What do you think?
Rate this book
The Rich Part of Life
Teddy Pappas is an eleven-year-old boy forced into maturity before his time. He lives with his younger brother and their eccentric Civil War historian father, a man more comfortable with discussing Confederate footwear than what kind of day his sons had. Their lives have been quiet for a year since the real lifeblood of their household, Teddy's mother, died in a tragic car accident. On the one-year anniversary of her death, Teddy's stoic father plays his wife's favorite lottery numbers in a tender, uncharacteristic act. When it turns out that the family holds the $190 million winning ticket, their world is instantly transformed.Seemingly overnight, a host of colorful characters demands their attention, including Teddy's hilarious aunt and uncle, a beautiful divorcée, a desperate former soap opera star, and a menacing stranger who threatens the very core of the family. As events spiral out of control, the family struggles to discover what "the rich part of life" really is.Featuring a unique father-child bond, Jim Kokoris's moving first novel is flavored with the rich characterizations and poignant charm of early John Irving. Creating the perfect balance of humor and pathos, Kokoris takes us on an unforgettable journey through the ups and downs of this revelation of unexpected wealth.
431 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 16, 2001
17 people are currently reading
487 people want to read
About the author
Jim Kokoris
15 books74 followersChicago-area novelist Jim Kokoris is the author of three books, "The Rich Part of Life," "Sister North," and "The Pursuit of Other Interests." His books have been published in 15 languages and have been optioned for film consideration. The winner of The Friends Of American Writers Award for Best First Novel ( 2001), his humor essays have appeared regularly in The Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine.
He is married and has three sons.
He is married and has three sons.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 135 reviews
May 10, 2013
Roman o odrastanju... o dečaku koji prerano ostaje bez majke a otac dobije na lutriji... i Večito pitanje, šta biste uradili s novcem da dobijete na lotou... Topla i nežna priča...
February 13, 2008
I found this book listed in a book chat room. It's opening line: The day we won the lottery I was wearing the wax lips that my dad bought me and the Nose Picker at the gas station. How can you not like a book that has a entry like that. What a charming find. It has the most interesting characters. I have to say my favorite would be the out of work vampiric actor. It has many humorous moments, it is sometimes predictable but still very enjoyable.
August 11, 2016
A great book that was funny, suspenseful and engaging. It is like 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' meets 'The Descendants' -- the story of a Greek family with the type of hilarious humor that all ethnic groups can appreciate, used as a backdrop for a much darker story of sudden wealth, dark secrets and legacy, all narrated by an 11 year old boy. I loved the Chicago setting. Author Jim Kokoris also has the rare gift (which I like to call 'To Kill a Mockingbird' syndrome) of being able to tell an adult story as seen through the eyes of a child, with all the requisite innocence and humor. Full of laugh out loud moments and great conversations. This was recommended to me by a book club, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes a good, engaging story. Chicago natives will love it, too!
December 4, 2015
Loved it! Told from the perspective of an eleven year old boy, with a younger brother ("The Nose Picker"), whose mother has died, Jim Kokoris has written a most engaging and unexpected tale, with a wonderful cast of eccentric but engaging characters. Kokoris weaves a subtle nuance throughout his writing: what remains unsaid is more powerful than what is told as the story unfolds. Don't want to give anything away....there are some things you'll see coming and some you won't, but always the unexpected, too. A very enjoyable read with some great characters and a quite surprising plot.
September 21, 2016
Liked this one a lot. The characters are unique. The story explores the question of what happens to people when they suddenly come into a lot of money. In this case, it affected others more than those who won the money.
February 26, 2015
An interesting read but moved slow. Kind of slow. Interesting father/son relationship. Had to force myself to finish!
January 3, 2025
No tiene ningún objetivo de ser, y eso lo hace mejor
November 24, 2015
Professor of history Theo Pappas plays his dead wife's favorite lottery numbers - the date of birth of his oldest son, Teddy - and wins $190 million. The lives of the Pappas family members are forever changed, but all does not go smoothly. Kokoris gives the reader a wonderful cast of characters who are vividly drawn. My book club really enjoyed this book. We couldn't help ourselves and simply HAD to "cast the movie" - Kevin Spacey as Theo. And, of course, it made us wonder - would WE be changed by winning the lottery?
