The Free

by Willy Vlautin

The life he knew before the bomb no longer existed. That Leroy Kervin was gone.

Willy Vlautin's stunning fourth novel opens with Leroy, a young, wounded, Iraq veteran, waking to a rare moment of clarity, his senses flooded with the beauty of remembering who he is but the pain of realising it won't last. When his attempt to end his half-life fails, he is taken to the local hospital where he is looked after by a nurse called Pauline, and visited by Freddie, the night-watchman from his group home for disabled men.

As the stories of these three wounded characters circle and cross each other, we come to learn more of their lives. The father who caused her mother to abandon them both, and who Pauline loves and loathes in equal measure, the daughters Freddie yearns to be re-united with and, in a mysterious and frightening adventure story, the girlfriend Leroy dreams of protecting.

Evoking a world which is still trying to come to terms with the legacy of a forgotten war, populated by those who struggle to pay for basic health care, Vlautin also captures how it is the small acts of kindness which can make a difference between life and death, between imprisonment and liberty. Haunting and essential, The Free is an unforgettable read.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, War, Book Club, Adult, Literature

274 pages, Paperback

First published February 4, 2014

About the author

Willy Vlautin (born 1967) is an American author and the lead singer and songwriter of Portland, Oregon band Richmond Fontaine. Born and raised in Reno, Nevada, he has released nine studio albums since the late nineties with his band while he has written four novels: The Motel Life, Northline, Lean on Pete, and The Free.

Published in the US, several European and Asian countries, Vlautin's first book, The Motel Life was well received. It was an editor's choice in the New York Times Book Review and named one of the top 25 books of the year by the Washington Post.

His second, Northline was also critically hailed, and Vlautin was declared an important new American literary realist. Famed writer George Pelecanos stated that Northline was his favorite book of the decade. The first edition of this novel came with an original instrumental soundtrack performed by Vlautin and longtime bandmate Paul Brainard.

Vlautin's third novel, Lean on Pete, is 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 named Lean on Pete. The novel won two Oregon Book Awards: the Ken Kesey Award for Fiction and the Peoples Choice Award.

As a novelist, Vlautin has cited writers such as John Steinbeck, Raymond Carver, Barry Gifford, and William Kennedy as influences. HIs writing is highly evocative of the American West; all three of his novels being set in and around Oregon, Nevada and New Mexico. His books explore the circumstances and relationships of people near the bottom of America's social and economic spectrum, itinerant, and often ailed by alcohol addiction.

Reviews

[Will Byrnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Leroy Kervin was 24, a roadside bomb in Iraq parked him in a German hospital with fractures and a serious brain injury. Couldn’t talk. Couldn’t walk. Despite seven years of rehab and huge struggles to regain some of his normal functions, Leroy still suffers from acute PTSD, physical struggles, constant fear, and a fog-shrouded view of the world around him. So, when he wakes up one day miraculously clear-headed, and assumes that this respite is temporary, all he can think is that he will never return to the way things were. To make sure of that he decides to use this fleeting moment of personal reanimation to kill himself. Leroy’s decision brings together the main characters in Willy Vlautin’s look at what it is to be working class in 21st century America.

I write, or hope to write, stories about the working class. I’ve always been a fan of stories about working people, and normal people and the day-to-day struggles they go through. – from interview at 13E Note Editions

Freddie McCall was the night man at the long term care facility where Leroy was living. He is roused by the commotion of Leroy plunging down a staircase onto some wooden stakes. Freddie calls 911 and sees that Leroy is taken to a hospital.

…he held two kitchen towels over the main wound and stared at Leroy’s face. There was a two-inch cut on his cheek leaking blood, and a growing welt on his forehead. Freddie wanted to say something to comfort him, but every time he tried to speak he began to cry.

He’d always liked Leroy. For a man who couldn’t speak, whose brain had been caved in by war, he had a personality. He liked Cap’n Crunch and would watch the science fiction channel for days on end. He had never picked a fight or become violent towards the other residents. He would fall into fits of despair when he refused to leave his bed, but who wouldn’t? And there were times, dozens of them, in the two years that Freddie had been there, when Leroy would wake him in the middle of the night. He would pull Freddie to the back door and knock on it. Freddie would find the key, unlock it, and they would go outside and look at the stars. Leroy would move around the small lawn like an old man, his head back, staring at the faraway galaxies.

Freddie has had a rough go of it himself, and gets why Leroy might want to end his suffering. McCall is the third generation living in his house, but he is among the many suffering under the burden of the number one cause of bankruptcy in the nation, medical bills. One of his daughters was born with dysplasia, required multiple surgeries to repair her hips and Freddie is sinking quickly in a quicksand of debt. And his wife took off with their kids to Vegas to live with her boyfriend. She didn’t take the bills with her. Freddie works two jobs, overnights at the group home and days at Logan’s Paint Store. He catches snatches of sleep when he can. There is no longer heat in his house because he was unable to pay the fuel bill. Desperate for money, he takes on a dodgy venture.

In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets, and steal loaves of bread. – Anatole France from La Vie en fleur

Pauline is a nurse at the hospital where Leroy is taken. She tries to help take care of her father, who declines to bathe, wash or eat more than a very narrow list of things. Her mother abandoned her when she was a kid, leaving her in the care of a man who was mentally ill. She did not understand that at the time, but does now. Pauline lives with her pet rabbit Darla, and gets lonely, sometimes. But she has a friend she has known since childhood, and a heart that pulls her to connect with people.


the author - from Australian Broadcasting in 2010

One of the major elements in The Free is how just folks can care for each other in a pure way.

