Customer Reviews

My Lucky Star

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

...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).

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'.

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.

I was thrilled to see that Joe Keenan has finally published another book, 10 years or so after "Blue Heaven" and "Putting on the Ritz." I picked up this book at about 3:00am suffering from jet lag, and read it to the end in one sitting. At several points, I was literally gasping for breath I was laughing so hard. Keenan is a master at methodically building comical suspense and then releasing it with an explosive and hysterical one-liner ( ". . . that would have made lesser women fall to their knees and ululate in despair").

I can't wait for the next one. Meanwhile, I'll keep rereading these fantastic books and savoring Keenan's ingenious nuggets of humor again and again.

At last, Joe Keenan has returned from his oh-so-enviable job as writer/producer on Frasier to the less-renumerative but much-anticipated role as author of another Philip/Gilbert/Claire farce.

In "My Lucky Star", he takes on the Hollywood of closeted stars, has-beens, and wannabes, and folks such as our heroes, Philip and Gilbert, putative scriptwriters who wander cluelessly through perils that only our beloved Claire can, eventually, negoitiate.

Fans such as I will revel in the improbable mess our heroes get into before, as usual, in the last few chapters, Claire (as always) reluctantly and amazingly rescues them. (I challenge anyone but Keenan to figure out beforehand a way out of the imbroglio Phil and Gil get into!) Others may want to guess whom Keenan has modeled his megastar characters on. (Okay, I have my own thoughts.) Myself, I chuckled and guffawed all the way through. Keenan's wit retains its pointedness like an Egyptian dagger, sharp and bloody, skewering the cast while benevolently nodding to the occasional kind cameo by current Famous Names.

You want dish? You'll get it, however fictional. And boy, is this dish delectable! Pity, I suppose, that only we, the readers, get the full glory of what would wonderfully appear in Variety or on-line, were it not for our heroine's machinations. But Philip's exquisite, explicit story more than makes up for what many of us would love to see displayed on page one.

Imagine the biggest gay Hollywood scandal you can concoct. Now triple it, complicate it beyond all reason, and try your best to get out of it. You can't, can you? Well, Keenan can. How? Well, I guess you'll have to read it just as I did, dude.

If you like Hollywood trash and if you like side-splitting comedy, this is the book for you. However, this is written from a gay man's perspective so right wing conservative readers may have a problem with that. Well, with the events in DC in the last few days, maybe not. There is only one real sex scene and trust me, it's PURE comedy.

Now with the warnings out of the way, how many times do you read a book where the witty dialog makes you laugh out loud? You are guaranteed with this book to do that. More plot twists than a rattlesnake curled up for a night of sleep you will read this opened eyed as you are amazed where the plot takes you. Three New York friends land in Hollywood with no experience and a screenwriting gig for the top star in Hollywood (think Tom Cruise)? How do neophytes land such a role? Well, the usual way, "I bull________ them" to borrow from Chris Slater in Modern Romance. Changed the name on "Casablanca" and passed it off as his own to an action Producer too dumb to know. Of course, it also didn't hurt that the very attractive mother of one of the writers just married an older very wealthy movie mogul.

But all things are not as they seemed. Were they really hired or is it just a front? Read this book for pure enjoyment and fun watching the "blessed people of the West" manipulate and scheme their way in this outrageous comedy.

I found this book irresistible like the previous two, with two reserves: One, I found the actuals description of a sex act a bit out of place-couldn't JK leave it to the reader's imagination, like he did before? Two, deja vus of Putting on The Ritz plot continued to flash (on the double crossing part and the malicious and/or unwitting use of recording devices. What I l loved, anyway, was the glorious piling up of the most improbable and funny mishaps and plots twists I've ever seen. Wodehouse meets Rabelais here, as unfortunate blunders made by our anti-heros, Philip and Gilbert, lead to still more sorry mistakes, and horrific consequences are staved of at the last minute.And the Oscar Myth receives a treatment much less gory, much more sexy,than it gets on Ben Elton's Popcorn, but equally funny.

I hadn't read the two earlier books, but have now purchased them and look forward to doing so after reading My Lucky Star. The book is simply laugh out loud funny. I found myself trying to read it fast to find out what happened next, then going back to reread certain passages because some of the one-liners were so clever and witty. Buy this book -- you won't be disappointed. And no, I'm not Joe Keenana's publicist.

I thought the previous two were the funniest books I'd ever read, but this one is even more hilarious. Some people have objected to the sex scene, but you'll be laughing too hard to be offended.

My Lucky Star reads like a detailed screenplay of a three-part episode of Frasier. Many of the characters resemble those on the show, like Bulldog, Bebe and especially Gil the restaurant critic. And why not? The author was a writer/producer and Emmy award winner for the smash TV series. All of this is complimentary because Frasier was very, very funny, as is this book. Philip, Claire and Gilbert manage to parlay some Hollywood connections and a sitcom-like bit of chicanery into a gig writing a major screenplay. The male star, Stephen, ("twice named People magazine's 'Sexiest Man Alive'") is secretly in the closet. In a hilarious sequence involving people popping in and out of doors (sound familiar?), Stephen becomes compromised. The rest of the story involves a series of events carried out Lucy and Ethyl style, or more appropriately, Frasier and Niles style, to exonerate him. It is so funny that the guy next to me on the plane asked me what I was reading that made me laugh so hard. In addition to the funny dialogue, there is fairly graphic sex, lots of camp and even a good measure of descriptive writing that can only come across in a book as opposed to on television. (Reference: describing a certain act performed by inserting fingers as "though he were looking for his keys in there.") The author notes that the work took some ten years to complete and that perhaps explains my only small complaint that some tightening up and editing could have only improved the end product. If you've seen every episode of Frasier and want some fresh material, this is as close as you're going to get.