October 30, 2014
Told from the perspective of an 11 year old boy who recently lost his mother, it is extraordinarily well written.
On contemplating his widower father who is not well himself: "Due to the uncertain state of his health, I was convinced that Tommy and I daily walked the fine line that separates children from orphans." He then looks up "Orphanages" in the yellow pages.
Through the course of the novel we see the slow emergence of the baffled and disconnected father after he was won the lottery and refuses to spend it.
On contemplating his widower father who is not well himself: "Due to the uncertain state of his health, I was convinced that Tommy and I daily walked the fine line that separates children from orphans." He then looks up "Orphanages" in the yellow pages.
Through the course of the novel we see the slow emergence of the baffled and disconnected father after he was won the lottery and refuses to spend it.
April 1, 2016
I seriously loved this book. If I lived near Jim Kokoris I would ask to be an editor so I could read everything first. He has such an amazing ability to develop character. I've never really had a favorite author but I'm getting there with Kokoris. Loved this book.
May 10, 2016
I can't get enough of this author and the way that he paints a picture with words of the story. It's funny and quirky. I highly recommend!
May 30, 2017
Es gracioso que no lo había puesto como leído siendo el libro que me inició en el hábito de la lectura, pero bueno, aquí está. Mejor tarde que nunca.
July 6, 2018
Fairly certain that everyone has a 'what would I do if I won the lottery' list. Sometimes it's multiple lists, adjusted by the size of the prize. I have such a list, which is interesting given that I don't buy lottery tickets. My list is -
Hire an island and take all my friends on a beach holiday.
Take a world trip that includes Iceland, the Bahamas and the Maldives.
Choose some charities that a big contribution would make a massive difference to (I already have some that are close to my heart).
Buy a seaside shack in the place where I spend summer (McCrae) - nothing fancy because there will always be sand on the floor.
Given the existence of these lists, it's intriguing when lotteries go unclaimed (as happened in Melbourne this week) - and this is the topic of Jim Kokoris's novel, The Rich Part of Life.
Teddy's mother was killed in a car accident, leaving him, his younger brother and their father, Theo. Theo is an eccentric Civil War professor, whose grief is crippling.
Theo enters a lottery using his wife's old numbers, and wins $190 million. He is slow to claim the prize and when he does, the family's life changes in unexpected ways. Despite Teddy's wishlist (a ranch, new bikes and a big television), Theo seemingly has no interest in spending the money. Naturally, other people do. Theo's elderly aunt and his brother, Frank, move in and various acquaintances and neighbours are suddenly very friendly. Teddy begins to understand that to be 'rich' means many things.
The broad concept for this story is appealing, and presents questions such as how money changes people, and whether some are more 'deserving' of a windfall than others. The exploration of the eternal question - can money buy happiness, or in this case ameliorate grief - is a little too obviously executed given the family's situation but nevertheless was interesting. Notably, while people avoided the family in their grief, they clamoured to be near in their prosperity.
My problem with the story was that it became cluttered with characters, each trying to stake their claim and each with obvious motivations. Furthermore, these additional characters were all a little odd - the ex-beauty-queen, the washed-up actor who only played vampires; a motherless baby; a worldly football player-turned-bodyguard, and so on. As the story became increasingly 'busy', the delicately explored relationship between Teddy and Theo was lost, and any reflections on grief that Kokoris could provide from Teddy's perspective were drowned in the noise - a shame given that Teddy's voice was perceptive and real.
2/5 Overdone.
Hire an island and take all my friends on a beach holiday.
Take a world trip that includes Iceland, the Bahamas and the Maldives.
Choose some charities that a big contribution would make a massive difference to (I already have some that are close to my heart).
Buy a seaside shack in the place where I spend summer (McCrae) - nothing fancy because there will always be sand on the floor.
Given the existence of these lists, it's intriguing when lotteries go unclaimed (as happened in Melbourne this week) - and this is the topic of Jim Kokoris's novel, The Rich Part of Life.
Teddy's mother was killed in a car accident, leaving him, his younger brother and their father, Theo. Theo is an eccentric Civil War professor, whose grief is crippling.
