The book begins in 1955 when 6 year old Jodie picks a winning horse at a racetrack and her uncle gives her the winnings - a roll of $2 bills ($86) which she holds onto for the rest of her life (or at least until she is 68 where the story ends). .
As the book progresses, we go through the 60's and 70's with Jodie Rattler who found her voice in high school, and proceeded through Penn State and beyond as a fold musician.. We follow her through college, onto a time in England, back to her hometown, St Louis, NYC and LA as her musical career takes off and she comes of age at the gigs and recording studios which made her famous (and wealthy).
Initially, the book was interesting and I remembers most all of the artists and groups that she identified throughout the first half of the book. However, the book grew tedious as she walked through England, then NYC, the Catskills, LA, and St Louis. The author seemed to write descriptions of her activities without any emotional investment. She proudly stated that she had had 23 lovers by the time she was 30 (and 25 totally in her life- although we didn't get to know any of them very well.
I think that the book lacked much of a plot, and much of it was her internal dialogue. She kept reminding the reader of how much money she was making from her songs and recordings, and what the money afforded her. I also thought there were too many lyrics in the book - which she wrote in response to different events in her life and projected thoughts of the world.
After the first half, when she settled down in St Louis, her mother and her family took a larger role in her life and she really seemed to embrace them and her roots. The epilogue was not an epilogue that I understood as it came out of nowhere and was an apocalyptic description of our country in 2030 by the gawky girl who was the author.
I have read and treasured several of Jane Smiley's books but I cannot say that I will add this one to that group. I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Portrait of an era, with musical background
For readers of a certain age, Jane Smiley’s Lucky is a real trip down Memory Lane. Beginning in 1955, when Jodie is 6 years old, the book follows her through the present day and a bit further. The big emphasis is on her musical career, but we also see the effect on ordinary people of the big events of the times, like the Vietnam war, worries about intercontinental ballistic missiles, and domestic unrest. There is even extensive description of the neighborhood where Jodie grew up, so detailed that I looked up Smiley’s life and discovered that she and Jodie were born the same year, grew up in the same area, and even went to the same high school. Places like the restaurants mentioned are real, which is fun, but the details are probably more than most readers really want to know.
The book opens with a charming scene involving Jodie and her uncle, a man who played a significant role in the life of his fatherless niece. It is this event that causes her to consider herself “lucky”, but most of her life is not one most people would consider happy. We also get to know her other relatives and their influences on her life. Otherwise the plot is rather weak until very close to the end of the book, when there is a clever surprise. For most readers, I think this will come too late to be fully satisfactory.
If you are looking for a portrait of the era between the 60s and today, there is a lot to enjoy in Lucky. I smiled many times at references to some of my favorite musicians and songs of the era. Younger readers will not recognize all the references but will probably enjoy the big picture. If you are looking for a more plot-driven book or one that makes the reader really invested in the characters this is likely not your best choice.
I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley and Penguin Random House.

Lucky
Jodie Rattler was a young girl from St. Louis who grew up to become a folk singer in the 1960s and 1970s. She traveled around and had many lovers. However she had no interest in marriage or children.
Her uncle had taken her to a race track when she was young. The money she won was in $2 bills and she carried it around wherever she went throughout her life. She considered herself lucky.
The story touches on every major event in the US
from the early 1950s to the present. The Epilogue is a dystopian view of what American would become if certain candidates get elected to office. A bit preachy.
I have enjoyed other books by this author but had a hard time getting into this one.
I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Lucky is a typical Jane Smiley book in that it encompasses a wide span of American history and a lot of characters.
The main character, Jodie, is fairly nondescript.
What I liked about the novel is the backdrop, from the 1950s to present day. I liked reading about all the things I remember from those decades so it’s a walk back into time.

Thank you Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Knopf for allowing me to read and review Lucky on NetGalley.

Published: 04/23/24

Stars: 2

Nothing.

There is no need for me to drag out my thoughts. The book was slow and incredibly monotonous. My struggle is real; the synopsis is accurate to a fault. This is a book that promises a story and the story never appears. There are a lot of words spewed over 562 pages and I'm left wondering why?

I was bored from the beginning, went into part two hopeful for a revolution, and into part three sickened by the knowledge there was an epilogue.

Jodie’s story starts out with a cute anecdote from her childhood. Her uncle took her to the race track where she won a lot of money, and she kept this lucky roll of $2.00 bills with her. Then we learn many details of her life in the first person narrative— growing up fatherless in St. Louis; college life at Penn State; her many liaisons with anyone she fancies, single or married; her music gigs and songwriting. The story ends with her 50th high school reunion, and chatting with someone she referred to as "the gawky girl."

