Luck

by Perseus

One woman is an ex-beauty-queen, one is a recovering addict to virtue, and one is an artist. The man of the big old house on the hill, Philip Lawrence, is suddenly dead and his departure is bound to have dramatic effects. The abruptly widowed Nora, whose recent works of biblical art have caused a fundamentalist furor in their town, is unexpectedly confronted by solo life in a place she despises. Beth, her wispy, beautiful model, faces losing a haven from her own eerie history, while housekeeper Sophie, a former overseas aid volunteer shattered by trauma, will have to find new ways to resist old compulsions. Luck follows the three days after Philip's death as the women careen through circumstances none of them could ever have imagined. 3 days, 3 women. The big question is 'What's next?'

Genres: Canada, Fiction, Contemporary, Book Club, Canadian Literature, Womens, Literary Fiction

307 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The novel opens when Nora awakens and tells her husband, Philip Lawrence, that he must get up, they have a lunch with Max in the city. But Philip doesn't stir. She looks closer and realizes he has died in his sleep. She screams and the other two women of the household - Sophie and Beth - come running.

The next 240 pages are set in the days immediately following, up to and including the funeral. Portions focus on each of the women. The novel includes not only the present and their positions in the household, but also their pasts.

The writing style is good. I feel obligated to mention it, because, for the most part, Barfoot's writing style is the best of this. There are characterizations, certainly. However, I felt as if we were being held apart from these women, that there was no attempt to have us get close enough to feel and care for any of them. For 240 pages the novel just doesn't go anywhere. When I had a brief thought of DNFing, it was far too late and I had too much time invested.

And I'm so glad I did stick with it. The last 60 pages (20%) make everything - and I mean everything - worth the very mediocre first 80%. While reading, I thought these last pages might still not be worthwhile for those younger than, say, 40. It was *very* meaningful for this now 80-year old. Philip died, remember? How can the title be Luck? Because this is about Nora, Sophie and Beth, who did not die. Late, and this doesn't directly point to Philip at all, is this: All I mean is, once a person's born, death is absolutely the outcome, and it's wise to bear that in mind if only to stay alert and make every day count.

Do we all need to be reminded of this? Yes. Still and all it took 240 pages to get to this nugget. I'm not going to pretend this is better than 3 stars, because it isn't. But it's a better 3 stars because of that reminder.

[Osmund D · Rating 2 out of 5]

I suppose it's not a bad book, per say, but my problem with it is that the cover promised dark humour, witty tragicomedy, and I got neither of those. Maybe I missed the jokes completely, but three women mourning the death of a major person in their life as they look back at their past choices and deal with putting together the funeral and their own emotional baggage alone doesn't make for good humour.

There's nothing awkward, or silly, or to make me chuckle even a little. It's a somber story about the past of these three women as they recall how they found a place they can call home and the present search for how they can rebuild their sense of home now that a major pillar of their lives is gone. I other words, it's a very serious story, and there's nothing wrong with it being a serious story, but it all becomes tediously boring when you go into the story with the expectation that there'd be some comedy.

I tried to give this book a good chance, but a hundred pages in where the closest thing to a joke is that Beth likes making teas, and I realized that it's probably not going to get much better. Most of the story is told through flashbacks rather than the interactions between the three women, which brings an already slow and leisurely paced story to a grinding halt whenever it slips into these flashbacks.

I picked up this book because I thought there'd be some cleverness to it, and if there is, then I missed it completely. I don't know why they are calling it a tragicomedy, when the comedy aspect of this seems to start and stop at the character's quarks, which alone doesn't make something humourous unless you actually do something funny with them. They should have just called this what it is, a drama. As I said, there's nothing wrong with it being a drama, and other than being not funny, it was a pretty well written book, but they set an expectation that they didn't meet, and that ruined it for me.

[Julie]

I hate to give up on a book. But at page 160 of 268 I give up. I have been pushing myself to read on over the last few days, hoping it would endear me to at least one of the three female characters. The women all lived with a middle aged man who dies in bed unexpectedly and we learn of the aftermath. I ended up wishing they had died with him! Not for me this one.