I couldn't count on him for much. He frequently got lost when he drove, misplaced his wallet and keys almost daily, and drifted off in the middle of most conversations.
Theo enters a lottery using his wife's old numbers, and wins $190 million. He is slow to claim the prize and when he does, the family's life changes in unexpected ways. Despite Teddy's wishlist (a ranch, new bikes and a big television), Theo seemingly has no interest in spending the money. Naturally, other people do. Theo's elderly aunt and his brother, Frank, move in and various acquaintances and neighbours are suddenly very friendly. Teddy begins to understand that to be 'rich' means many things.
The broad concept for this story is appealing, and presents questions such as how money changes people, and whether some are more 'deserving' of a windfall than others. The exploration of the eternal question - can money buy happiness, or in this case ameliorate grief - is a little too obviously executed given the family's situation but nevertheless was interesting. Notably, while people avoided the family in their grief, they clamoured to be near in their prosperity.
My problem with the story was that it became cluttered with characters, each trying to stake their claim and each with obvious motivations. Furthermore, these additional characters were all a little odd - the ex-beauty-queen, the washed-up actor who only played vampires; a motherless baby; a worldly football player-turned-bodyguard, and so on. As the story became increasingly 'busy', the delicately explored relationship between Teddy and Theo was lost, and any reflections on grief that Kokoris could provide from Teddy's perspective were drowned in the noise - a shame given that Teddy's voice was perceptive and real.
2/5 Overdone.
Read
May 5, 2020Who plays the lottery? Which one of you has the dream of winning Power Ball and changing your life forever?
What would you buy if you won $190 million in a lottery?
Eleven-year-old Teddy Pappas also has a list of things he wants.
Read p. 10: "One day after school …or forgotten in a place that was inconvenient for me to retrieve." He also adds a new car and a bigger house and a robot to serve him cold Cokes in his new waterbed.
Read p. 12: "A few hours later … our lives a spectacle, a sad parade."
One thing the lottery money cannot buy him, however, is the return of Teddy's dead mother or the making of his older, distant and unemotional father into someone he can depend on.
When the news gets out that the Pappas family has won big-time, all sort of crazy characters show up for a piece of the pie: sex neighbor Mrs. Wilcox brings an actual pie, old Aunt Bess moves in with her ancient cat and Uncle Frank abandons his latest attempt to film a successful vampire movie. Add to this the constant requests for money, not a penny of which Teddy's father will agree to spend.
This book is set in suburban Chicago in a fictitious town that may very well be Winnetka or Wilmette. Come along as the Pappas' figure out what really is the rich part of life.
What would you buy if you won $190 million in a lottery?
Eleven-year-old Teddy Pappas also has a list of things he wants.
Read p. 10: "One day after school …or forgotten in a place that was inconvenient for me to retrieve." He also adds a new car and a bigger house and a robot to serve him cold Cokes in his new waterbed.
Read p. 12: "A few hours later … our lives a spectacle, a sad parade."
One thing the lottery money cannot buy him, however, is the return of Teddy's dead mother or the making of his older, distant and unemotional father into someone he can depend on.
When the news gets out that the Pappas family has won big-time, all sort of crazy characters show up for a piece of the pie: sex neighbor Mrs. Wilcox brings an actual pie, old Aunt Bess moves in with her ancient cat and Uncle Frank abandons his latest attempt to film a successful vampire movie. Add to this the constant requests for money, not a penny of which Teddy's father will agree to spend.
This book is set in suburban Chicago in a fictitious town that may very well be Winnetka or Wilmette. Come along as the Pappas' figure out what really is the rich part of life.
July 7, 2020
La verdad, disfruté mucho este libro, así que no logro comprender como no es más conocido.
El argumento esta bien llevado, y satiriza de una forma bastante realista el cómo sería ganar la lotería, y las consecuencias de dicho premio.
Todo en el argumento incluso puede rozar lo cliché, pero una vez se lo analiza, es totalmente fehaciente y posible que todo suceda tal cual en el libro... Demostrando que la vida es un cliché constante y redundante.
Interesante, ciertamente, lo que nos plantea el autor.
No es un cinco estrellas, primero, porque más allá del buen enfoque satírico, prefiere quedarse en lo posible cuando, tal vez, explotando la situación, podría haber conseguido aún mayor efecto.
