I really wanted to like this book. I’ve read a couple of books by Jane Smiley that and I enjoyed, and I love music so it seemed like a good fit.

Unfortunately, I got halfway though and decided to put it down. It was incredibly tedious, written in first person with very little dialogue or excitement or character development. There was a lot of “I ate this, he ate that.” and name dropping of singers from the 60’s and 70’s. The narrator was a poor choice; her tone made the tedium even more so.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy.

In this book, we get to follow successful (fictional) musician Jodie Rattler from her humble beginnings through her coming of age, as she establishes herself as a young musician, and right through her career. While Jodie's life has the hills and valleys that happen to us all, overall, she considers herself lucky. There are no life-altering tragedies to speak of, and things just seem to work out.

At times, I found myself asking if Jodie Rattler was a real musician, since she was painted so three-dimensionally in this novel. She is not, though she definitely could be. I enjoyed listening to this, even though it was a little plodding at times. The narrator is a little soft-spoken, which I thought suited the character she was portraying.


Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.
#netgalley

An interesting look at a life. I appreciated and was intrigued by the meta or references to Smiley's other work. I appreciate what Smiley was trying to do here and there were some very interesting and hard stances that were taken on certain hot button topics. But overall, I felt a bit bored and I did not like the tone of this story. Since I listened to the audiobook, I am not sure if it is just the audiobook narrator or the writing itself that I found off putting. But it was not my favorite of Smiley's work.

In Lucky, Jane Smiley takes readers on a stroll through recent American history alongside Jodie Rattler, a modestly successful singer-songwriter. Jodie’s life has been marked by luck since age 6 when her uncle introduced her to the racetrack and shared his winnings with her. That initial $86 roll sets the stage for her musical career, which she never has to work too hard at, thanks to a novelty Christmas hit she wrote while still in college in 1969. The royalties from this song sustain her over the next half-century, allowing her to embark on a long trip with a serious love affair in England and a bohemian residency in New York, complete with a list of 23 lovers.

Smiley’s narrative voice is blunt and down-to-earth, reminiscent of her nuts-and-bolts dissection of fiction writing in 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel. The novel’s setting in St. Louis (Smiley’s real-life hometown) provides a lovingly rendered backdrop for the most moving scenes, especially when Jodie returns to care for her aging grandparents and alcoholic mother.

However, Lucky takes an unexpected turn toward the end. In an apocalyptic leap into the near future, Smiley highlights how extremes of every variety—climactic, political, and otherwise—have become the norm. This abrupt change of tone adds a jarring conclusion to an otherwise low-key novel.

Intelligent and tough-minded, as Smiley’s work always is, Lucky leaves readers with an interesting and stunning finale that lingers in the mind. If you enjoy novels that blend realism with unexpected twists, this one is worth a read.

Ostensibly the story of a Jodie Rattler — from childhood until her 80s — who achieved moderate fame as a folk/rock singer/composer and, due to some clever investing of the money she had, was able to live her life and create her music without having to make herself a slave of the music industry. I never get the impression that she has any particular plans or goals. Instead she does what she wants to at the time, gathering (and enjoying) experiences that she often embeds into her music. This takes us from her birthplace in St. Louis to England, to recording studios, to tropical beaches, to New York City, and often back home to St. Louis. It takes us through her 25 lovers and their stories. The book is highly reflective with Jodie clearly describing her experiences, her feelings at the time and upon later reflection, and her thoughtful musings on life as a result. It’s really a personal voyage of self-discovery and ongoing development but without the cataclysmic events that often send people into these states. While it sometimes felt a bit slow moving (especially as the audio book reader spoke at a measured pace) I found myself consistently interested. By the end I felt like I knew what it was like to be Jodie. At the same time, I didn’t resonate with her — we are very different kinds of people — which made it even more interesting to be her for the duration.

There is a theme throughout the book where she reflects on how lucky she is every step of the way — chance meetings, being seen by a promoter etc. Hence the title. There is a lot of interesting detail on how she writes her songs, where her ideas come from and how she develops them, what kind of experimentation she does to get a particular sound. All of which was completely accessible to me as a non-musician. Because the book spans about 80 years (from 1955 - 2030), we also get to watch (through her eyes) the evolution of the music industry, the political scene, and the planet. The worries about climate change and political instability float about the book, settling into something more solid by the end of the book as Jodi ages.

Now — I very much enjoyed listening to this book and thought the end was reasonable. But. I hated the epilog and I would honestly suggest you just don’t read it. It’s short and has a very interesting twist to it (and a tie in to the name of the book), but it has a complete downer of a future prediction that honestly has nothing at all to do with the story and just left me in the worst mood for no good reason! I don’t want to include a spoiler so I’ll say no more except that I really found it both emotionally draining and literarily gratuitous.