I do believe in the kindness of strangers. One of the great things about being in a band is you find that out. People really help struggling bands. Over the years people have been so nice to me and my band, helped us out, fed us, put us up for the night…It’s easy to be scared and cynical. All you have to do is read the paper. I know I have a rough time that way. But I do believe humans, although violent and destructive, have a great ability for kindness. – from interview at 13E Note Editions

Freddie looks out for the residents at the group home and their families, looking for ways to spare them unnecessary costs, even if it means having to do extra work himself. Pauline comes across a runaway teen girl, and goes to extraordinary lengths trying to save her from certain destruction. For all the hoopla given the wealthy when they make large contributions to this or that, it is the lower economic end that actually gives more, and Vlautin is well aware of that.

One of the most surprising, and perhaps confounding, facts of charity in America is that the people who can least afford to give are the ones who donate the greatest percentage of their income. In 2011, the wealthiest Americans—those with earnings in the top 20 percent—contributed on average 1.3 percent of their income to charity. By comparison, Americans at the base of the income pyramid—those in the bottom 20 percent—donated 3.2 percent of their income. The relative generosity of lower-income Americans is accentuated by the fact that, unlike middle-class and wealthy donors, most of them cannot take advantage of the charitable tax deduction, because they do not itemize deductions on their income-tax returns. – from Why the Rich Don't Give to Charity by Ken Stern in the April 2013 Atlantic

And this does not even take into account the in-kind contributions people make with their time and labor.

Leroy’s suicide attempt was not successful and he hangs on in a hospital room. Awake, he is in constant pain, so he decides to remove himself from the realm of the real. Most of our experience of Leroy is in his sci-fi fantasies. I was reminded of Billy Pilgrim’s escape to Tralfamador in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. Leroy’s adventures contain elements of memory and of fantasy. They are also where Vlautin becomes most metaphorically direct in his critique of 21st century America. This is a world in which people are marked as military-worthy or not, but the mark eventually becomes a mark of Cain and bands of vigilantes hunt them. There is a lot in here about racism, the media, the mean-spirited world in which we live. Leroy’s real-world girlfriend, Jeannette, is a major character in Leroy’s dream-life and nurtures him there the way she nurtured him in real life. It is sometimes difficult to tell where memory leaves off and fantasy picks up.

Religion comes in for some attention here, and not in a supportive way. Religious faith in Vlautin’s universe is a bludgeon used by the unscrupulous, the ignorant, or both to inflict their demands on the young and the powerless. Christian charity in the land of The Free is an oxymoron.

One of the core problems of our economy is personified by an owner who is completely incompetent, but owns and benefits from having a business only because his father left it to him.

Detroit is like rich people. You always hear stories where the dad comes up the rough way, struggles and works harder than everyone else. He builds something, something of value. He spends his whole life doing it. Then his kids come along and take over. They’re so well off that they don’t understand how hard it is to create something good. They just see the money and run with that until it quits. Then everything is lost and even the good idea gives out…

I was most moved by the stories of Freddy and Pauline. Leroy’s story is certainly compelling, but I found it the least engaging of the trio. The one-step-removed methodology used for him kept me feeling one-step–removed as well. If the option were available, I would have knocked my rating down to a 4.5, but the power of the rest moves me to keep this one at five stars. I expect that Willy Vlautin will begin to gain recognition as one of America’s finest artists, a modest guy who embraces his humble beginnings and works to offer us a look at what is becoming the real America for increasing numbers of us. To all of you who are not doing so great in our new two-tiered economy, I strongly encourage you to get into Willy Vlautin. He has been into you for a long time.

Posted – October 10, 2013
Publication date - February 4, 2014 (Trade Paperback)




============================EXTRA STUFF

Links to the author’s personal and FB pages

Willy Vlautin, born in 1967, grew up in Reno, Nevada. He was a working class kid, raised by a single mom. He was never a great student but had a feel for music and for story. He is one of the founders of the alt-country band Richmond Fontaine . Vlautin’s stories make up much of the lyrics used in the band’s songs. There is a fair bit of crossover between the songs and Willy’s other writing. The Free was his fourth novel. His first, Motel Life has been made into a film with Emile Hirsch, Stephen Dorff and Kris Kristofferson, among others. It was released in November 2013. His second novel was the award-winning Northline, and the 2010 release, Lean on Pete, was also widely praised. Vlautin continues to write songs and stories. He lives outside Portland, Oregon these days, when not travelling with the band, but would love to return to Reno someday. His writing calls to mind John Steinbeck and his musical work summons images of Woody Guthrie. He is one of the best writers of his generation.

A promotional vid for The Free

Wiki page on Willy

A short story by WV

Interview with 13eNote

Harper Audio has posted four short audio bits on Soundcloud in which Willy talks about how he came to write The Free. Vlautin, talking about the book, and reading a few excerpts, is backed by haunting clips of his own music. This is must-hear stuff if you have read the book, and might inform a decision on whether or not to read it if you have not.

2/18/14 - attended a reading. Willy is amazing.

Other Vlautin books I have reviewed
-----Don't Skip Out on Me
-----Northline

[Orsodimondo · Rating 4 out of 5]

BORN IN THE U.S.A.



Objects in the page are closer than they appear.

