Customer Reviews

Any Kind Of Luck

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I hate to say this is like most contemporary gay fiction being written today, but it is. This isn’t a bad thing, in fact, it’s great that fiction can center more on our own families, as well as our nuclear families, and just talk about everyday life, its problems, and events common to most of us, whether we are gay or straight. This is an interesting read, a very quick read, and a pleasant way to spend a few hours. The story centers around Clu, a man who’s in his 30’s, and his return home to a small town in Texas, called Grit. He returns home with his psychic lover of eight years to help his mother, who’s sick with cancer, thru the last days of her life. The story goes off in many directions,but the theme is whether a man from the big city, of course, Manhattan, can really go home and find peace & happiness in his old home town. Will he & his partner, Chris, be accepted back home by friends and relatives now that he is openly gay? Clu relationship with his partner also gets tested when a blond, muscle hunk named Preston enters the picture. Anyway, you get the picture here. A light, easy read, but a book that has some muscle to it, and one that proved to be interesting enough for me to really enjoy it. I especially related to his loving and very caring feelings toward his mother, and how much they bonded near the end. I was touched by Jack Sibley’s sensitive writing of this very special time that Clu spent with his mother. I experienced the same feelings when my own mother had cancer. A touching story, and one I definitely recommend!!

since gay fiction is so hard to come by,(or good gay fiction i should say)i wasn't sure of my choice in this book at first.after the first chapter i'd decided i'd made the right choice.
this is a great first effort and the author should feel encouraged to write more.

Any Kind of Luck is not the kind of book you read on an airplane unless everyone around is wearing earphones. The vivid imagery and colorful characters will force you to leave an imprint on someone else's eardrum. If chicken soup is good for the soul, Any Kind of Luck is good for the heart. William Jack Sibley's book is a melting pot of small-town characters, puntuated with dysfunctional family members, coupled with gay relationships...not to mention a menagerie of Chihuahuas at foot. You will find yourself anxiously awaiting the next hilarious entry in each chapter. Witty, charming and heart warming. With William Jack Sibley, it has nothing to do with luck, but everything to do with talent.

Gay fiction has recently been beset by a large volume of titles offering the so-called madcap adventures of gay men and their friends and families. Examples range from the sublime, Doug Guinan's California Screaming and Dennis Hemsley's Misadventures in the 213, to the abysmal, e.g. Ben Tyler's Tricks of the Trade.
What makes some of these books excellent reading is the skill of their authors in creating characters who are more than charicatures and situations which are more than cliches. Any Kind of Luck is a novel which easily could have veered off in any number of over the top directions and could have presented any number of completely unbelievable small town eccentrics, but the author resists such temptation at every turn. He obviously would rather tell a story of some substance than just go for cheap laughs. He also has the rural Texas and Neanderthal Baptist things absolutely nailed down. The result is that each character, no matter how bizarre, rings true, and the situations successfully tread that fine line between unlikely and impossible which marks the difference between a satisfying read and an infuriating one. The relationships here are true to life, and the author has a gift for economical but vivid description. I felt I'd grown up in Grit, Texas, myself and knew all those people. And it was refreshing to read about characters who are capable of change and growth. I'd heartily recommend this novel to anyone.

I just finished "Any Kind of Luck" given to me by a dear friend of mine. Just as he said I would, I literally laughed out loud! On the treadmill, at a restaurant table and waiting to get my teeth cleaned I LITERALLY laughed out loud (to the point people stared).

In my opinion, more importantly than the insightful humor the book contains, are the amazing pages of Chris' address to Brother Ramirez's congregation. I've read and reread those pages at least 50 times! I've been empowered by it. I've anguished over it. I feel validated by it. I literally cried tears of joy and remembered past hurts over it. I've been comforted by it. I've actually shared it with family and friends. Those pages are EXTREMELY powerful.

William Jack Sibley has the ability to succinctly and thoughtfully write what so many people would love to say to the world. I will forever cherish those pages!

