Customer Reviews

Beginner's Luck: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

5 star:		(59)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a wonderful book to teach to high school students, probably the best I've ever come across. From the teacher's point of view there is symbolism, lovely descriptive writing including some nice similes and metaphors, great characterization, and several themes. Literary references are hidden throughout and thus suggest to the students that knowing poetry, how to write, and about books is not only fun, but can also be quite useful in life. From a students perspective BEGINNER'S LUCK is hilarious, modern, they identify with the characters and conflicts, and there's just enough fairly chaste sex scenes to keep them involved without raising any problems with parents or the school board (though the romance here is extremely mild when you consider what they watch on TV and see in the movies!). My students just loved this book and thanked me for assigning it. They completely understood the emphasis on acceptance, understanding, and the importance of friendship -- things we can never have enough of. I don't believe the novel was written with the intent of being a gold mine for teaching young adults, but then perhaps that's why my students enjoyed it so much. And they're all anxiously awaiting the sequel. In fact, one of the assignemnts was to write an outline for how they would tackle the sequel since the end is left with so many possibilities (much like their lives right now!).

Being a devoted fan of mysteries and science fiction I admit I came to "Beginner's Luck" reluctantly -- it was a double whammy of my mother's book club and extreme boredom while a knee injury healed. HOWEVER, this is one funny and charming book. It's actually hard to say that it's like this or like that. Pederson has the sense of humor of a late night comedian but combines it with believable characters and tons of charm. The scene where Hallie practically falls into a casket at a funeral is especially hilarious. There are so many terrific moments. It will make a great movie or TV series and Robert Downey Jr. should definitely play Bernard. The women in my mom's book club are mostly 50s, and loved the character of Olivia, who is about their age, but it has a lot of appeal for young people. The main character, Hallie, is 16. In fact, it shows young people with realistic problems, but also that teenagers can have fun without sex, drugs, and video games. And (cliche coming) that learning can be fun and actually serve a large purpose in life. Maybe we should make "Beginner's Luck" mandatory reading in all high schools.

I got about half-way through this book and thought I'd check the reviews on it...I was floored that so many people loved it! I just had such a hard time getting into it, so much so that about 3/4 of the way through I gave up, and that hardly EVER happens to me.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't think it's a bad book, or poorly written, actually just the opposite. This book is written quite well, but I think my main problem was that I couldn't get into the story. Hallie's 16 years old and hates school. She has a bit of a gambling problem, and after losing all her car-savings on a bad bet at the horse track, she needs to find an honest job. Well, she finds one as a yard girl for the Stockton family.

This is where the story goes sour for me. I just didn't like the Stockton's and their incredible eccentricities. My mind just kept wondering off every time I picked this up. This is one of those rare books that, while I personally didn't take to it, it's not bad...get what I mean? I don't discourage anyone from reading this...but beware, it gets pretty slow in some parts, and I think you'll either love or hate the Stockton's. Oh well...better luck next time.

Hallie is a 16 year-old girl who despises the school that she goes to so much that she doesn't bother to show up to 90% of the classes. Most of the time you can find her down at the horse track betting on the ponies, aka earning money to buy a car. Since she lives in a house barely big enough to house the nine that it consists of now, not to mention the new baby on the way, she plans to head to Las Vegas. She is the second oldest and is overlooked up until now,when the attendence officer "Just Call Me Dick" begins to notice that she doesn't come to homeroom, or most of her other classes for that matter. He alerts the ultimate authorities; her parents. They simply retract their offer to help pay for the car and ground her until her grades pull up. Hallie thinks, "Well that's too bad because I'm gone, I'll gamble until I have the money to go to Vegas then, so long Ohio!" Hallie is a gifted card player that goes along with her innate sense of numbers. She doesn't have a gambling problem just does it for the money. An unfortunate loss at the track forces her to take a job as a lawn person in the eccentric household of the Stocktons. This quirky family includes Olivia, the head matron, The Judge her husband, Bernard their son, Gil Bernard's lover, and the ever persistent Rocky the chimp, who is between jobs. Not only are they paying her 12 dollars an hour they soon welcome her into their home with her own room. Her parents want her back but no such luck, she becomes a permanent fixture in the lives of the Stocktons. She is now learning things that she would not otherwise learn, like how to prepare exqusite dishes, little known facts about authors and figure heads. The sarcastic humor, intermixed with exquisite vocabulary, envelope her in Ms. Olivia's rabble rousing and protesting for a greater cause. Olivia soon becomes her tutor that way she will graduate and be able to go to college. Her boyfriend, Craig, even gets along with the Stocktons. This leads to a pinch or romance among all the gambling and clearing of her name. A household that will not be forgotten easily.

