Set over two days and two nights, The Night Always Comes follows Lynette's frantic search—an odyssey of hope and anguish that will bring her face to face with greedy rich men and ambitious hustlers, those benefiting and those left behind by a city in the throes of a transformative boom. As her desperation builds and her pleas for help go unanswered, Lynette makes a dangerous choice that sets her on a precarious, frenzied spiral. In trying to save her family's future, she is plunged into the darkness of her past, and forced to confront the reality of her life. Willy Vlautin is not known for happy endings, but there’s something here that defies the downward pull. In the end, Lynette is pure life force: fierce and canny and blazing through a city that no longer has space for her, and it’s all Portland’s loss.”— Portland Monthly Magazine

You cease to distinguish between right and wrong. You can no longer see clearly what is good and what is bad."

For Sale on Discogs

To celebrate the publication of Willy Vlautin’s new novel The Night Always Comes (3rd June), Faber has announced a bonus CD for Rough Trade customers.

Vlautin’s sixth novel, The Night Always Comes, is set in Portland, Oregon. Set over the course of two days and two nights, it follows Lynnette and her desperate attempts to finally become a homeowner in her rapidly gentrifying neighbourhood.SIDE A 1. Lynette 2. Broken Heart 3. Driving WIth the Safe 4.Leaving JJ’s 5. Walking To Tell Jake 6.Shirley & Lynette a lot of it, particularly the scenes between lynette and her mother, reads like a play, their dialogue unfurling in long alternating speeches dredging up all the old grievances of the past; fraught and emotional but also expositionally resonant. this would be a powerhouse drama if anyone ever took it upon themselves to stage this. I’m not sure how author/songwriter/bandleader, Willy Vlautin, wants us to perceive his protagonist, Lynette, an early thirties three-job hustler. Courageous? Hapless? Victim? Self-sacrificing? Psychotic? Or a representative of a class that is systematically being ground down by the success of others? As often with Vlautin's writing, it is some of the diversions from the main plot that are highlights.

This book surprised me, mostly in a bad way. I'm a big fan of Willy Vlautin's novels. I love his unflinching look at the underbelly of the USA. His protagonists always have been dealt a hard hand, and his writing style is clear, sparse and concise. To a degree, all of this is true for "The Night Always Comes" too, but something's missing.

Tracklist

Sometimes all you can do in life is have another bowl of ice cream. Sometimes that’s the only move you can make to keep yourself from going completely nuts.’ Amazing . . . Vlautin hit the nail on the head with this. I could not stop thinking about the characters and where the story would take them.' Willy Vlautin is not known for happy endings, but there’s something here that defies the downward pull. In the end, Lynette is pure life force: fierce and canny and blazing through a city that no longer has space for her, and it’s all Portland’s loss.” — Portland Monthly Magazine The main issue with a Willy Vlautin novel is that it has to end. Here is another phenomenal book that unnerves, disquiets and makes you wince as his prose stabs at you violently with unhinged fervour. The Night Always Comes is a rare example of art that matters-a rare example of a novel that is heartbreaking, but also a combative condemnation of American injustice, while also a love letter to the beleaguered working class, and still damn fun to read.' - CrimeReads

Despite my frustrations, this is an exceptional and gripping read. The author's anger at watching his city shit on the vulnerable is palpable, and for this Northwest resident who has witnessed both her former home of Seattle and its beloved kid sister, Portland, become insufferably sanctimonious, impossibly expensive, and unrecognizably gentrified, it's sadly real. Photograph of the exterior of the Hotcake House in Portland, Oregon, one of the locations in "The Night Always Comes". Image sourced from Wikipedia. While the sketchy men that make up this novel are shown to be driven into desperation and violence through poverty (there are, to be fair, also the rich men in the novel who satisfy their carnal lusts on the poor which is even worse), the mother represents those who are crushed under the weight of futility. ‘ Why should they bust their asses all day when they know no matter what they do they’ll never get ahead,’ she says of people facing the harsh realities of life. She is a prime example of a worker given just enough hours to make finding another job hard yet not enough hours to survive, and at an age where finding a new job is difficult when there are so many young people to fill the type of jobs she is qualified for. The people this country is definitely failing. She is a character that is so close to understanding, but in her rage against those who only look out for themselves she gives in to that same temptation. Yet still, she hits many good points on the way.In a neighborhood that once was labeled as a poor urban area, has been changed through gentrification. A very controversial topic with the influx of more affluent residents and businesses changing the facade of the area and displacing many of the ones that were already having a difficult time surviving. A few hours since I've finished this now, and I have been trying to find reasons not to give it 5 stars.. but I give in.