I really enjoyed reading this book! I read this book in one sitting because I could not put the book down, I highly recommend reading this book!

So Lucky is a novel of identity. Griffith directly addresses the question of how a disability does and does not define a person. While there is anger underpinning so much of So Lucky, I don't want to ride that idea too hard. So Lucky is also a beautiful novel. Some beauty is soft and painted in gentle tones and soaring music. This is not that novel. Some beauty is hard, edged, and razor sharp. If I describe So Lucky as a beautiful novel, it's because Griffith's edge is so finely honed, so cutting that the beauty is in its danger. The beauty is in how cleanly it can cut deep while barely leaving a trace.

(full review at http://www.nerds-feather.com/2018/07/microreview-book-so-lucky-by-nicola.html

A novel that hits very close to where I am. A book that shows how life changing the diagnosis of a terrible disease can be, affecting all parts of a life. Mara, who works for a non profit, is dignosed with
MS, after an unexplained fall. Her emotions and her life are in free fall. She is angry, bitter and not easy to be around. The treatments make her ill, and are often worse than the disease. She needs to find a new way forward. It will not be easy.

It is at times hard to like Mara, her abrasiveness, bitterness can be off putting, but it is realistic and honest. I can relate since I too have MS as does the author. These are authentic feelings, and it takes a while to adjust to having a life altering disease that has very little in the way of effective treatment.
So hard for me at times but I knew what the book was about and was curious as to how it would be handled, written. This part was well done, often reading like a memoir.

I went down instead of up in my rating because of an element consisting of some horrfic crimes that were introduced relatively late in the book. While I understand what these crimes were meant to show, I felt that there was not enough of the book to build up the intensity, nor fully explore the subject. This part felt very rushed.

Definitely worth reading for it's realistic portrayal of a woman whose whole way of life as well of her sense of identity is in peril.

ARC from Netgalley.

This short novel focuses on a woman that is at a crossroads in life. Her wife has left her just as she is diagnosed with MS. The realistic writing about the challenges she faces kept me engaged and even though this is fiction, I learned a lot about MS thanks to the author's writing. I definitely recommend this one!

Net Galley ARC
Fast-paced novel. Mara has recurring multiple sclerosis, RRMS. She also happens to be gay, her 14-year-old marriage to her wife ends, she loses her job after inadvertently mouthing off in an office memo, and is left to gather her life around herself again.

All of us feel vulnerable at times in our lives, especially when adding two or three life-stress events together like divorce, job changes, and moving, but Mara also has the added discovery of her body's betrayal from RRMS. A former belted karate fighter, she now fears the dark and wonders how she will live alone. A kitten helps, but not even that is enough when a series of murders seem to be related to an MS non-profit list. Is she a target?

There is so much anger that boils off the page. Rage at insensitive job situations, stupid support groups, inadequate access, and fury at her body's double cross. I was reminded of my good friend who lived 60 of his 76 years with post-polio syndrome. He drove a wheelchair and called himself a crip. This book reminds me of his visceral pride and anger. Always.

If you've ever wondered what it's like to be a crip or have MS or just strive to be a strong and independent person, read this one. Griffith does a superlative job of describing the extreme nerve pain of MS, the difficulty of just moving from place to place without assistance, as well as the reflection of what it means to be independent.

I think it would have benefited from being a bit longer; I would have patiently waited for the murders to be investigated. And I would have loved more about Mara's neighbors who beg her to look at alternative treatments. Those areas felt rushed to me, but the core is a stellar exploration of diagnosis and how one woman dealt with it.

Mara Tagarelli’s wife just left her. She just complicated a great friendship with someone who is moving across the world for a year, and oh yeah, she just got diagnosed with MS. An AIDS nonprofit that she built up from a tiny organization lets her go, and with time and a lot of anger on her hands, she builds an organization for disabled people. When out in public, she’s flat out ignored by most people, or worse, talked down to and not taken seriously. This is the case for most people in her new organization, and her aim is to give them a voice, and some decent healthcare.

When members of her list start getting murdered, Mara is worried she’s next. Written of as paranoid, the police and FBI are no help, and Mara must face the fact that she may not be prepared for all the dangers of life. I wasn’t expecting the thriller aspects of this book, but it added a more interesting element to the plot.

