years on earth have been spent moving from place to place with his dad, the latest move being from Spokane to Portland. In Spokane, Charley makes so much progress toward his most cherished goal, a normal life, that he is even slated to play varsity football as a sophomore. But his dad’s drifter self gets in the way and they leave Washington in the dead of night for Portland. After settling in NE Portland’s Delta Park area, Charley wanders over to Portland Meadows racetrack where he meets horse trainer Del Montgomery and the quarter horse Lean on Pete. Vlautin’s tale let me follow Charley’s journey of loss, love, starvation and road tripping with my heart in my throat. By the time Charley and Lean on Pete are in Eastern Oregon, I’d fallen in love with this boy and the horse. Good thing that they are fictional characters or I’d be raising another teenager (if I could find him).
Vlautin’s secondary and minor characters are as compelling as Charley. Horse trainer Del Montgomery, skinny, scheming and totally dishonest, raised my hackles every time he appeared in the tale. Charley’s dad, a handsome ne’er do well, did at least love his son even if he would have flunked every item on a good parenting list. This book is dark, very dark, with close attention to every word written. This is not a story for kids, but I do think that older teen readers who’ve had their own experiences with a less than ideal upbringing will find this an intriguing, albeit rough, read.
Vlautin is also the lead singer and songwriter for Richmond Fontaine, a Portland area alternative country band. For a sample, you can listen to some of their songs on YouTube.
Willy Vlautin’s spare, fluid prose has been likened to that of Raymond Carver and Denis Johnson. He will be in Newport with Writers on the Edge, Saturday September 18, 7:00 at the Visual Arts Center, reading from this or, perhaps, his other books, Northline and Motel Life, all of which are available from Newport Library.