Then there's an epilogue set in an apocalyptic future of a monstrously fascist America. The "real Jodie" disavows the fiction of the book, ostensibly written with some true information gleaned by "the gawky girl" as they conversed after the reunion.

I chose this book to read because I was interested in reading about a woman coming of age during the 1960's. I was very disappointed--sadly after awhile I didn't even care about (either) Jodie. To anyone who wants to read excellent historical fiction set in this time period, I recommend Sister Stardust by Jane Green, and The Women by Kristin Hannah. I received an advance copy of this novel from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Well, this is a slow burn of an emotional wallop, and I say that in only the best of ways. Jane Smiley knows how to weave a narrative so it's not too fast and not too slow, and because of that, the reader finds themselves incredibly invested when they can finally lift their head from the page.

"Lucky" is not a fast paced book, but it's one you can find yourself lost in for pages and chapters at a time. And just when you think you know what to expect, she smacks you in the face with an ending worthy of a Pulitzer.

Lucky was another great novel from Jane Smiley. I liked the character study over a long period of time, as well as the musical element to the story.

The usually reliable Jane Smiley jumps into the nostalgic trend, penning a coming of age story about a young girl who becomes a famous folk singer in the 1960s. Her uncle tells her she's 'lucky' after taking her to a horse race where she wins big. She keeps the roll of $2 bills with her throughout the story as a reminder of her good fortune. Her career earns her a comfortable income that allows her to live life on her terms, which the author shares in tedious detail. I know it's Jane Smiley and all, but a good editor could have helped tighten up the story a bit. And then there's that weird twist of an ending...

Author Jane Smiley has written a tale that is almost autobiographical, with a protagonist as a classmate that interacts with herself from a distance. LUCKY is both a stream of consciousness and a life story about this classmate, as she meanders from the 1960s through a dark future 2030-something. It’s not an uplifting story. I’m not even sure it’s a story that provides much insight about this age cohort. The ten years ahead is really dark, so reader beware. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Jodie Rattler is lucky. Although fatherless (her father was married to someone other than her mother and his family prevailed on him to return to his wife), Jodie enjoyed the warmth of her extended family all who were settled in the suburbs of St. Louis. Her Uncle Drew took her to the racetrack when she was 6 years old and she won eighty-six dollars that her Uncle rolled into a tight bundle of two-dollar bills that served as her talisman, accompanying her throughout her travels.

Jodie attends Penn State and, through a combination of talent and serendipity, achieves modest professional success as a folk rock singer/songwriter, influenced by her contemporaries, such as Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, Judy Collins, and Joan Baez. She tours with a band throughout the Midwest and serves as the opening act for Blood, Sweat & Tears. Performing at a festival in England at Glastonbury, Jodie decides to take a career break and use her money, which her Uncle Drew wisely invested, to satisfy her wanderlust.

There are more travels, many brief affairs, and a return home to look after her aging family, but Jodie lacks the energy to nurture her musical career. The novel ponderously records Jodie’s tedious quest to find herself. Worse is an epilogue that features an odd and unsatisfying change in narrative voice and will undoubtedly be highly polarizing for readers. It pains me to be critical of Jane Smiley because I am such a fan, but this novel was a miss. Thank you Alfred A Knopf and Net Galley for an advanced copy of Jane Smiley’s latest novel.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book.

Jodie Rattler is a lucky girl. Not lucky as we often think of it, but lucky in that she has a large close-knit family who loves her, a good voice, and the ability to put words together to make a song. She is almost exactly my age, born a few months before me, so I could identify with the music and the culture in which she grew up and thrived.

She first realizes her luck when her uncle takes her as a 6-year-old to the racetrack and she picks the winning horses. The portion of the money he secretly gives her she keeps hidden away for the rest of her life and believes that is where her luck lies. The roll of two dollar bills accompanies her all over the world as she becomes a success as a songwriter and singer. She is also lucky in love, but never commits to one love, just keeps watching for more.

Her family surrounds her with love and support and she learns to lean on them in hard times and be there to help them in the bad times. She lives in New York City, a small cabin in the woods of upper New York state, and St Louis, sometimes having houses in all at the same time. She travels as a musician and sometimes just for fun and sees a lot of the world, but eventually returns to St Louis and her family.

I really liked about 80% of the book, until the author decided to get VERY political and alarmist, which didn't fit with the story. The epilogue was a completely different story which, I must admit, I didn't get.

Another family saga from Jane Smiley. Is this part of the trilogy she began with Some Luck? I can't find anything that says it is but it seems like it should be with its emphasis on 'luck.'