This book was terrific. I have had it on my shelf for awhile and picked it up not expecting anything special. To my surprise it was one of the most fun reads I have had in a long time. The characters were amazingly well developed. Probably the best thing about this story was that it was one that caused me to laugh out loud (those around me would ask what I was reading, I mean we're talking a good hearty laugh), and at the same time Sibley confronted issues that were serious and important. I recommend this one highly, it addresses important issues in a humorous way with characters that you truly get to know and love...don't miss this one!

Oy! This has all the spice of Tex-Mex, the pathos of going home to Mom, and small-town hickness that will have you rollicking with laughter--and empathy! It's the story of Clu, a somewhat successful 30-something New Yorker, who returns to his small hometown in Texas (called "Grit" of all things). His mother has cancer, but that doesn't stop the announcement of an impending marriage to a minister. Clu has to overcome small-mindedness, getting the hometown to accept Chris, his lover (who happens to be psychic) and has to deal with his redneck brother and ever-pregnant sister. You won't be bored!

Normally, when I read gay fiction, I get frustrated by the plethora of perfect-looking single men with adequately successful lives bemoaning the tiny imperfections that plague them. When a perfectly built jock-stud with a long string of one-night-stands suddenly wakes up one day and says, "Gosh, I wish I had a true love," I have a hard time gathering much empathy.

This isn't one of those stories.

Here's the deal. Moderately-successful Hand-model Clu Latimore lives on Christopher street in Manhattan with his eight-year-long lover Chris, the Latin teacher. Though Clu has a lot of internal monologue about how he can't figure out why Chris, such an attractive man, is still with him, they're a good, solid couple.

Clu gets called howe - to Grit, Texas - when his mother's impending death to cancer looms. And though the plot from there really shines with a lot of really odd bits and pieces (a tex-mex musical version of Agamemnon, a pack of breeding Chihuahuas, his brother digging for buried treasure, his sister's umpteenth attempt at being pregnant, and a country that just screams hick and angry), it's the characters that keep this one going.

Clu is alternately enjoyable and frustrating. Anyone with emotional baggage from their family can easily empathise with the guy's situation, but you want to smack him over the head every time he takes a well-meaning comment someone else made and turns it into an impromptu "This is why what you said is homophobic" seminar. Clu's relationship with Chris takes a path I really didn't expect, and there's a betrayal that made me ill, but - let's face it - read quite true.

I guess the word "plausible" doesn't sound like it should belong in a tale that includes a tex-mex musical Agamemmnon, but honestly, I can't find a better word to describe the characters nor the emotional reactions. I'll watch out for Sibley in the future.

'Nathan

I was first drawn to "Any Kind of Luck" based on its cartoonish cover art. This instantly made me pick up the novel when I first saw it in a bookstore. Add this to the fact that I originate from what can be a small-minded Texas town (no names please!) I was curious to see what Sibley would observe about Texans in general that might strike a chord with me. Well! Despite his novel being set in the fictional Grit, Texas, there were plenty of little cultural bells and whistles -- the unthinking prejudices leavened with a curious brand of caring that usually does take one by surprise -- that a native Texan could recognize and appreciate. I finished the novel and found the ending touching. However, it failed as far as being the comedy that I had hoped it might be. To be fair, I suppose I did Sibley's first fictional effort a disservice by anticipating more screwball gay comedy a la Joe Keenan ("Blue Heaven" and "Putting on the Ritz"). In and of itself, however, Sibley's book is readable, pleasant, but I doubt if I'd buy any more of his fiction.

I loved this book! Sibley captures something so fresh and funny and at the same time, very moving. The whole premise of returning to your small, rural, conservative birthplace - with gay lover in tow - and surviving with integrity, humor and yes, tears - says tons about anyone (gay or straight) growing up, getting-down-the-road and attempting forgiveness in general. Laugh out loud funny, terrific metaphors, great dialogue. Wonderful, satisfying read. I want more!!