Slowly but surely, a quickwitted sarcastic humor takes you into this quirky world of Hallie Palmer. This hold is not relinquished throughout the entire novel. I laughed so hard I cried multiple times. The reader is faced with a gay couple that Hallie coexists with and not all romantic scenes are backstage. For those with improving vocabulary, I suggest a pocket dictionary nearby, just in case. Morals and prejudiced thoughts are faced and delt with making you think about your own beliefs.This book is for those willing to be open-minded to other's thoughts and ideas even though you may have originally rejected them as not part of your beliefs. Not everything is black and white as it might appear, and there are two sides to each argument. It helps to see both.

Reviewed by a student reviewer for Flamingnet Book Reviews
www.flamingnet.com
Preteen, teen, and young adult book reviews and recommendations

Fun and funny. I laughed out loud. My sister and I both loved this book. If they don't already, everyone should have a friend like Bernard, a crazy relative like Olivia, and a chimp like Rocky. This a positive, upbeat, life-affirming, well-written story and you'll love it if you're an optimist. If you're not you may decide to become one. I've read all the classics and this novel is truly unique in style and story. Very refreshing. A little farfetched at times, but that's what I like my fiction for, when regular life isn't quite interesting enough. Real life should only be that way more often. I didn't want it to end and was relieved to find the sequel just came out two weeks ago. I'm already halfway through and it's great to have more Hallie.

I LOVED THIS BOOK. That said, you'll not find all that much that normally passes for entertainment these days - spy stories, terror attacks, and people with life-threatening diseases. Nope. This is an old-fashioned story where people live regular lives and yet still it is so charming and funny that I didn't want it to end. It's tremendously refreshing in its affirmation of life and hope and friendship (and I thought very well-written). Great characters who are not your stereotypical small town weirdos. But the kind of folks we all know or are related to. A great read for a long rainy weekend or a plane ride across an ocean. This is one of those stories with a lot of crossover that could easily appeal to teenagers or older people. It's like a Disney movie in that the young might not get all the references, but won't need them to follow along, and the older folk will enjoy the the literary and cultural references, especially when they're part of a joke. Speaking of movies, I can't imagine this book not being made into a movie if it already isn't one. Robert Downey Jr. would definitely make a terrific Bernard and I can easily see Blythe Danner as Olivia, or perhaps Meryl Streep. If there's a chimp out there who already knows how to tend bar then there's definitely a part for him. I'm looking forward to the sequel!

This was such a cute book! It's been a while since I've given a book 5 stars. This is such a great story about how one can learn about life through others. Hallie is such a clever girl. Gil, Rocky and the Stocktons were such entertaining characters. I look forward to this author's next book.

This genre of book (coming of age, quirky, etc.) can be tedious but this was truly delightful. Characters, setting, so nice. Lots of laughs out loud.

Apologies to all if this review gets posted twice. I submitted my review about two weeks ago and it never showed up, but this book was worth the effort to resubmit!!
I haven't laughed this much since the old "Saturday Night Live" skits. And I haven't read a book this charming since "To Kill A Mockingbird." That's saying a lot, since I worked as a librarian for thirty years, reading and reviewing hundreds of books. "Beginner's Luck" is a beautiful combination of humor and wisdom for all ages. I'd say it's a female version of "Catcher In The Rye," but that doesn't do justice to all the delightful nuances. It's about everything -- life, love, friendship, and death.

As a bookaholic with no intention of recovering, I'm telling you the last writer who made me laugh out loud AND left me weeping at the end with joy was Dickens -- until I encountered a marvelous new novelist named Laura Pedersen, author of the just published coming-of-age fable, BEGINNER'S LUCK. This is one great read, notable for the vitality of Hallie Palmer, it's heroine; for its irresistibly off-beat cast of characters, canny wisdom, total lack of pretension, "wish-I'd said-that" wit, and a plot that races along like gangbusters.
Although this may sound strange, BEGINNER'S LUCK reminded me of THE LOVELY BONES. Certainly, the subject matter couldn't be more diverse, but -- in both cases -- the first-person narration by a teenage girl who grows up in the course of the novel glows with a universality which explains its appeal to readers who'll never even remotely see fifteen or sixteen again. A perk: sitting around with friends and casting the movie while waiting for the next installment of Hallie Palmer's excellent adventures. I can honestly say that BEGINNER'S LUCK is one of the most satisfying reading experiences I've had in ever so long.