Customer Reviews

Lucky Man, Lucky Woman (Norton Paperback Fiction)

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

 

 

I was honored to have Jack Driscoll as my teacher in high school for two years, so when his first novel was published, I looked forward to reading it with excitement and some trepidation, wondering if it would measure up to my expectations. I am happy to say that it did, and in fact exceeded them. In "Lucky Man, Lucky Woman", Driscoll tells a compelling story of a man, Perry, as he deals with adultery, family, and infertility. Actually, the book is about much more than that, but to say more would not do it justice. As the story progresses, you feel pulled by Perry himself to keep reading, to constantly wonder what will happen next. "Lucky Man, Lucky Woman" is, in that sense, like Life itself. In some ways, I wish the book had been twice as long: I really felt that Perry was living and breathing, and that his life extended past the last page. Actually, this novel reminds me a lot of Ray Carver's short stories, especially those from his collections "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" and "Cathedral". Both authors are genuine in their portrayals of the human existence, so much so that their stories make you feel as though you were their characters, that your life was being played out by their words. Jack Driscoll, in his first novel, has truly achieved something great, and for that I will forever admire and envy him.

If there was any justice in the book publishing world, "Lucky Man, Lucky Woman" would be Oprah's next Book Club pick. This is a dead-on funny and honest portrait of marriage--its joy, tedium, and occasional madness. Perry Lafond is a great character. He's smart and reflective and kind, but also stubborn, confused, and mistaken--the way most human beings really are. This book is pure pleasure from the first sentence to the last.

I chose this book for our book club selection of the month because of the overwhelmingly positive reviews received from the offical reviewers and the customer reviews on this site. All of our book members were extremely disappointed with the novel. Although there are isolated sections of excellent writing and some beautiful imagery, the characters are one-dimensional and unlikeable, the plot irritating, and the tone drab and uninteresting. I am an avid reader and can enjoy most books, but I truly pushed through this one. I must admit, I usually find it helpful and enlightening to pay close attention to reviews, but this time I felt they were extremely misleading.

You won't be disappointed with this book! It's filled with the complexity of real life, as portrayed by three-dimensional characters trying to make sense of what this crazy world offers them. I found the writing style fast-paced and jazzy, without a trace of self-indulgence or intrusiveness. The emotional complexity is maintained throughout: there's no clear-cut "good guys" or "bad guys" and that's as it should be in a work of art. This is one I'm passing around to friends and looking forward to re-reading.

A testament to the decline of the Pushcart Press and the Editor's Book award, this book is one mighty stinker. With the trite dialogue of a paperback romance, and the lengthy inner monologues of a soggy literary short, this book is hard to finish, unless like me you are determined to find out just what it was that convinced people to publish this book and then give it an award.
A few hundred pages later, I still don't know.

What an excellent portrayal of the trials of marriage. The main character is incredibly life-like and compelling, and the writing is absolutely breathtaking. I read it all through in one night.

Jack Driscoll does an excellent job of description in Lucky Man, Lucky Woman. He writes in a way that the reader would think that he actually lived through the different situations. The story is about a man who is slowly slipping away from his infertile wife for Angela, his perolee's wife. Perry, a perole officer, encounters an almost deadly tragedy with his little nephew. After this tragedy, things start to fall apart. He doesn't have a strong relationship with his parents, either, who live in Michigan. When Perry finds out about his mother's stroke the author writes, "Love, unlived and unfelt for so long, becomes only another desperate gesture in the end, a final grimace at all the pain hoarded over a lifetime." It is easy to see why Driscoll won the Pushcart's Book Award. Perry moves out for five weeks, while he himself is on perole, and is living with his good friend, Wayne. This story isn't a fast pace book, but the author does a good job describing the different feelings and emotions of Perry. I give it four stars.

Deeply felt and deeply imagined -- a thoughtful, beautifully written story of good people dealing with tragedy, love, heartbreak: life.

Jack Driscoll's writing has always been beautiful - the stories in his "Wanting Only to be Heard" are incredible - but with "Lucky Man, Lucky Woman," he takes it to the next level. I attended his reading last night in Madison, Wis., and though I'm well acquainted with his work and had already read the book, I was still left nearly speechless. Don't pass this one by.

Really stands out on the shelf