My Lucky Star: A Novel [Hardcover]

Joe Keenan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 25, 2006

The luckless writing team of Philip Cavanaugh and Claire Simmons is lured to Hollywood by their shifty pal Gilberts offer of an improbably high-profile screenwriting gig. The job proves even more ill-gotten than theyd feared, but just as Claire packs her bags, enter sexy megastar Stephen Donato, the monarch of Philips fantasies and a man with a Problem. Stephen, secretly gay, has gotten wind of a memoir to be penned by his aunt Lily, a washed-up actress with more than enough TNT to blow the hinges off his closet. Philip, smitten, proposes a bargain: if they can write Stephens next picture, Philip will do double duty as Lilys ghostwriter, providing Stephen a spy and an agent of influence in the enemy camp. What could go wrong? Well, for starters theres the arrival of Moira Finch, the trios old nemesis and as cunning a wolf as ever donned a sheep suit. Thanks to Moiras machinations, Philip soon finds himself center stage in a rapidly escalating fiasco involving call boys, blackmail, enraged publicists, vengeful DAs, and the single most ill-judged sex act a married megastar has ever committed. Written with the manic brilliance and nonstop hilarity Keenan brought to both his previous two Philip and Gilbert books and the dizzy farces he scripted for Frasier, MY LUCKY STAR sends up Hollywood pretense higher than its ever been sent before.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In two earlier novels, Blue Heaven (1988) and Putting on the Ritz (1991), Keenan adapted and updated P.G. Wodehouse to his own original and side-splitting ends. Now, after a long hiatus largely spent as a writer and producer on the TV show Frasier, Keenan has produced a comic masterpiece that in intricacy of plotting and brilliance of language rivals the best of Wodehouse. Keenan sends his down-on-their-luck heroes—ordinary guy and narrator Philip Cavanaugh; Philip's unscrupulous pal and former lover, Gilbert Selwyn; and their brainy friend, Claire Simmons—to Hollywood, where Philip winds up helping aging has-been movie star, Lily Malenfant, pen her scandalous memoirs. In fact, Philip has been hired as a spy by Lily's more successful actress sister, Diana, and Diana's son, Stephen Donato, a closeted male action star, who both have good reason to fear the dirt Lily plans to dish. Enter the boys' nemesis from Blue Heaven, Moira Finch, and their fortunes plummet in a series of misadventures involving blackmail, male prostitutes, impersonating a police officer, and a sex act caught on videotape that's as audacious as it is hilarious. By the end, a vindictive DA thinks he has Philip and Gilbert at his mercy, but of course he didn't reckon with Claire, who comes up with a solution to their troubles worthy of that which Jeeves uses to save Bertie's neck in The Code of the Woosters. Hitherto marketed primarily to gay readers, Keenan deserves to win a large, appreciative audience of all sexual persuasions with this tour de force.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The glamorous Hollywood novel gets a sharp send-up as a smart drawing-room comedy crossed liberally with farce in this third offering from a successful television writer. Struggling playwrights Philip and Claire are summoned to Tinseltown by their calculating friend Gilbert to be screenwriters for a legendary diva, Diana Malenfant, and her megastar son, Stephen Donato. When the budding screenwriters are revealed as inadvertent plagiarists, Philip is forced to ghostwrite the memoirs of Diana's toxic has-been sister, Lily, and turn over all potentially damaging pages to Diana and Stephen. Lily is threatening to expose the silver screen's best-kept secret, that Stephen is gay. All are coexisting in a glittery detente until L.A.'s most fashionable madam gets the goods on the entire cast and demands a production credit, prodding the ever-capable Claire to devise the most madcap of rescues. The witty banter, zany plot twists, and colorful, likable characters (even the dastardly villains) provide a delight for fans of brainy comedy. If the ghost of Noel Coward isn't pleased, Frasier's is. Kaite Mediatore
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; First Edition edition (January 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316060194
• ISBN-13: 978-0316060196
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,668,397 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the love child of P.G. Wodehouse and..., February 8, 2006

By 

FaveDave - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Lucky Star: A Novel (Hardcover)

...well, I can't really think of anyone except Joe Keenan. (After all, Wodehouse was notoriously asexual so couldn't really have a love child.)