I was 100% invested in Mara and her life, and I was surprised (and a bit sad) when the book ended. Mara is a flawed character who keeps faltering and must learn to keep getting up, even when it hurts, and it sucks, and no one takes you seriously. I admire her, and I like that she isn’t sugar coated and one dimensional. I like that she screws up, and I love her unapologetic nature.

I definitely recommend this book, and I’m glad I was able to include it on the Instagram as part of my Pride Reads series in June. It’s out now, so check it out.

What do you do when your body betrays you?

When you feel like a prisoner in your own skin?

When your life changes in real, deadly, and imminent ways?

That’s exactly what Mara Tagarelli is struggling to wrap her mind around in Nicola Griffith’s new book titled “So Lucky.” When first introduced to the character we see her wife Rose leaving her. Their relationship has disolved and Mara is trying to keep herself together despite the fact that so many things remind her of her wife. The punches just keep coming when in the span of a week she is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and after a mix up at work consisting of an ill titled budget report (FUCK YOU AND THE HORSE YOU RODE IN ON), her job forces a retirement on her because of their “concerns” over her work efficiency now that she’s sick.

And let me tell you, Mara doesn’t take this lying down. She fights! At every turn she keeps pushing forward, especially as her body starts suffering the effects of MS. She changes her home, prepares for the inevitable struggles her body will have to go through if she ends up being wheelchair bound, and comes to the stark realization that the world is not equipped for disabled people. That right there was the most shocking and memorable thing for me and Mara.

We go around our lives, sometimes with our heads in the clouds, ignorant of what others are struggling with or how we can make things more accessible to those that are different from us.

“So Lucky” doesn’t hold back it’s punches when it comes to this truth and lets you live a different life through the eyes of someone fighting a threat they can’t see but that they can feel in a world that paints Mara as a “victim” or “sufferer.” So Mara fights back. She starts a nonprofit, starts traveling to give speeches at conferences, and not letting her illness define her. She will define it. And she will empower herself no matter if anyone’s ready for her or not.

An important note that I wanted to make about this book, and what initially drew me into it, is that the main character is a queer woman. Not a queer woman going through a coming out story later on in her life like we’re all used to seeing over and over again on TV and in movies. She’s just a queer woman who so happens to have lost her wife, job, control of her body, who might also have feelings for her best friend. Her queerness doesn’t define her. And it’s refreshing as fuck.

For too long we’ve lived under this veil of lies and fabrications that queer stories could not be told because they wouldn’t “connect with people” or feel real. Well “So Lucky” feels real. You don’t have to be queer to understand the prejudice of others or a body that won’t obey your commands when you give them. You don’t have to be queer to understand the anger of losing a job. And you don’t have to be queer to understand the loneliness, confusion, and longing of losing a loved one.

“So Lucky” is an experience that I’d implore everyone to read to gain perspective and understand the journey that one goes through when SURVIVING and FIGHTING, not just multiple sclerosis, but to be accepted and understood in a world ill equipped for the disabled.

A fictional novel clearly written by someone with an intimate knowledge of the vagaries of Multiple Sclerosis. The spectrum of emotions play out as Mara struggles to come to terms with the rapid progress of her disease. The author points out that sense of “other” someone in a wheelchair feels, how challenging the simplest of tasks become and how demoralizing and frustrating the lack of care and options are for those afflicted with MS. She is quick to point out how big Pharma benefits and caters to MS charities while those who suffer with the disease struggle to pay for drugs with unknown beneficial effects.

Powerful and insightful look at the monster in the room and one woman’s effort to deal with her own fears and loneliness.

ARC received with thanks from publisher via NetGalley for review.

https://latenightlesbianreads.wordpre...