[Nykea · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bizarre story of new-age relationships. Three women grieve (and rejoice) in the death of the same man for different reasons.

[Alison Gibson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing funny or witty happens between the covers of this book, despite what it says on the outside of the cover. The novel opens on Nora, who wakes to discover her husband, Philip, is dead in the bed beside her. The other 2 occupants of the house, Sophie, their domestic majordomo (& recent lover of Philip) and Beth, Nora's artistic muse, come running when they hear Nora's screams. What follows are the three days leading up to Philip's funeral. Flashbacks of each character's life tells how they came to be together in that house but it's how they tell their back-stories, through endless navel-gazing & internal dialogue, that advances this novel at the speed of thick, dripping porridge. Despite the author's skill with words, her three central characters aren't particularly likeable or sympathetic or even all that interesting. The only character I even remotely liked was the spurned 1st wife, Lynn, who gave a cracking speech at Philip's funeral...truly, aside from the opener, it was the only highlight of this book.
2.5 stars

[Erin Moxam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third book I've read by Joan Barfoot, and I've enjoyed them all. It's about how three very different women deal with the sudden death of one of their number, Nora's, husband. This book is very witty and deep at the same time, which is standard Barfoot in my experience. What makes this book notable is the three woman and the unconventional relationships between them. There is a very interesting dynamic here, and they all have wildly different pasts as well and of course different relationships, or a lack of them, with the dead husband. This book does explore luck in all its glory as well as the utter and complete lack of it, it is also a rather powerful book about grieving and the many, many different forms that takes. Another great read from Joan Barfoot!

[Wendy Greenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Barfoot's writing which captures a period when everything didn't need to be reduced to dialogue. Barfoot scene sets and we fit the story between the lines as she spins the back stories. So restrained in its telling that we can engender the provincial mores throughout without Barfoot spelling out what is going on with the walking wounded protagonists.

Ripples of a death in a household where living arrangements have been seen in the small town community as ungodly and unwelcome. Phil's death brings the 3 female survivors discomfort as they test the house sharing boundaries and attempt to negotiate next steps.

Unravelling or re-booting? Therein lies the eloquence of the telling.

[Carol Balawyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

While the other two novels I read by Joan Barfoot – Plain Jane and Dancing in the Dark – have as themes loneliness and adultery, Luck has death weaving throughout it.
The premise is interesting: Philip lives with three women: his wife, a secret lover and a beauty queen. When he suddenly dies peacefully in his sleep at the age of 46 the novel then dives into the relationships Philip had with these women as well as the three women amongst themselves.
The writing is intense and the perspective on death deep as spoken by Hendrick, the undertaker: “ …living right inside a house of death, maybe like skydiving or tightrope walking for someone fearful of heights, puts terror where it belongs: right in the familiar, habitual heart of the matter….From what I’ve seen …death itself is easy enough it’s the dying that’s hard.”
The novel is full of wise sayings illustrating Joan Barfoot’s astute skills as a writer.
In the end, each woman and Philip is lucky for their own specific reasons which, although the subject of death may be dark this is an optimistic novel.

[Christine Montgomery · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.7 stars. I enjoyed this, I think. While, I didn't care for the three main characters, and I found their circumstances peculiar and unbelievable, I thought the book was well-written and engaging enough to keep my interest piqued.

[Mary Elizabeth Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second Joan Barfoot book I've read lately. She is my new favourite writer. This one also deals with death, what we think of it, what it means - and sucks you into completely accepting some seemingly implausible, unlikely characters. The funeral scene was splendid, and I, for one, identified with the ex-wife.

[Mindy Gough · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should not read jacket blurbs (and usually don't) - in this case, reviewers were commenting on the humour element of this book. I did not find humour anywhere in this story. The characters were not likeable or sympathetic, except perhaps for Henrik, and even then - meh.

[Grace Johnston · Rating 2 out of 5]

A real disappointment by an author I have previously enjoyed.

[Andrés · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barfoot likes to play with how the obvious in people can be so wrong. And she does this very well, again, in Luck, where she adds the ambivalence of luck, especially that of perceived luck, both good and bad.

