Book review: Vlautin shows the caring side of rough-hewn men in ‘The Left and the Lucky’

With his latest novel, “The Left and the Lucky,” Willie Vlautin explores a theme rarely seen in literature: the male caregiver.

Eddie is a hardscrabble, rough-around-the-edges house painter from Portland, single with no kids. His wife left him for another man, and he’s working hard just to keep up with life. Then he meets Russell, a third-grader who’s small for his age. Russell’s mother is absent with a string of jobs, including exotic dancer and cocktail server, and he’s bullied by an abusive brother.

Vlautin’s writing is so easy and strong, he conveys characters and scenes through vivid detail. He can explain a character through the items he or she buys at the grocery store or the smell of their environment. The first time Russell steps in Eddie’s van: “The van smelled of paint and solvents, drawn dust, cigarettes, and dog.”

The women in the story have mostly checked out. Connie, Russell’s mother, works so hard at various jobs she’s never at home and exasperated by calls from teachers wondering why Russell can’t engage at school. She also has her hands full with Curtis, her teenage son and Russell’s half brother. Curtis is angry and out of control, having impregnated a 14-year-old girl, who then jilted him. He mostly takes out his anger on his little brother.

There’s Marlene, Eddie’s wife, who ran off with another man and has an incessant cocaine addiction.

The men aren’t much better. There’s the paint crew Eddie’s trying to keep together: Cordarrel and Houston.

Cordareel is an older man from Chicago who talks nonstop about opinions as trivial as lunch.

“If you take a little time and do the research, you’d find it was the corporations, the men in suits, who invented lunch. Not the people. And I’ll say this, too. I’ve never liked a man who takes lunch.”

Lunch is the favorite time of day for the other painter, Houston, on the days he’s not too hungover to show up for work.

Eddie and Russell are about the only people in the novel with a semblance of common sense. The two are neighbors, and Eddie often finds Russell sitting in his backyard to escape the violence of Curtis and his own home. Russell also contends with a revolving door of Connie’s boyfriends, who are rough and often uncaring about anything but being in bed with her.

However damaged Eddie, Cordarrel and Houston are, they manage to work as a team, painting houses and taking care of Russell. Eddie unofficially adopts Russell and gives the boy a place of safety and stability.

Eddie’s is the only place Russell can count on getting a meal, even if it’s breakfast for dinner with tater tots. He also won’t let Russell eat cereal like Lucky Charms.

Despite the dysfunction, the men manage to keep Russell safe and give him a home.

Little do they know, Russell might just take care of them, too.