"It's aiming to kill you."

i was so lucky (ha!) to get accepted for this on netgalley. this was an absolutely brilliant book and now i want to recommend it to everyone, although you should note that there's content warnings for violent burglary, murder, and hate crime; they're all reported rather than shown on-page but it's something to be aware of.

at first, it seemed like a pretty straightforward book with pretty straightforward themes. our main character, mara, has just got divorced from her wife and just begun to strike up a relationship with someone else, and has just been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. for the first third or so, you think that's what it's going to be about, a contemporary-realistic sort of book about coming to terms with your MS.

until it wasn't.

suddenly comes hints of magical realism in that specific, dark variant of magical realism where neither you nor the protagonist knows if something vaguely supernatural is going on or if your mind is going a bit haywire on you.

and then - it almost becomes a thriller. the tension, the fear, the knowledge that there is someone, or something, or both out there. coming.

aiming to kill.

but is it? you don't know. but you aren't taking any chances.

the book was also ultimately positive about disability despite showing the anger and frustration that disabled people experience, and thank god for that, because if i have to read another book about disabled people that ends on a "and everything sucked because they were disabled" note i'm going to launch myself into the entire damn sun. but this was written by someone with MS (i believe?) so it avoids that tone.

basically: read this. you need it in your life. trust me. it's short, but by god does it pack a punch.

Griffith, herself a sufferer of MS, has put together a short novel that reads like a memoir. The narrative takes the reader deep into the experience of being an MS patient. But, I felt that the potential for an intriguing mystery or a romance were both abandoned and, it fell flat without some narrative purpose.

This book could only have been written by someone who had lived the diagnosis of MS and with the distance from that diagnosis to be able to use it as a narrative tool. I think Nicola Griffith is that someone. I have no idea how long she has lived with MS but I am much more knowledgable about the illness and its effect on the psyche than I was before I read this amazing book. BUT this is fictional and a damn good story. It isn’t a lecture or a memoir - it is a story with a shocking plot which will make you want to hug the main character one minute and slap her the next. Truly powerful writing. And useful if you want to set up a non profit in America...

Mara’s life changes dramatically in the space of one week, when her wife leaves her and she is diagnosed with MS. She stumbles along making mistakes and trying to figure things out while worrying about her medical insurance and the choice of treatments. Her best friend has taken a teaching position abroad and they FaceTime/Skype until the distance becomes emotional as well as physical. This is all beautifully drawn and poignantly portrayed but Mara is no victim. She takes control, she accepts the friendship of her neighbour (and his fresh produce), she sets up CAT as an action vehicle where the “C” stands for cripple. Mara is not afraid to name herself and face the truth... but maybe not all at once.

This is funny, infuriating, shocking and well worth the read. It will make you think but it will also entertain you. I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

If you ever thought that a short novel can’t pack a powerful punch, SO LUCKY will prove you wrong. This slim novel is a rich story about a woman’s battle with her body and her mind. Nicola Griffith’s prose is beautiful and strong and she deftly weaves such a compelling tale of a woman dealing with MS and an able-ist society that ignores the needs of those with disabilities. I couldn’t put the novel down—so so good.

So Lucky by Nicola Griffith is a little bit autobiographical but not completely. The author and the main character, Mara Taragelli, are both lesbians who have been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. The author and the character also have an interest in martial arts. The book is still considered fiction.

Mara is in charge of a successful AIDS foundation when she is diagnosed with MS. Her ex-girlfriend has left her. Her current girlfriend leaves the country for a job. Mara works and tries to maintain her hobbies- martial arts and kayaking- until she is physically unable to do so. The board at the AIDS foundation decides to replace her. Things are not going her way at all.

Mara is not very good at being inactive. So she starts a charitable group for MS patients. After she starts the group, terrible things begin happening to members of the group. Mara believes that her group is the link to the events. Everyone thinks that it's just a coincidence. What is really going on with the group members? I can't tell you because I don't want to spoil the book.

It's an interesting book and completely worth reading. The main character, Mara, can be infuriating to those around her but she never gives up.  I would give it 4.5 stars out of 5 stars.

In So Lucky, the main character Mara, in the space of one week after her wife leaves her and she is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, goes from being married, physically powerful, and successful, to being a frightened, angry woman. So Lucky is about what happens as her doctor begins giving her medications that have terrible side effects and then prescribing more medications for those side effects. Mara is an eye-witness to the deterioration of her body.

This book is raw, powerfully written, and hard to read. It is an unrelenting first-person look at the effects of MS on the human body and one woman’s attempts to come to grips with her diagnosis. Every word of it rings true because, in 1993, Griffith was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. This book should be required reading for everyone who knows someone with MS. Considering the disease is on the rise, the more we know about it now, the more we’ll be able to be supportive when someone we know is diagnosed with MS.

