My Rating – 4/5 Stars
Deep down I knew where this story was going right from the start and even though I knew my heart would break, I read on.
I read on because Willy Vlautin gifts you with these rich, rough around the edges characters, the type of folks that way too many of us overlook in our daily life, and he makes you fall head over heels in love with their sad, sad stories.
In this novel we get to spend time with Horace Hopper, a young man coming of age as a ranch hand on the Reese family farm. Mr. and Mrs. Reese, both in their 70’s, love Horace as a son, having raised him from the time he was a young boy when his mother all but abandoned him.
Horace is a skilled rancher but feels compelled to prove himself and has fixated on a plan to become a championship boxer. He sets out, leaving rural life behind him.
Along Horace’s journey, from the isolated ranch to boxing rings in the big city of Phoenix, to the glitz of Las Vegas and to all the bus stations, dive bars and cheap hotels along the way, we meet others who live hand-to-mouth and on the edges of society. I was especially drawn to the would-be shepard not cut out for solitary life minding sheep on the range, speaking no English, other than feebly communicating he has a cousin in Los Angeles, he takes his leave on a bus trip with a note pinned to his coat. What becomes of him?
Things are tough for folks all around. We all have our up and our downs, that seems true across the board, but for those short on money or with little family support, things can get pretty bad pretty quick.
And so we read on, hoping for a happy ending for Mr. and Mrs. Reece and their prodigal son Horace.
We can see the perfect ending, the happily ever after, and from our vantage point it looks so easy. But when your back aches and your spirit is broken and you’re not sure when your next meal will come things look bleeker and it is hard to see over the next hill.
The Seventeenth Line 