This is a good read as we watch one life unfold. Jodie Rattler grows up in St Louis, Mo, in the 1950s, in the bosom of a warm, loving extended family, the only child of an unwed mother. She has talent as a singer, songwriter and guitar player and finds some success. As a songwriter, she spends a great of time observing people--their feelings and their actions. From them, she learns how to make friends, but although she has many affairs, she never allows Love to get in the way of her career.

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates said as he declared the essence of a good life. Jodie has an epiphany when she thinks that maybe the purpose of religion is to ask oneself: 'Who am I and what is my reason for living?'

The span of Jodie's lifetime has been my own lifetime experience so I identified with the world events as they were happening. I was also a little surprised about what wasn't mentioned. St Louis is lovingly depicted--a place I've been to a few times myself but just as a tourist.

My favorite part 0f the book is actually the epilogue where we learn the truth about the story and get a glimpse of a possible future for all of us.

Many thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an arc of this new novel via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

I really liked 95% of this book. Slow but thoughtful. I love in depth character studies and this book provided that. I liked the theories on luck and what makes someone lucky. However, the last 5% (the epilogue) went bonkers. The ending completely changed the entire book and it just wasn't necessary. It felt deceitful to the reader and I didn't appreciate it.

When she was six years old, Jodie Rattler’s uncle takes her to the horse track and has her pick three numbers. They turn out to be winners and her uncle gives her a cut of the winnings. That roll of forty-three $2 bills becomes her lucky charm and goes everywhere with her.
Good, but a slow read at times. Told in the first-person narrative style; it reads like an autobiography. Jodie is a remarkable character, probably the best I’ve come across in a while. She’s into music and exploring so there are quite a few song lyrics and lots of walking. Part love letter to St. Louis, it’s a story about family and following your dreams. There is some romance too. Some people may see it as being political. I didn’t. She’s just telling it like it is. I thought it a very contemplative story. Readers will be totally taken by surprise by the ending. There is a twist no one will see coming, though looking back there were a few hints. 4.25 stars

I'd very much looked forward to this latest from Smiley but regrettably, as seems to be a pattern with her, it was a miss for me after her last, which I'd greatly enjoyed. This tale of Jodie Rattler felt like a race of words, a stream of consciousness that was more a list of things and events than the emotional story it could have been. The conceit that it's actually written by the "gawky" girl, while interesting, didn't work for me. And the epilogue! No comments no spoilers but golly it's odd. There are interesting tidbits but those sank under the torrent of words. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I'm sure there are others out there who will enjoy this more than I did.

I had so much trouble getting through this book. The bulk of the book is about a folk singer looking back on her career, her family and her affairs. It is like a memoir, but I did not really care about every single detail of this fictional character’s life in St. Louis, England, the Catskills, etc. The very end of the novel becomes a completely different book and things go off the rails in a way that came out of nowhere. I should have stopped reading this one.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers in exchange for my honest review of Lucky. Sigh. I really wanted to like this book more but ultimately it fell flat. There’s this trap that some sprawling historical books fall into where they glaze over periods of time and it feels surface level and this book sadly felt that way. I like my historical fiction meatier. I’ve heard really good things about this author‘s A Thousand Acres and Some Luck trilogy and see that the former won the Pulitzer, so I’m going to give those a chance. I see glimmers of what she could do here, but again, it just felt surface level to me.

An ambitious book that follows the life of a woman who is somewhat involved in the music industry from St. Louis from her childhood through her 50 year high school reunion. Although overall it was interesting, it could have benefited greatly from better editing. At times I was skimming rather than reading. The epilogue was unexpected and is worth discussion.

Jodie Rattler was a 60s-70s folk singer growing up in the 50s and 60s in St Louis in a close knit family with a single mom. After high school she moved to England and New York and floats through life and love affairs, always sort of existing and falling into lucky breaks. After a semi successful career she realizes her family needs her back in St Louis and she moves back to help them.

This character driven novel doesn’t have much plot and I could have really been fine with it except there was this underlying weird second politically driven story that sort of comes out of nowhere at the end and is jarring for the reader (well, at least this reader). The main character is frustrating because she never commits to anything or anyone and as a reader I kept wanting more from her. I listened to the audio as well as read the novel and I think the narrator did an excellent job but she was a bit flat in her narration (but I think that was just how Jodie is so she was speaking based on the character so I do not blame the narrator for that). And for anyone hoping there are songs on the audio, there aren’t, just lyrics.

I would have rated this book higher (I’m ok with character driven novels) but the ending honestly ruined the novel for me. I’ve liked Jane Smiley’s book in the past but this one was just not for me.

3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC to review