So Lucky was a hard read for me only because I know so little about MS. Mara walks the reader through her journey through her MS diagnosis and how it affects all the aspects of her life. Mara shows you how people perseve someone with a disability. She is very angry and takes it out on those around her at first. So lucky is autobiographical and does a great job with walking the reader along Mara journey.

WOW...this read was moving, poignant, and educational. Mara Tagerelli, is a boldly written character with much life change to deal with. She is angry as she fights to find life after her MS diagnosis. I have read other books by this author and have been moved by each one. They have not been easy or light reads but well told stories that make you think with complex characters facing heart wrenching challenges.

3.75 Stars. I think Griffith is a pretty brilliant writer so when I see a new book by her I will absolutely read it. This was a tough read. It was even harder to read than I expected it to be. It is an unfiltered look into what a horrible disease MS is.

I have to admit I didn’t know much about multiple sclerosis. It wasn’t until about two years ago I read a book that had a main character with MS. Since then I have read two other books that had characters living with this disease. So Lucky was definitely the grittiest and hardest to read. One thing I learned from this book is it looks like the medicine side-affects are often worse than the actual MS. Plus add the fact that there is no cure, this is one awful disease. It is obvious that Griffith did her research for this. It almost feels more like an autobiography than fiction.

I do have to say I was a little disappointed in the ending. This book is on the shorter side and I felt the ending was a little abrupt. I didn’t expect this big happy ending, that would not have been realistic, but I hoped to see more how the character worked things out.

Griffith is an excellent writer so you will always get a quality written book by her and this was no exception. It is very real and dark at times. This is actually my second very hard read in a row. I need something light and fluffy next. I’m glad I read this and I recommend this to people wanting to know more about MS.

I’ve read most of Nicola Griffith’s books and enjoyed some more than others. Rather than feeling like a novel, So Lucky seemed more like the best of nonfiction works that people write about their own heartbreaking struggles against major illness. The story is not pretty and at its best, the book truly gives us the POV of someone who’s just been kicked out of the healthy person’s club and dumped into the no man’s land of being disabled. Harsh but illuminating. Her writing, as always, is tight and potent. I wasn’t thrilled with the intrigue at the end and would have liked more in depth interaction with other characters instead but that was my only qualm. Overall, a deep and thoughtful work.

well worth the read, The raw emotional ups and downs of MS as life goes on. The mystery of who is killing patients..all around good story

I read this book courtesy of NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My second novel from Nicola Griffith, completely different than the first, but just as (if not more) readable. I found Hild to be much more cohesive, but this is a powerful story too, and well worth reading (even if, to me, not quite satisfying in terms of structure).

So Lucky is a very short novel and a very quick read (I read it in a day and a half, and those were busy days, too). The protagonist, Mara, is an activist, employed by a large NGO, whose life is turned upside down when, within the space of a very short time, her more-than-a-decade-long relationship ends, she is diagnosed with MS and her interpersonal relationships are tested. The novel details the next few months in her life on several planes.

The personal story told in this book is, just as the publisher promises, urgent, political and maybe even incandescent. I am not surprised that it is (partly) autobiographical, because the emotions feel real and true. Mara's anger and fear (and I think also the medical side of things, though I lack the expertise here) are conveyed perfectly, and constitute a real call to action. Mara is a complex and interesting protagonist, and I appreciated how she is called out by the narrative about her fear responses.

All the same, I didn't find the plot to quite work for me. The realistic elements: the personal story, both relationship and medical issues-wise - yes, and I would have liked to read more of them. But there are two other stories here - the crime story and the magic realist level of the narrative - that either didn't have enough page time to develop or didn't quite connect with the rest, and that receive abrupt send-offs. I thought that, the way they were written, they detracted from the story rather than making it more complex; they were just less interesting (they felt to me like the author cared less about them, too) and this showed particularly in the way they are neatly solved by the end: while the disability stays, and Mara is still struggling with her fear and anger by the end, these two subplots serve their narrative purpose and disappear. I may be in the minority here - perhaps other readers will prefer the modicum of closure these stories offer - but I wish they'd been developed more, or cut altogether (or maybe cutting one would have given the other the necessary room to breathe).

That said, this was a minor issue in an otherwise interesting, gripping and personal novel. When I got to the end I wished the novel was twice as long, and I don't often feel this way about books.