DNF
I started this book over and over again, trying so hard to get into it. It could be the narrator's voice, but the plot also felt lackluster. I wanted to enjoy this so badly. I may pick up a physical copy, and that might get me into it.
The plot felt very hard to follow, skipping around timelines within just one single chapter. Not a lot of flow to it. The writing fell very flat for me, the prose could have had more flow and method to the madness.
I received this copy from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This was a two star book for me, but it doesn’t mean that it will be for you. I can absolutely say I’ve never read a book like this one (very unique!), but it was absolutely not my style. I listened to this as an audiobook, however I think it would be best suited as a physical/ebook read. We get a first person recount of this persons entire life story, basically from birth to adulthood. "Lucky" reads as a stream of consciousness memoir about a fictional character. I’m sure there’s someone out there who would love that! Not me. Sometimes I had no idea what she was talking about what she was getting at.

The first third of the book felt like a conversation with a yapper who talks to you about people you’ve never heard of and never will know. My concentration was challenged and I found my mind drifting a lot. A physical/ebook forces you to pay attention which is why I think it could be better in this format. Regardless, I literally just didn’t care about Jodie’s stories.

The entire book feels like a mindfulness activity. Lucky commands your attention, yet has hardly any dialogue. I have the attention span of a peanut, so this was a personal torture, but I’m sure that much more disciplined people could enjoy this.

Mentions Ames, IA a few times. <3

The ending is very unique as well! Lot’s of mixed reviews about it, but arguably it was the best part to me because there was actually something happening here.

The narrator’s voice was wonderful. So neutral and well recorded. I have no complaints about the audio production!

Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you RB media for a copy of Lucky from Jane Smiley. Overall this was a big win for me as I love Smiley's work and love a solid character focused story. My one note, surely to be common (?), is that this is LONG and at times it can lose it's footing or feel like it is dragging, especially for anyone who is not into a character driven book. The plot focuses largely on the experiences of Jodie Rattler as she experiences some lucky breaks indeed but also seems to always be searching for what comes next, drifting a bit in ways that seem to suit her but also gives a sense of loneliness. What can feel limiting at times is that a lot of Jodie's story can feel superficial despite the length of the book, she seems to breeze through moments and relationships but I think that is the point of the story so it also works to tell the story, to give the sense that Jodie, for all that she has, is perhaps not lucky to feel settled or concrete in her identity and relationships.

It's an interesting story, one I did enjoy, and I felt often immersed in Jodie's story; others are likely to feel differently but I encourage readers/listeners to spread this one out as I did (I listened over about two weeks off and on) and consider it an interesting character story, filled with setting details and nuanced insights into Jodie's sense of awakening, growing up, and finding a sense of who she is.

content note: the book delves into alcoholism/substance use themes

I chose this book by its cover. I hadn’t read Jane Smiley before, but I’ve seen her works praised for years. So, on a whim I requested an advanced audiobook and ended up listening to it all day, finishing this afternoon. The story is bittersweet, evocative, timeless. The book will take you on an absolute journey, culminating in the most explosive ending I’ve read in a long time. I was screaming in my car.

Smiley’s storytelling is sweet and lyrical and uncomfortable and raw, but ultimately is timely and honest.

Jane Smiley goes there.

And it’s awesome. 4.5 ⭐️


Thank you to RB Media and NetGalley for this arc, in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

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.

This book felt like it was trying to be Daisy Jones but was more like Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch with an interesting choice of epilogue. While I think this would be popular among wine-mom book clubs, I’m not sure it’s one that will appeal to most readers.

Jane Smiley has a knack for taking familiar literary tropes and turning them on their ear. This time she dabbles in the unreliable narrator game. The story wasn’t exactly my cup of tea but the device was effective and the ending satisfying.

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 RB Media for the ARC to review

Lucky by Jane Smiley tells a story of a woman's childhood and coming of age in the 1950s-60s. it was very boring and the 'twist' at the end made the whole experience a waste of time. i'm not sure what that ending was even trying to achieve but lord was it gimmicky.

As any Jane Smiley book, I loved the authenticity and the grit of her work. She writes the truth as she sees it, no sugar-coating it, which is rare these days. She always knows how to not only paint you a picture of her settings, you really believe you are right there with her. I was so excited so listen to Lucky, I am the lucky one here. It was sweet, poignant, sad, but I love it! But unfortunately it had to end.

I will start by saying that I DNF this audiobook at 25%. I had a hard time getting into this book from the jump. It was tedious, overly descriptive, and lacked any real substance to cling onto. It kind of felt like a memoir of someone's life that had some slightly interesting things happen to them. I felt like certain aspects of the book, like growing up in the 50's in St. Louis, was so overly described that it lost the reader completely. The description of this book made it sound incredibly interesting to me, especially someone with a musical background. Going into it, I was ready for a Daisy Jones and the Six type story, which was probably detrimental to how I viewed the story when it was not at all like that and much, much slower.

Thank you to NetGalley, Jane Smiley, and the publisher for allowing me to provide feedback for my experience.