Luck: A Novel

by Eric B. Martin

Mike Olive returns to his North Carolina farming community with a group of fellow Duke University students to investigate the decline of tobacco farming and the use--and abuse--of Mexican farm workers, but his determination to rid his town of corruption and bigotry causes conflict among his neighbors, a situation that becomes complicated by his growing feelings for the daughter of one of his father's workers. A first novel.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2000

Reviews

[Leah Beecher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my beach read this year.
A very memorable story, set in current times in the deep south of North Carolina on a tobacco farm. A nineteen year old college kid who wants to be a force for social justice, starting in his own tight-knit home town. Things don't go well for Mike. It follows the lives of a Mexican family who have made their way to America as migrant workers. It examines both families. The good and bad. Centering on the beguiling Hermalinda. Then there is the strained rival relationship between Mike and Harvey; competing childhood friends turned hostile rivals. I loved Eric Martin's writing. His dialogue, his descriptive writing of one hot sticky summer with even hotter passions and tempers was poetic and near perfect; told in such a way it never felt like the author was ever trying. Basically, what every author tries like crazy to accomplish, but few seldom do. He used the writing trick of opening the book with what eventually becomes the climax of the story. Of course the reader has no idea what is going on, or who any of the characters are. But it bites down and reels you in. A bitter-sweet, boy becoming man, social and cultural observation, story.

[Frederick Bingham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This the story of two main characters. Michael Olive is a young man grown up in a North Carolina farming community. His father inherited a good piece of land from an eccentric local man. So his father is fairly wealthy and Michael is going to Duke University. Hermalinda is a Mexican girl. The story follows her and her family from her native village, to two border towns and finally to the same farming area as Olive. Her family are migrant workers on the Olive farm.Michael comes home for the summer to organize and provide services to the migrant workers. They live in a local Catholic retreat house. Michael and Hermalinda fall in love amid prejudice and violence. Many local people have trouble adjusting to the presence of the Mexican workers, who are incredibly necessary for farm labor in the hot Carolina sun.

[Dina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall good story about the plight of Mexican immigrants in southern America and one university student's attempt to improve their lifestyles. Eric Martin shows the prejudice just like it must really be in such a situation. I empathized with Hermelinda and Mike, and enjoyed the way the author made Harvey seem real by having him struggle with his conscience. It's a classic story of the loss of a friendship between two individuals due to the different classes they eventually belong to.

I also liked the Spanish phrases and Mexican culture woven into the book.