The stage upon which Barfoot's characters explore luck is in the extended quasi-family dynamics of three disparate women living together who find their relatively impersonal work-based relationship instantly and confusingly personalized by the sudden death of Nora's middle-aged husband.

I thoroughly enjoyed how Barfoot introduces Nora with an early morning scream at her discovery that the husband she had laid down with the night before has become in their sleep a corpse. She is a successful mixed media graphic artist and Barfoot's nuance and detail make her very interesting. But as day one of the post-mortem evolves Barfoot quietly and slowly expands the depths and complexity of the other two characters to the point that Nora eventually becomes the least interesting of the three characters.

The story is told primarily through Nora, but the other two get to tell their tales too until they are all fully fleshed out. Sophie, the personal assistant who was traumatized by the failure of her good intentions to change or even ameliorate evil in the world and is in hiding inside Nora's household from that and her own do-gooder hypocrisy. There is Beth, the beautiful and pliable model who appears to the other two as an oddly vain and empty-minded ex-beauty queen with nothing of interest to offer them except to be the butt of their condescension and feigned tolerance for her compulsive need to push on them her complex health teas and other infusions.

The exploration of luck begins with how each of them have felt lucky: Nora for having found Phil and Beth and Sophie; Sophie for having found Phil and Nora; and Beth for having been found by Nora. But it is an ambivalent sort of luck because it has trapped them all in a pattern of relative unchanging — I was going to write, "comfort" but that's not quite right. Undemanding familiarity, perhaps, because their interpersonal demands are not of family, not of work mates, not of school mates. Oddly, they relate to each other from the strict requirements of their own self-interests which have been unthreatened by the others' own sell pre-occupations.

And with the ostensible bad luck of Phil dying young all that changes. The barriers of self-interest are breached in ways that are unexpected to all women and disorienting, The exploration is at times delightful and sad. Barfoot is unafraid to present characters who are seriously flawed and undoubtedly unlikable, but with such sympathy that I cared to see how each of them survived. The characters are complex enough that their interpersonal and psychological devolutions are not predictable. And the ending is a very pleasant surprise of character development.

So, with all that, and even though I thoroughly enjoyed the book I am still hesitant to give this five stars because it didn't quite blow me away. So…

☆☆☆☆ out of ☆☆☆☆☆.

For the curious I have extended the discussion on my blog with a couple of citations @ blogspot.com.

[Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I said I really liked this book. I liked the pace of it, the way the author uses words and constructs sentences, the way her characters are revealed over the course of the two-year timeframe. I didn't really care for half the characters. I found them to be isolated, unfeeling, and distant. The sympathetic ones - Sophie, Max, Hendrick, Bill - are more than overbalanced by Nora, Beth, Lynn and Philip (who although dying at the very beginning is still very much a force throughout the rest of the narrative). We are privy to each one's reaction to Philip's death and to the new dynamic placed upon Nora, Sophie and Beth in their shared household. What ensues is an assessment by each of who they are and what they want in life and how they can get it. Interesting journey for them all.

[Juniper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give this novel 4.5 stars.


I really loved the premise of Luck. It is tightly written and Barfoot gives us three very interesting main characters. My only issue with the novel is the structure of the time line. The first three sections are each one day in time. The fourth section jumps to one year later and I was let down by that plot device. I feel as though I missed out on some behind the scenes action/development. It is a minor complaint though. I think this would make for an excellent book group read.

[Paula Dembeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nora wakes one morning to what looks like a stroke of bad luck. Phillip, her husband lying beside her in bed, is dead. He leaves behind an unconventional household of complex women including Nora, an artist whose recent works have caused a fundamentalist uproar in the town where they live; Beth, Nora’s “artist model” who now faces losing a haven from her shocking past, and Sophie the housekeeper who was also Phillip’s lover. In the days immediately following the death, the women careen through circumstances none would have expected and begin to reshape their lives as they consider their future.

A Giller Prize Finalist.
A good read.