Le vicende di tre personaggi si intrecciano molto cinematograficamente e formano il quadro generale.
I tre, raccontati in terza persona, sono Freddie, Pauline e Leroy.

Certo, giudicare quest’ultimo uno dei motori del racconto sembra un po’ una forzatura considerato che alla sua prima apparizione Leroy tenta il più goffo dei suicidi – e lo tenta perché le ferite riportate in Iraq non guariscono e la sua testa è anche più malata del resto del suo corpo, pensieri neri, veri e propri incubi.
Il suicidio è goffo, non lo racconto, vale la pena leggere la macchinosa ed elaborata strategia di autoinfliggersi la morte: comunque Leroy è proprio jellato, neppure il suicidio se lo porta via.



Anzi, lo spinge in un lungo coma: nel quale, purtroppo per lui, non riesce neppure a smettere di avere quei pensieracci, quelle visioni da incubo.
A questo punto, per lui Vlautin adotta il corsivo: e avvia una narrazione distopica tipicamente americana – una coppia in fuga inseguita da un branco di cattivacci che si spacciano per giustizieri in un territorio post apocalittico. Sembra a tratti di essere in uno spin off del film Edge of Tomorrow, tratto dal romanzo All You Need Is Kill di Hiroshi Sakurazaka (che non ho letto né credo leggerò), quello dove Cruise e Emily Blunt sono soldati che combattono soverchianti forze nemiche – aliene, nel loro caso – e ogni giorno vengono uccisi, e ogni giorni ricominciano a vivere e ripetono gli stessi eventi, con lievi variazioni, finché non vengono ammazzati di nuovo e poi ricominciano a vivere e li uccidono ancora e loro tornano in vita e…



Gli altri due, Freddie e Pauline, sono più umani, per forza di cose: loro vivono giornate normali – anche se mi pare un azzardo definirle tali – e non sono certo in coma.
Freddie è il guardiano di notte nella casa famiglia per disabili dove Leroy ha cercato di farsi fuori. Sembra ritenersi responsabile, forse perché dormiva mentre l’altro cercava di diventare un angelo: e quindi ogni sera, prima di prendere servizio, passa all’ospedale a trovare Leroy. Che, essendo in coma, le sue visite ignora senza se e senza ma.
Freddie è sommerso dai debiti. La moglie l’ha lasciato per andare con un altro uomo e s’è portata via le due bambine, la più piccola delle quali è disabile. Quasi tutto quello che lui guadagna coi suoi due lavori (notturno e diurno), lo manda alla ex per il mantenimento delle piccole (e della stessa ex).



Pauline è infermiera nel reparto ospedaliero dove viene ricoverato Leroy, e ogni tanto incontra Freddie in visita.
Pauline tende a ingrassare, ma sa far sesso senza paura, con dolcezza e piacere: forse perché è tanto fortunata da incontrare un’anima buona e gentile, e persa, come lei.
Si occupa di un padre dalla testa fuori posto, lo accudisce, nutre, sostiene.
Magnifico personaggio questa Pauline, incarnazione della bontà e gentilezza e generosità: ma per nulla ingenua, capace di sapersi difendere, non sprovveduta, combattente. Una vita spesa a cercare quell’amore che è scomparso quando aveva cinque anni, sua madre mollò lei e il marito per non farsi più vedere, ma neppure invitarla in visita.



Poi c’è Darla, la mamma di Leroy, che fa la cassiera al Safeway, e Jo, la ragazzina scappata di casa che è stata accolta da quattro giovani senza famiglia che a turno fanno sesso con lei, consenziente o meno. E l’indiano che va in carcere, ma prima appoggia la sua coltivazione di marijuana in casa di Freddie. E altri personaggi.
Un’umanità di magnifici perdenti. Senza essere sconfitti. Un’umanità ai margini. Umanità che vive nella zona d’ombra della vita. Senza certezza. Centellinando il calore. Senza lasciarsi andare. Senza indulgenza. Lottatori del quotidiano. Piccoli eroi della porta accanto.
Epica del quotidiano di un’America che è quella distante dalle luci sfavillanti e dai grattacieli splendenti, raccontata con dialoghi fulminanti, con attenzione ai dettagli, disegnando i contorni di personaggi e situazioni con minuzia e delicatezza, un insieme di piccoli fatti, di gesti dall’apparenza insignificante, di semplice routine, e semplici ripetizioni.



Scrittore sempre paragonato e inserito a cavallo tra Steibeck e Carver: per me difficile cogliere il primo parallelo, i miei Steinbeck li ho letti all’epoca del liceo. In quanto a Carver, per me scrittore massimo, la vicinanza c’è, si sente, sia nella scelta dei soggetti umani che in quella degli accadimenti da raccontare. Poi, lingue e stili sono diversi.
Bello questo primo incontro con un romanziere che finora conoscevo solo come musicista, sia nella versione Richmond Fontaine che Delines (e lo consiglio, sa scrivere e suonare bella musica).



