Northline

Northline by Willy Vlautin is an excellent, very highly recommended, brutally honest, yet ultimately moving domestic drama about overcoming. This one is hard to read emotionally, but stay with it. I simply loved this novel.

Allison Johnson is perpetually drunk and still with her abusive boyfriend Jimmy Bodie when she decides to flee Los Vegas and go to Reno. There she will give up for adoption the baby Jimmy knows nothing about and start a new life. Her imaginary conversations with Paul Newman help to ground her while she works the graveyard shift as a waitress at the Cal Neva Top Deck restaurant. She struggles but slowly takes steps to improve herself, including talking to regular customers like Dan Mahony and taking a second job as a show more telephone solicitor for Curt vacuum cleaners.

What Vlautin does so exceptionally well is capturing the emotions and turmoil in his characters while keeping it real. These are all very realistic working class characters who struggle everyday to just live their lives even while doubting themselves. Along the way there are people who step up to help Allison, showing that there are good people in the world who will help others rather than tear them down or take advantage of them. Ultimately, Allison, a memorable, fragile character, must overcome her bad decisions, even while her choices are limited, if she wants to live a normal life.
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Low key novel that I wasn't so sure about at first, as it portrayed a self-destructive waitress in Las Vegas with an abusive boyfriend--and an imaginary Paul Newman who gives her advice and encourages her. As it goes on, it grows on you, and the various characters are well drawn. The scenes in and around Las Vegas and Reno are convincing and give you a great idea of the hopelessness of many in such places--but there are always those who persevere, such as the woman setting up appointments for vacuum cleaner demonstrations. In the end I was won over.

The audiobook was well read. At first, the narrator sounded a bit amateurish, but it is all in keeping with the character of the girl, and the narration, like the book itself, gets better as show more it goes along.

Recommended. show less

For much of this book, its grimness was almost too much for me to handle. The main character seems to be adrift, under the influence of some pretty worthless people, and with little or no direction herself, and though the writing was very good, it didn't overcome the essential sadness. But by the end I had shifted, and could see the qualities of the characters and the glimmers of positivity that were showing through, and the ending, which came as a surprise to me (because there were more pages in the book, an excerpt from his next novel), was very special. I don't remember hearing of this author before, but in the end this book really affected me, it seemed true, and made me want to look at others.

Allison Johnson is in her early twenties, has had two bad boyfriends, a dependency on alcohol, and an unplanned baby she put up for adoption. She moves to Reno from Las Vegas to get away from the second boyfriend. She lies about her background a lot, passes out drunk more than she should, but holds down two jobs – as a waitress and setting up appointments for vacuum demonstrations. She has visions of Paul Newman to pick her up at low points.

Allison gets overwhelmed with anxiety and regret about giving her baby away. She meets a gentle guy named Dan who may be more traumatized than her – which is why she sticks with him – he can’t control her. She clings to Dan and hopes for the best. And to not be found by her boyfriend – or show more anyone else really. show less

Allison Johnson (usually referred to here as ‘the girl’) as desperately in need of escape from her current life. Pregnant, stuck in an abusive relationship with boyfriend Jimmy and heavily dependent on alcohol, she decides to move away from Las Vegas to Reno to make a fresh start. As is always the way though, she carries her demons with her.

This book charts Allison’s life in Reno, from a detached, third-person point of view. It follows her as she decides what to do with her baby, finds work as a waitress, strikes up tentative friendships, and unfortunately, continues to drink heavily and end up in dangerous situations with unpleasant men. In her darkest hours, she imagines conversations with her favourite film star Paul Newman, show more and these conversations help her through.

As I always do when I finish any book, I looked for reviews of this online, and the vast majority I read were hugely positive. I really wanted to like this book – and there are lots of positives about it. The short abrupt chapters and eloquent writing meant that I flew through chunks of it really quickly and I thought it captured the late night smoky atmosphere of Reno pretty well (although I’ve never actually been there, ha!)….but the aforementioned detachment, and the very spare style of writing meant that I never engaged with any of the characters, because I never felt that they were fully fleshed out. And it is just so depressing and exhausting to read!! Just when I thought things were going to turn around for Allison, she screws it up again.

Although it’s a quick read, it doesn’t exactly flow like a novel, and often felt more like a series of vignettes from Allison’s life with a connecting theme running through them. I love Paul Newman, but I also didn’t see the point of her imaginary conversations with him.

So all in all, perhaps this was not the book for me. I can see why some people enjoyed it, but by the end of it, my main feeling was relief that it was finished. show less

Jimmy Bodie’s a brooding presence. No telling what he is capable of. Well, we know some things he’s capable of, but probably not everything. In weakness, Jimmy Bodie is our fears. Jimmy Bodie fills the void left from where our self confidence has fled.

To combat Jimmy Bodie, Allison adopts Paul Newman as her Father Confessor and Protector, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy, Fast Eddie Felson, Murphy from Fort Apache the Bronx….even old Frank Galvin.

‘So take my advice and stay off the booze, go to school, and most of all keep on the lookout for Jimmy. Him and his damn Northline. Remember, kid, there ain’t no place where you can escape to. There’s no place where there aren’t weirdos and death and violence and change and new show more people. You head up to Wyoming or Montana and you’ll run into the same things as you do in Vegas or New Orleans. You’ll run into yourself.’

Allison is just looking for a place where she can get by and live in safety, without fear. Same for Dan Mahony. This place could be anywhere, though, It begins in your heart. Or on a line North, in flight from all that. show less

I have previously declared my interest in reading novels by musicians and this one is by the lead singer and writer for one of my favourite bands, Richmond Fontaine, so it has a head start. I actually brought this book at a gig!
The rating is really four stars for the book and one extra for the "soundtrack" CD bound into the back cover.
I think that this is a step up from his first book. It tells the story over a year or so of Allison, a loser with a bad taste in boyfriends, but she knows this, so moves from Las Vegas to Reno to escape her past. It is very sympathetically told in a sad tone with hints of optimism. I particularly enoyed her "conversations" with Paul Newman!