Don't Skip Out on Me: A Novel
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From award-winning author Willy Vlautin, comes this moving novel about a young ranch hand who goes on a quest to become a champion boxer to prove his worth.
Horace Hopper is a half-Paiute, half-Irish ranch hand who wants to be somebody. Heâs 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 canât shake the shame he feels from being abandoned by his parents. He decides to leave the only loving home heâs 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. Heâs a seventy-two-year-old rancher with a bad back. Heâs not sure how heâll 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 canât change who he is or outrun his destiny.
Willy Vlautin writes from Americaâs soul, chronicling the lives of those who are downtrodden and forgotten with profound tenderness. Donât Skip Out on Me is a beautiful, wrenching story about one manâs search for identity and belonging that will make you consider those around you differently.
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Willy Vlautin is the author of the novels The Motel Life, Northline, Lean on Pete, The Free, Donât Skip Out on Me, and The Night Always Comes. He is the founding member of the bands Richmond Fontaine and The Delines.