P.S.
Quello che non vuoi capire è che una volta eravamo il paese più grande del mondo. Il paese più grande che sia mai esistito. Adesso non vale più un cavolo e sono stati quelli come te a rovinarlo. Gente che non rende onore alla bandiera. Che non si leva il cappello quando suona l’inno. Che non si sacrifica. Per anni i politic hanno regalato qualsiasi cosa a quelli che erano messi troppo male per tenersi un lavoro o troppo pigri per fare qualsiasi altra cosa che non fosse starsene spaparanzati e sfornare mocciosi che finivano in carcere o nel programma sussidi.
No, non è Donald Trump che parla, né membro del KKK o della Fratellanza Ariana. È uno di quei militari che dà la caccia a Leroy nei suoi comatosi sogni da incubo: uno di quelli che appartiene al collettivo The Free (titolo del romanzo) formato da uomini che vigilavano e andavano in giro a catturare e uccidere le persone con il marchio (il marchio era il modo per riconoscere quelli da eliminare, cioè quelli che non erano come gli eliminatori).

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a short time ago, I read a book that left me without much hope, like being stuck in a valley with no chance of sun. It was not a realistic story. This one is very much so. Both books dealt with serious topics, circumstances in life, and how people react to those circumstances. So why did I feel down after the first, and uplifted by the second? It’s that little word hope. That’s what I was left with here.

At one point while reading, I suddenly wondered just why this book had been titled The Free. Then I came to it, somewhere in the middle of the story (which I had been very much enjoying by the way, despite the heartbreak). “That’s why he named it The Free?”, I thought. “It’s the antithesis of those words”. But the author had named it perfectly, which I understood and welcomed near the end. Not everything in life is easy. Some have it harder than others. Some are crushed for the lack of trying while others persevere for the sake of enduring. Highly recommend this one.

[Elyse Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Library ebook...
In-your-face-simple realistic writing..
dialogue so real - it’s like I wasn’t reading at all...
However....
I also felt like I was hit by a Mac Truck!
Words that ran through my head when I finished this easy reading dreary gloomy book was:
“Life’s hard and then you die”. Depressing? Yep.. you got the idea!

It’s a good book - don’t get me wrong....but not an ounce of it was upbeat.

[Berengaria · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

short review for busy readers: Hard core social realism about disabled Iraq war vets and those who care for them. Simple, unadorned prose that evokes massive amounts of mental and emotional depth. Lots of dialogue. Fast read. May be too depressing for those who prefer uplifting stories. Recommended for fans of Steinbeck and Carver.

in detail:
There are 3 things I love about Vlautin's work.

1/ he writes about the working poor with absolutely no sugar coating. These are people who live hard lives next to the bone. There's no magic wand to wave around that will get them out of their problems. No Prince Charming, no lottery win. Vlautin doesn't hand you sweet uplifting endings, he hands you hard core humanity.

Many find that depressing. I find it wonderful.

2/ he's mastered dialogue (almost) to perfection. At first his dialogues may seem overly bare, simple and direct. But the longer you read, you begin to see how subtly he's able to show depth of character and mental/emotional states with only a few lines so that it hardly looks like it took any effort.

If he were ever to write stage plays, they'd be masterpieces.

3/ all of his characters are real. There's not a cardboard or overly 'fictional' figure among them. Sure, they aren't usually the smartest. They make mistakes. They do dumb stuff, try dumb stuff, get stuck in situations they can't get themselves out of, help the wrong people, refuse help from the right people. Not on purpose, but because they are human. Because they're real.

All three of those qualities are here in "The Free" in spades.

While I personally might not have enjoyed (and often skimmed) the dystopian fantasies of the dying vet and wanted to hear more about the caretakers, I still appreciate what Vlautin was trying. That's really the only critique I have about the novel.

It's not his strongest, but it is a typical Vlautin.

[William Boyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give a lot of books that I really like five stars on Goodreads, but I don't mean it the way I mean it with Willy Vlautin's books. He's the patron saint of the sick and the sad, and this is another damn beautiful novel. He tears you down and builds you back up the way only he can. I broke down crying at least ten times but walked away from the book feeling happy to be alive.

My review is up at the L.A. Review of Books: https://lareviewofbooks.org/review/pa...

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lives of quiet desperation, all around us people have had their lives affected by the war, unemployment, the insurance mess and the many other things that haunt us all. This novel is about three such people, struggling on and just trying to stay afloat and make the best out of what they have left, just soldiering on and living their lives.

What a very touching and well written story. What stands out in this story is the kindness and compassion these people show when dealing with others. They have so little left, but they are not bitter, sure they want things to be better but they don't treat others any less than they themselves want to be treated. Yes, this book can be grim, but all these characters still have such a huge amount of hope that it makes one grateful for what they have, whether it is alot or a little.

I felt like I knew these characters and I admired their continuing efforts to stay true to what they believed in. The title "Free" came to mean different things to these characters. Wonderfully written book about ordinary people confronted by less than ordinary circumstances.


ARC from publisher.

[Mikey B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really couldn’t get into this novel. I found it too dreary and dismal especially the hospital scenes. The characters seemed elementary and the dialogue very unadorned and artificial.

It’s not that I need “happy” but these characters could not draw me in.

The sci-fi scenes were a needless distraction from whatever story there was. The main storyline was underdeveloped and minimalist.

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bleak, sad story of people who can not catch a break. Freddie McCall is broke and broken by the horrible life he leads, unable to think of a way to get free of his mountain of debt and his nightmare-fuel jobs. Leroy is a comatose patient who is locked in his own head where he's decided to go into a fictional world he created to keep from going insane.

The intersection of his horrible past, his tormented present, and Freddie's late-capitalist dysfunction that only barely resembles a life is through the care home where they sort-of exist in juxtaposition. Pauline, a downtrodden nurse and caregiver to a deeply terrible father, winds her way down grocery store aisles as she creates and completes checklist after checklist. No one is getting out of here whole, or even necessarily alive.