Y segundo, porque las últimas 30 hojas del libro no me parecieron del todo ''realistas'', aunque, tal vez, si lo sea, pero no me pareció que el autor lo desarrollase de la forma adecuada, ya que uno, incluso, llega a sentir lástima del enemigo, lo cual, tal vez un merito del autor, provoca en el lector reacciones contradictorias.
En fin, muy buena lectura. Divertida, tierna, y entretenida.
Muchas gracias, Jim Kokoris, por este libro.
Ojalá encuentre más libros de este autor en español.
El argumento esta bien llevado, y satiriza de una forma bastante realista el cómo sería ganar la lotería, y las consecuencias de dicho premio.
Todo en el argumento incluso puede rozar lo cliché, pero una vez se lo analiza, es totalmente fehaciente y posible que todo suceda tal cual en el libro... Demostrando que la vida es un cliché constante y redundante.
Interesante, ciertamente, lo que nos plantea el autor.
No es un cinco estrellas, primero, porque más allá del buen enfoque satírico, prefiere quedarse en lo posible cuando, tal vez, explotando la situación, podría haber conseguido aún mayor efecto.
Y segundo, porque las últimas 30 hojas del libro no me parecieron del todo ''realistas'', aunque, tal vez, si lo sea, pero no me pareció que el autor lo desarrollase de la forma adecuada, ya que uno, incluso, llega a sentir lástima del enemigo, lo cual, tal vez un merito del autor, provoca en el lector reacciones contradictorias.
En fin, muy buena lectura. Divertida, tierna, y entretenida.
Muchas gracias, Jim Kokoris, por este libro.
Ojalá encuentre más libros de este autor en español.
July 20, 2017
I would give this 3.5 stars. It was a lovely idea with quirky and sweet characters but I found that it dragged. It could have been tightened up. It's interesting because he hit the jackpot with his next book it's...nice...outside. This book was a warm up to that one that fixed the writing issues I saw in this one!
February 8, 2020
Actualyl I would rate this 3.5 stars. This was in a Reader's Digest Condensed book that a friend of mine gave me. The characters all have things that are troubling them in life. Circumstances aren't all that they seem and how things came to be is a wonderful story woven throughout the story. This is at its core a story of family. Love and connection. It was a good story.
May 18, 2017
I thought the first part of the book was slow; however, the second half of the book made up for it. An exciting and satisfying ending changed my opinion of the book from a 3 star to a 4. A good story worth reading.
March 17, 2018
Amazon and Goodreads
Funny,sad,touching,inspirational---what more could a reader want in a book! And I recommend It's Nice Outside for the same reasons. Jim Kokonis is a wonderful author,and his books are a delightful,easy read.
Funny,sad,touching,inspirational---what more could a reader want in a book! And I recommend It's Nice Outside for the same reasons. Jim Kokonis is a wonderful author,and his books are a delightful,easy read.
September 5, 2019
He llegit la traducció castellana (Elena Barrutia). Novela i traducció molt fluixes. El que prometia humor i diversos punts de vista sobre la nova situació familiar, queda molt mal lligat, personatges i escenes forçades. Només volia acabar-la per dir 'ja està'.
June 6, 2025
I really liked a lot about this book and genuinely found it to be a page-turner. It would have made a fantastic movie from the nineties, to be honest. Upon inspection, the plot is a LITTLE messy, the characterization a BIT expected.
June 26, 2017
Really enjoyed this read. Very entertaining story.
January 15, 2018
I really enjoyed this book. I'm not sure that the trip to the Civil War enactment furthered things a whole lot, but other than that, the dialogue is strong, and the character development of the kids and the main characters brother, I thought were very strong. Some nice wry humor at times. I liked his latest It's.Nice.Outside even more.
June 27, 2018
I found a copy of this novel in a book sale and its like finding a treasure ✨
March 11, 2019
Cute beginning and nice idea for a plot. Got a little predictable by the end.
June 11, 2020
Un libro duriiiiisimo y a la vez maravilloso
January 3, 2021
I liked this book. I liked
March 5, 2021
Got off to a great start and had some good doses of humor but overall the writing was very clunky.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 135 reviews