"My Lucky Star" has all the intricate plotting of a Wodehouse novel, but with the bite of piranah. Let me rush to state that Keenan's writing style is in no way merely derivative of old Pelham Grenville - what they share is the ability to construct a marvelous world that is as perfect and complete as a Faberge egg. And just as rare and valuable in the realm of literature.

But Keenan has a style that stands completely on its own.

As a straight man, I have never actually read anything that could remotely be called "gay literature", and in fact did not know anything about the previous two novels or the gay characters. (I didn't actually avoid it, but it was not a subject of interest to me - so why seek it out?) So I read this book based on the fact the Keenan was a writer for "Frasier", the bestest show ever.

I had no idea I was in for such a wicked, wicked ride of a novel. While it has all the good manners of a drawing room comedy, the salacious plot and growing honesty with which the main character voices his lust, then falls prey to it, had me howling out loud. That such an articulate and well-mannered fellow could be seduced by Hollywood and its denizens, despite knowing better (much better), made reading this a blast. It's always so much funnier when smart people do stupid things, dontcha think?

The brilliant lines fly so fast and furious in the first few chapters that at one point I said to myself: "How the hell will he keep this pace up for an entire novel?" But he did. It's an odd feeling to read a brand new book and think "well, that sentence will be appearing in those quote books people buy at Christmas and give to their friends that ends up in the bathroom for guests to read. And that sentence. And that one..." etc. The sheer volume of unfettered straight-to-the-bullseye wit is something I have never encountered in a book before, and frankly, am at a bit of a loss to describe its impact. Just trust me on this.

I think anyone would devour this book who:

(a) has at least a slightly above average IQ so that they get the jokes, and
(b) has ambition or knows someone who is ambitious.

Because that's what drove this book for me: smarts and ambition. Throw in the obstacles of sex, lust, money, and making movies, and you've got the idea.

I can't wait till they make this into a movie! (Yes, I am fully aware of the irony of that statement. You will be, too after reading the book).

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Long Overdue, February 4, 2006

By 

Brett Benner (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: My Lucky Star: A Novel (Hardcover)

Joe Keenan is the master of the modern farce. His clever twisting plotlines have managed to make Claire, Gilbert, and Philip the modern equivalent of Noel Coward's trio in 'Design for Living'. The first two books are hysterical, and have an ageless appeal, so it was nice to get my hands on this long awaited new chapter in the lives of our gay blades and their gal pal.
A closeted movie star, an ambitious writer, sex scandals, and blackmail. There were plot points that felt more Jackie Collins, than Keenan, however there's no denying he's a master at tying a twisted plot that releases a torrent of laughs, and some of the wittiest one liners you're likely to see since repeats of 'Frasier'.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is one funny book!, January 19, 2006

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Lucky Star: A Novel (Hardcover)

What do you get when you mix two naive screenwriters, an unlucky ne'er-do-well with a penchant for plagiarism, a closeted superstar and his equally famous mother, a down-on-her-luck actress willing to dish all in her memoir, a homophobic district attorney looking to run for governor, a couple of call boys, and the next Hollywood madame? My Lucky Star, the new, hysterically funny Hollywood comedy by Joe Keenan.

Joe Keenan, best known for his work as a writer-producer for TV's Frasier, has produced a real gem in his third novel, My Lucky Star. At its lowest common denominator, the book is about a young gay writer trying to make it big in Hollywood where everyone has his own agenda and the Showbiz God is a fickle friend. Driven by an eclectic cast of characters, the novel has a plot with more twists and turns than a rollercoaster. Anything that can go wrong does go wrong, which makes My Lucky Star a laugh-out-loud funny page-turner.

The real star of the book, however, is Keenan's narrative style. My Lucky Star is narrated by Phillip, the protagonist, shortly after the described events take place. He frequently addresses the reader, giving commentary on what he is about to recount. As a narrator Philip is wonderfully witty and self-deprecating. He also knows all too well the disastrous effects of each of the seemingly innocent moves he and his friends make.

Throughout the book Keenan's writing sparkles while Philip's personality lends a whole other layer to the zany story as it takes place. (This type of narration also allows Keenan to give any squeamish readers ample warning about the sex scenes.)

A comedy of errors that's all about sex, lies, and Hollywood, My Lucky Star is a winning combination of great writing, colorful characters, and nonstop comedic action.

Armchair Interviews says: This is one funny book that you won't be able to put down.