Author Vlautin, a musician by trade, eschews song-type restrictions on his prose for a maximalist moment-by-moment account of each character's separate bad-dream life. The accumulation of detail and the internal lives of these average people build a crooked, ramshackle story-verse that each is unaware that they share with the others.

Be aware that there is no redemptive arc or happy resolution in this breathtakingly honest and unsparing portrait of non-essential people doing essential work, then suffering for wanting more than the bare minimum that they can claw out of the filth and decay around them. It's a hard story but a beautiful book.

[Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Free Fallin’
The Most Realistic Dream Descriptions I've Read

A superbly unique narrative via the perspectives of three characters, one primarily via an allegorical dream.

The first character, Leroy, suffered brain trauma from a roadside bomb in Iraq, and is basically an invalid staying at a "second-rate group home for disabled men" in the State of Washington.

The three converge at the hospital where Leroy was taken upon falling down a flight of stairs at the group home after having a momentary state of suicidal clarity:

... that night, for the first time since the explosion, he woke with clarity. Memories flooded into him. He could recall his routines, the week’s menu, what time he went to bed and which days he took a shower. He could remember his mother bringing him takeout food and sitting next to him while they watched TV. He could remember his girlfriend, her eyes and face, and the birthmark on her calf and her walking around in her underwear. He could suddenly recall the way she laughed, the sound of her voice when she was upset, the way she sneezed, and the way she sighed sadly when the alarm went off in the morning.

What was happening to him?
***
...at that moment, on that night, he had a window and he decided to escape through it.

He decided he would kill himself.”

Freddie is the night man at the group home. He’s unable to pay his bills even though he is burning the candle at both ends with a day job running a paint store for a lazy, fat James-Dobson-junkie who inherited the store. After he's left destitute by medical bills for one of his daughters and as he is desperately trying to keep his house, Freddie’s wife runs off with her lover, taking both daughters out of state. Freddie is constantly afraid he will never make it out of this all-work, no-sleep state, lose everything and never have his daughters again.

Pauleen is the hospital night nurse with a fear of relationships, having been abandoned by her mom when she was 5 and left a few years back by a boyfriend who was afraid of marriage. She must drop in frequently on her mentally ill father, and learns much from encounters with a young female runaway.

While Leroy is under intensive medical care in the hospital, his nightmares intensify. These are the closest descriptions to my dreams that I’ve encountered in all of literature: varying places and times, sprinkled with reality overlaying a dream sequence in which he and his girlfriend are on the run from “The Free,” a mixed military/militia group of “real” “patriots” trying to capture and kill them. But, it is his time spent with her again, his love for her via this life-like dreamworld that sets him free from the fog, the bleakness and the pain.

All three face their fears and each take their own paths toward growth and a bit of redemption.

The dialogue is refreshing and real; the main characters so appealing.

5+ stars.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are books that are so exquisitely written with a simple story that touch your very soul. This is one of those books. People have called Vlautin the modern Steinbeck and his writing in this book is just that good. Still the story reminds me so much of "To Kill A Mockingbird" in its simplicity, strength and character development. It kept me up last night as I couldn't let go of these characters so I could sleep. Tears tickled as I finished it and I am sure it will be with me for some quite some time. It's message? Real heroes are among us all and they are people who try to make their way through life as best they can with a quiet dignity and humility.

There are three separate stories but they overlap and move seamlessly between each other. Leroy Kervin was seriously injured in the Iraq War and has been living in a group home in Oregon. One day he wakes up and, in a moment of clarity, tries to take his future into his own hands. Freddy McCall works at Kervin's group home and carries his own set of problems. One of his daughters was born with a disability and the medical bills are drowning McCall. He works two jobs and is in danger of losing his house that has been in his family for generations. When Kervin is moved to a hospital, his nurse is Pauline Hawkins. Pauline is struggling too with a mother who abandoned her at 5 and with the care of her mentally ill father.

It sounds depressing, doesn't it? It is not. It's actually quite uplifting. You see people going through their every day lives, carrying their burdens and yet reaching out to others with love and help. They have souls that seem to know instinctively how to help others and make them better. No matter what life has thrown at them, they do not become bitter. They just want things to better. It's the calm center of certainty in them that literally took my breath away.

I can not recommend this book more highly. It's my favorite book this year. I miss the characters already and left wondering how things turn out for them. Do yourself a favor and read this book. You won't be sorry.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a quiet and simple way, Willy Vlautin is able to write an emotionally morose novel about the suffocation of the lower-middle class. He uses three main characters to tell his tale: Leroy is an Iraq-war vet who came back to the US with physical and emotional damage. He was persuaded to sign up for the National Guard before the war, thinking he’d be safe. He never dreamed that the National Guard would be called for service in a war. Freddie works two jobs to try and keep himself afloat. He is divorced, after having a severely handicapped daughter who’s bills drained his emotional and financial resources. His wife left him because he didn’t give her enough emotional time. He was exhausted trying to work two jobs to pay for the medical bills. Vlautin uses Freddie to showcase the trauma of Americans who fight regularly with the Insurance industry. Pauline is a nurse who compassionately cares for the sick and wounded (Leroy is a patient). Her mentally ill father keeps her busy when she is not at work. The three characters are living existences, which are smothering and sad. In fact, I was drained just reading about the characters. Vlautin’s character development is concrete; the reader feels the pain of each sad life.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the land of the free and the home of the brave, are we really all that free…or all that brave? The Free is a hymn of sorts to the working-class American…the man or woman who grew up placing one foot in front of the other, ever hopeful, ever courageous, despite being left behind in the dust. The characters are so authentic and big-hearted – the dialogue so pitch-perfect and real – that I wanted to leap into the pages and give them a hug. Willy Vlautin has placed his finger on the pulse of America and found its heartbeat.

