The Weary Motel

Rating:
Summary: Fresh, Funny and Poignant, Vivid and Lovable Characters
Review: I enjoyed reading THE WEARY MOTEL more than any book I've read in a long, long time. THE WEARY MOTEL doesn't have a breakneck plot or lots of suspense (and it doesn't need it). What this book does have is something far better-wonderfully drawn characters that almost anyone would love spending time with. Dill, Jo Rene, Dawnell and all the other inhabitants of Peebles, Ohio are people so real I found myself wishing I could drop by the Weary Motel and chat with them for awhile. These are genuine people, people who really "come alive," people who burrow into the reader's heart and stay there.

Mark Spencer is a talented author with a great deal of insight and, while all of his writing skills are strong, characterization is obviously his forte. He's able to do what so many other authors cannot-translate his insight into the written word, endow his characters with a "realness" that most other characters lack. The people he's created in THE WEARY MOTEL are really the most endearing and "real" characters I've ever come across. They might seem a bit quirky and offbeat at first, but I found myself identifying with them on almost every page despite the fact that I was born and grew up on a different continent. Spencer is able to let his characters reveal their deepest secrets, the things they would never tell another human being and it's this quality that makes them so very special.

THE WEARY MOTEL is exceptionally vivid and Spencer's prose is extraordinarily fluid. This is the story of Dill and the heartbreak he feels over the early death of his wife, Carol, many years ago; it's the story Jo Rene and her struggle to survive in a family she loves but one we know that, if given a choice, she would not have chosen; it's the story of Dawnell, Dill's daughter and her desire to break free of Peebles despite the fact that she is going to have ties to this little town forever.

The supporting characters in THE WEARY MOTEL are as beautifully drawn and as engaging as are the major ones, although several aren't quite as likable (nor should they be). There's Buck, the man Jo Rene should be woman enough to toss out (but we all know love, more often than not, gets in the way of common sense); Lori, Dill's unhappily married love interest; Tonya, the girl who dreams of running away to Florida but settles for Buck and roses and chocolates instead, at least for the time being. There's Dill and Jo Rene's mother and grandmother, two women I found particularly fascinating.

The characters in THE WEARY MOTEL, as in Spencer's previous book, LOVE AND RERUNS IN ADAMS COUNTY, do the "wrong" thing more often than they do the "right" thing, but they are, above all else, supremely human and extraordinarily memorable. Spencer really lets us see into the hearts of these people and I found myself chuckling on almost page and thinking, yes, that's exactly the way I felt, that's exactly the way things are. One of the most endearing scenes occurs when Jo Rene receives a chain letter. Like most of us, her first instinct is to chuck it into the nearest trash can, but, also like most of us, Jo Rene doesn't want to tempt fate, so she deals with the letter, instead, and in a very comical manner.

While the characters take center stage in THE WEARY MOTEL, one really can't review this book without mentioning Spencer's fresh and funny dialogue. His narrative voice is strong and it's unique. I have yet to read another book that can even come close to being as poignant, as truly funny and as bittersweet as is THE WEARY MOTEL. The subject matter in THE WEARY MOTEL is sometimes dark and grim and serious, but Spencer never forgets that even in the grimmest moments there is often an ironic and funny side to life and it's this side he chooses to focus on.

THE WEARY MOTEL is a fresh, funny and touching novel and one I would definitely recommend to anyone. It's too bad it's not more widely read. It's not too bad for Spencer; he's got the talent and the skill to create a lot more books. The people who are missing out are the people who fail to read this book. I'm glad I'm not one.