Don't Skip Out on Me

A Novel

By: Willy Vlautin

Narrated by: Willy Vlautin

A FINALIST FOR THE PEN/FAULKNER AWARD

Horace Hopper is a half-Paiute, half-Irish ranch hand who wants to be somebody. He's spent most of his life on the ranch of his kindly guardians, Mr. and Mrs. Reese, herding sheep alone in the mountains. But while the Reeses treat him like a son, Horace can't shake the shame he feels from being abandoned by his parents. He decides to leave the only loving home he’s known to prove his worth by training to become a boxer.

Mr. Reese is holding on to a way of life that is no longer sustainable. He’s a seventy-two-year-old rancher with a bad back. He’s not sure how he’ll keep things going without Horace but he knows the boy must find his own way.

Coming down from the mountains of Nevada to the unforgiving desert heat of Tucson, Horace finds a trainer and begins to get fights. His journey to become a champion brings him to boxing rings of Mexico and finally, to the seedy streets of Las Vegas, where Horace learns he can’t change who he is or outrun his destiny.

Willy Vlautin writes from America's soul, chronicling the lives of those who are downtrodden and forgotten with profound tenderness. Don't Skip Out on Me is a beautiful, wrenching story about one man's search for identity and belonging that will make you consider those around you differently.

Entertaining

Hard time getting interested but once I did really enjoyed it. loved the narration.

A punch in the gut

This novel fits me particularly well. It travels roads I am familiar with, from Tucson, to Tonopah, to lonely ranches in Ralston Valley, to the messy bustle of Monterey Mexico. It is peopled by people I know. Not so much the boxers, but the others: earnest, hard-working young farmhands, exiled Peruvian sheepherders on H-2 visas, mean drunks seeking day labor at county employment agencies, used tire merchants trading on the lowest tier of commerce. And even, perhaps especially, Mr. Reese, the aging rancher slowly losing his battle against time and the harsh Nevada desert. He seems too sensitive and noble to be true, but in my experience, he is closer to type than Cliven Bundy; I have met him, in various guises, on ranches throughout Nevada.

And, to some extent, all of us resemble Horace Hopper/Hector Hidalgo, confused about who we are, about who we were meant to be, about how to traverse the gulf from here to there.

Chris Arnade’s book, Dignity, has received a lot of well-deserved admiration for opening our eyes to the limitations that overwhelm and demoralize the “back-row” denizens of our modern economy. But sometimes fiction can hit closer to emotional truth than documentary. I admire both books, but I read Don’t Skip Out On Me much more avidly.

Now I need therapy

I just finished listening to all of Willy Vlautins books on audio in a row. The Horse being the 1st and Don’t Skip Out On Me being the last
I am familiar with the authors sense of melancholy and bad things happening to his characters, but usually there is a glimpse of hope at the end
All his novels have upset me-he really does a great job of developing characters and making you care about them.
This book floored me.
Ugh! Why?
Great author, great job of narration by the author, great story. But that ending!
Now I am going to listen to a self help book!

Brilliantly humble

Consistent with everything WV has produced. I recommend this book and all his books and music to anyone with a heart.

Bad ending

What a sad story. Read this if you want a real bummer. It proliferates very negative stereotypes of people and just ends badly.