Three stories are interwoven. Leroy Kervin is an Iraqi War veteran whose brain has been caved in by the war, a man who hasn’t had a minute of clarity. One day he awakens and it was “like his mind had suddenly walked out of a never-ending snowstorm…Was he finally free? Was he really himself again?” In the first few pages, we learn that as Leroy gains clarity, death becomes the most sensible option. In his eventual stupor, his mind creates sci-fi reveries that center on a group called The Free, who hunt down those with a green mark that reveals they are unpatriotic.

The night man at Leroy’s group home is Freddie McCall, a caring and honest man who has fallen victim to the American nightmare. His younger daughter needed major medical care and since then he’s been drowning in debt, struggling to make ends meet with two jobs, not free from the memories of when he was on top of things with a wife and kids (who have since left) and a non-mortgaged home.

And finally, there’s Pauline Hawkins, a nurse who is shut in emotionally – caring for her mentally disturbed father, turning her back on opportunities for connection. That is, until a young down-and-out teen named Jo shows up at the hospital and reminds Pauline of the promise within each of us.

Individually, these characters are beautifully rendered – real, heartbreaking, relying on inner strength and the kindness of strangers. Together, they compose a portrait of today’s America – the scars of war and the soldiers who come home maimed and wrecked, the collapse of the American dream and the looming bills, the struggle with medical and housing costs that are always just out of sight.

Each character will eventually discover his or her wn definition of freedom. With the exception of the sci-fi reveries – which distanced me from the immediacy – I was totally absorbed, reading at a fast clip. And at some junctures, the characters broke my heart. Any book that can do that is worthy of 5 stars.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three poignant stories of working class Americans struggling against the backdrop of The Iraqi War and economic stagnation.The characters are sympathetically drawn with attributes of dignity and decency.Vlautin reminds me of Steinbeck.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a little lost right now for the words to describe this book but I’ll start by saying that The Free is a story with an abundance of heart. It also very nearly broke my heart. Nearly, but not quite.

How can a story about good people in difficult, even dire circumstances, be the slightest bit uplifting? I think it’s because when you meet these characters, people like Freddie, Pauline, Leroy, and even Leroy’s mother Darla… you can see all the cards stacked against them. You can see how easy it would be for them to sit down and admit defeat. And yet, while I may have felt pity for them several times, at no time did I believe that they had any for themselves.

Willy Vlautin will be added to my list of favorites, among those I that consider writing magicians. Vlautin’s voice is honest, direct and unapologetic. His passages are brimming with persuasive dialogue – in fact, some chapters are comprised almost entirely of it. He is one of few authors I’ve found with the ability to impress upon me the emotional impact of everything his characters endure, without once having to explicitly tell me. Think Kent Haruf but with quotation marks. Maximum delivery with fewer words, that’s magical to me.

I don’t recommend reading this book if you require a happy ending, for you won’t find it here. What you will find are compelling, innately good characters with beautiful souls, all on the path to their own form of freedom. One day at a time.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read The Free on recommendation of several friends. I thoroughly enjoyed Vlautin's construction of story and the weaving of said with his three beautifully rendered characters. It's amazing how an author can portray such hard luck cases and still leave the reader with hope and joy. Character, Iraq war veteran, Leroy Kervin, and his journey is magnificent. 4 stars all the way.

[Kathrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I might make this a five star -- this might be perfect writing, or it could be just very good, carrying a second punch of empathy that knocks the wind right out of me. We follow three interrelated characters, all struggling, all damaged, but with such dazzling moral character that the reader sits in awe of the richness of their hearts. We're forced to unpack a definition of "free" from our conceptions of "prosperous", "happy", "satisfied", "patriotic", and any relations to our American idealism that relates to God and Country. Most of what we know of each character comes from overhearing their dialogue and observing their day-to-day motions, and how Vlautin has packed each gesture with so much truth I'll never know. I hadn't read Valutin's work before, and was completely unprepared for such an experience. I've got half a dozen people to recommend this to...

[Andy Weston · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a novel about freedom. Not hard to guess that from the title, but The Free is actually a symbolic ship in a sub story within the plot. The story is of a group of characters all seeking freedom or escape for one reason or another. Pauline, the nurse on night duty with her ward of drug affected and terminally ill patients. Leroy, injured physically and mentally in Iraq, has just attempted suicide. Freddie, a divorced father living without his children, working two jobs and owing large amounts of money but surviving on scraps.

This is the third of Willy Vlautin's novels I have read, and though bleak, it isn't as dark as This Motel Life, or Lean On Pete. It offers hope to its small cast of characters. Like his other two books, its brilliance lies in it giving the reader a short insight into the lives of some pretty rough characters. He conjures a real feeling of life at the lower end of society.

It's an appropriate time in the world at the moment also to consider freedom and what it means. Vlautin asks exactly that question. Having just very much enjoyed the movie Captain Fantastic, which deals with a similar theme, it is appropriate to finish, as the movie does, with a line from a musician who very much influences Vlautin,

"How good, how good does it feel to be free?
And I answer them most mysteriously-
Are the birds free from the chains on the skyways?"

[Bill Muganda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to The Willoughby Book Club for sending this book my way

This was a quiet reading experience, capturing everyday life through the actions of the characters. Following three perspectives: A paralyzed ex-military (Leroy) on the verge of suicide, A nurse (Pauline)  who tends to Leroy after his suicide leaves his health at a critical state but we also see how disconnected Pauline is and her complex relationship with her father and the patients at the hospital. We also follow Leroy's home attendant (Freddie) who is on the verge of bankruptcy and still healing from the divorce. They are all connected and haunted by their past and the snapshots of everyday life humanize them and I really enjoyed the sombre atmosphere. Being a huge fan of contemporary settings with interwoven narratives this little short book didn't have the most flowery of writing or over the top plot but the simplicity of the dialogue and the tinny moment really did stick with me. For just 288 pages the book did a lot with the limited space... I highly recommend it.

[Amos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Almost 300 pages of people (mostly) being awful, but then a big shiny rainbow comes out in the end? Nah.

2 Split Stars

[Bonnie Brody · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Free, by Willy Vlautin, is a beautiful and disturbing novel about three good people smacked down by life. They are each trying to survive in their own way despite horrific odds.

There is Leroy Kerwin, a young man and National Guard volunteer, who was sent to Afghanistan after 9/11. He was hit by and IED and is suffering extreme traumatic brain injury. He lives in a group home and his mind is clouded and he can't perform his activities of daily living. One day, inexplicably, his mind clears and he feels for the first time since his injury, like his old self. Fearful that this new state won't last, he attempts suicide by throwing himself down a flight of stairs and onto a wooden stake which pierces his chest. He survives the injury, just barely, and is hospitalized. While intubated and restrained, he retreats deeply into his mind where he manufactures a science fiction life which, to some extent, mirrors what is happening to him in real life. For instance, the protagonist of Leroy's inner world often has chest pain and trouble breathing. Like Leroy, he is fighting a barbaric war that is difficult to make sense of.

Freddie McCall, who works the night shift in the group home, is the one who finds Leroy after his suicide attempt. Freddie is a truly decent and good man who, in every sense, is at odds with circumstance. He works two full-time jobs, barely eats or sleeps, and is in debt over his head. He has two daughters who live with his ex-wife in another state. One of his daughters has serious health problems and has incurred extremely high medical bills, creating the need for Freddie to twice morgage the home he once owned free and clear. Freddie is the epitome of goodness, often visiting Leroy in the hospital and showing kindness to everyone he comes in contact with.

Pauline is a nurse in the hospital and she cares for Leroy. She has walled herself in to spare feeling too much for her patients. However, her wall is broken when Jo, a young runaway, is hospitalized with leg abscesses secondary to heroin injections. Pauline reaches out to Jo in a way that is new and different for her. "But the girl reminded her too much of herself and the way she'd felt at her age. Alone and voiceless and unwanted and worthless." Pauline's mother left when she was five years old and she was raised by her mercurial and mentally ill father who she cares for to this day, though with obvious anger and resentment.

The book mentions the singer Amalia Rodrigues several times so I purchased two of her CD's. She is a Portuguese Fada singer. Fada is a type of passionate music usually sung in a minor key and reminds me of Eastern European folk songs and music by Edith Piaf.

The novel does a fine job of intertwining the lives of all three protagonists and painting a picture of these damaged souls who are trying to thrive when it's often impossible to even survive. Each of them has a thin web of hope that permits them to hang on. For Leroy, it's his inner life and his memories of his girlfriend Jeanette. For Freddie, it's the hope of being reunited with his daughters in the future and his strong moral center. Pauline connects with Jo and realizes that sometimes one doesn't get to stand solely by oneself. Walls are built to climb over or shatter.

Mr. Vlautin is a singer/songwriter as well as a novelist. One could look at this novel as an operatic creation with its pathos and character-driven plot. I highly recommend this book.

[William Boyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give a lot of books that I really like five stars on Goodreads, but I don't mean it the way I mean it with Willy Vlautin's books. He's the patron saint of the sick and the sad, and this is another damn beautiful novel. He tears you down and builds you back up the way only he can. I broke down crying at least ten times but walked away from the book feeling happy to be alive.

My review is up at the L.A. Review of Books: https://lareviewofbooks.org/review/pa...

[Cheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

"My uncle said it was bad luck to leave a fridge with no beer in it. He said it was lonely enough being a fridge, that the least you could do was leave beer so it would have something to look at and admire all day."

Riveting, entertaining.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adore Vlautin's writing and it always cracks my heart just a little; I end up thinking about his characters for days.

More thorough review coming soon.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Willy Vlautin’s 4th novel is an extraordinary and deeply compassionate story, heartbreakingly real and quite unforgettable. He’s a writer who is nowhere near as well-known and appreciated as he deserves to be, and I hope that this beautiful book will enhance his reputation and bring him to a wider audience.
The book follows three main protagonists, whose lives intersect as they struggle to find the courage, decency and strength to combat the raw deal life has thrown at them. It opens with Leroy Kervin, a wounded young Iraq war veteran waking to momentary clarity in the group home in which he has been living for some years. Realising that this moment of clarity may not last, and full of despair when he contemplates his future, he attempts suicide. Discovered by the night-time guardian Freddie McCall he is rushed to hospital where he is nursed by Pauline Hawkins. All three of them are trapped in difficult and seemingly hopeless circumstances largely beyond their control, and have to cope with the problems that beset modern day America – the aftermath of wars, poverty, expensive medical care, drugs and unemployment. But in spite of this they hold onto their basic goodness and decency, they refuse to be defeated, and this portrait of a small community, with chapters alternating between the three of them, interspersed with Leroy’s nightmares, is a haunting and unforgettable tale that cannot fail to move the most hard-hearted and pragmatic of readers.
I’ve only recently discovered Willy Vlautin myself and have now become quite evangelical about his writing. This is a powerful and disturbing book, but its grim storyline is infused with tenderness and empathy for ordinary people doing their best, unsentimental but always gentle and ultimately uplifting. Highly recommended.

[Hosho · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 3rd of Vlautin's books I've read, and once again he nails it. It's a simple book, with real, human stories...and yet it's told so damn well you can't help but feel it. The world needs more books like this; American fiction needs a helluva lot more books like this -- books filled with real people, and real problems, and real kindness, and real grit and mettle and heart and soul. It's political without preaching, and deeply concerned with right and wrong without slipping into sloppy moralism. I'll get the book I haven't read, and I'll get Vlautin's next books too -- he just gets the novel right.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve had this book for awhile but held off on reading it because it’s my last unread Vlautin. I like Willy Vlautin so much I would read anything he wrote. The ending was a little abrupt but I still loved the book.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will read Willy Vlautin's other books. I am a fan of his earthy, to the point writing about down on their luck, but likeable characters. "The Free" brings that home loud and clear. Pauline, Freddie, Jo (Carol), and the gravely injured Leroy all have their own dark story to tell, and Vlautin tells it perfectly.
I didn't like the Leroy hallucination sequences...Hence four instead of five stars. Thanks to my GR friend Will for introducing me to Willy and his likeable but downtrodden cast. Four books to go.

[Ria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wat is het heerlijk om in één dag een boek te kunnen uitlezen. Bijna dan, vanochtend de laatste 15 bladzijden.
Het lijkt wel een inhaalslag deze vakantie: werk van favoriete schrijvers.

Een verhaal over de gewone mens. De veelal harde Amerikaanse Midwest realiteit. Een verhaal over The Free.
Zo vrij zijn de hoofdpersonen helaas niet. Bikkelen voor een bestaan, een simpel gewoon leven zonder enige luxe laat staan een vakantie in eigen land, cultuur of uit eten. Je bent al blij dat het gas/water/licht niet is afgesloten, er geen aanspraak op een zorgverzekering moet worden gemaakt, als die alles al dekt of zelfs afgesloten kan worden. Als er maar iets tegen zit heb je noodgedwongen twee of drie baantjes, als je al werk hebt. Hoe wil je dan nog gezond leven, voldoende slapen? Even grijpen naar ingeblikt/afgehaald/ingevroren. De obesitas en andere problematiek ligt op de loer. Ooit: zouden we daar willen wonen? Nu: het is nog schrijnender dan toen en niet alleen in de Midwest.

Is dit dan een somber boek? Nee, Vlautin vertelt krachtig, mooi en goed. Je omarmt de hoofdpersonen Freddie, Pauline, Leroy en ook Darla en Jo. Ze zijn door hem volwaardige mensen. Leroy is een gewonde Irak-soldaat met hersenletsel en zijn moeder Darla komt hem voorlezen - Freddie is nachtwaker in zijn woongroep en heeft ergens twee dochtertjes en twee banen - Pauline is nachtzuster in het ziekenhuis waar Leroy wordt opgenomen na een zelfmoordpoging - waar Freddie op bezoek komt - de misbruikte Jo ook is binnengebracht en zij zorgt voor en loyaal blijft aan haar vader.
Ondanks alle ellende blijven veel van deze mensen doorzetten en omkijken naar de ander. Een verhaal van hoop en ware vriendschap. Boeiend en herkenbaar geschreven zo het leven daar helaas ook is.

Zo mooi dat je ondanks alle ellende, er gloort een sprankje hoop, je kunt zeggen: 'We moeten elkaar steunen. Het heeft allemaal geen zin als we niet lief zijn voor elkaar.' 'Maar als je moe bent, is het voornaamste dat je eraan denkt dat je aardig blijft doen. Dat je vriendelijk blijft.'

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Free is a fine example of why we read fiction. When someone turns up their nose proclaiming they only read nonfiction, and that reading fiction is a waste of time, I point to a book such as this with my own proclamation that such a work registers the deepest recesses of the human heart, and we need more of such material to regain our hope for humanity. Leroy, the character at the center of the book, was severely brain damaged while deployed in Iraq by a roadside bomb. Although his plight forms the nucleus around which much of the activity revolves, he lives entirely inside his mind, and the other worldly fantasies taking place there are real to him. On planet earth are his caretakers -- the night man at the group home where he had been living out his days (barely), and after a stunning event rendering him hospitalized, Pauline, a nurse on his floor. These two people spend most of their days performing sisyphean efforts just in order to get by. Reminiscent of the writing of Stewart Onan, Willy Vlautin creates characters of warmth and sympathy, unselfishly putting others first, without irony or ceremony, at time when they are trying to struggle themselves and haven't the resources to see to their own needs. I look forward to reading his other books.