[Alka · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a surprise package, the kind of book which you just happen to come across, not knowing what it will be like and start to read with skepticism, looking for the first opportunity to trash it but cant put down once started. It is a story or rather a daily account of how the kith and kin of the man of the house deal with his death. This is not a topic which I thought can be written as fiction but there it was. It is irreverent and honest and steers clear of the syrupy, dead-can-do-no-wrong approach.

[Katherine Doll · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm giving 3 stars only because the writing was so stellar. Covers the three days following the death of Philip Lawrence and the effect it has on his wife Nora, their personal assistant and his one time lover Sophie, and Nora's artist's model Beth - all who live in the same house.

Holey Moley, there's a whole lotta navel gazing going on here. Now, if it only had any semblance of a plot I would have enjoyed it much more. I seriously considered giving up totally about half way through but can't say I read the last bit with any concentration. Just skimmed it to get it over with.

[Erika Nerdypants · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure if maybe this was the wrong book to read during bleak, grey winter days, but this seemed like a very dark novel to me. Ordinarily I'm not afraid to read "heavy" books, but I wished this had contained more of Barfoot's sense of wicked humor to lighten the story a little. As it was, I found it difficult to go back to reading it. I felt uneasy with the main characters and for me the narrative lacked cohesion. If I didn't like her writing so much, this might have been a 2 star read for me.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Actual Rating = 3.75 stars)

Luck is the tale of Nora, Beth and Sophie. Nora is a controversial artist, married to Philip. Sophie is a former aide worker who now serves as Nora's secretary. And Beth is Nora's model. They all live in a big house in a small town. One day, Nora wakes up to discover Philip is dead, and the story goes from there.

I enjoyed Luck. Joan Barfoot's writing reminds me of Margaret Atwood's. I'm not sure if that was Barfoot's intention, or if that's just how Canadian female authors write.

[Nadine K · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel is about the death of Phillip and the women in his household dealing with it. Or at least his death forces them to take a good look at their life and decide "What's next?" This book really lacked a strong message or force for the reader to hold on to. The women, his wife Nora, the housekeeper, Sophie and the model, Beth are all somewhat dull characters. I was left hoping for something a little more poetic or hopeful about what happens to others after a death.

[Harvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

- from the jacket: "Nora, an artist, wakens one morning to discover that her husband, lying beside her, has died in the night. Naturally, she screams, causing Beth, Nora's ethereal artist's model, and Sophie, the house-keeper, who also live in the big house on the hill, to come rushing..."
- the days following Philip's death affect the three women in different ways, as each had a unique relationship with the deceased, as well as shocking histories of their own.

[Frank Caron · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a hard time reading this novel. From the breathless pace of tangents and diatribes which distracts from more than informs the main story arc, Joan's "Luck" is hardly worth lauding. What few gems of phrase-turn and thought are cast discoloured by a narrative cast in a mould of attention deficit. There are brief moments of genuine engaging writing, such as the funeral service scene, but aside from a few small portions the meal as a whole is unsatisfying.

[Cami · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little dark as it deals with death. Three women move on following the death of the man of the house. The wife, the assistant turned mistress and his wife's posing model. A little bit quirky and lightly captivating this was different. Spoiler Alert! Nora the deceased husbands widow turns his ashes into her life time masterpiece. A couple of teeth and chunks of bone and all. Just a wee bit on the morbid side.

[Alison · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a book club title and that was the only reason that I plugged in to finish it. My perseverance did pay off as I found a few surprises in the ending.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set over three days after a death, this book traces the emotions of three distinctly different women who lived with the man: the artist wife, the husband's lover (and activist), and the artist's model (and secret holder). Each chapter is in each woman's voice, and the voice and language is true to each.

[Sarah Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

there were parts of this book that initially felt like chick lit, but I think what I really was experiencing was an irresistibly compelling book with women protagonists. the first 20 pages or so were not mind-blowing - I would actually say that the book itself is not mind-blowing - but after Barfoot sets the scene what unfolds is so enjoyable.

[Jasmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book but I am pretty sure it's a love/ hate thing. You either find the story interesting or you'll hate it. Personally, I found the different relationships of the characters very interesting and entertaining.

[Janice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't love this book - not enough plot development for me. The characters are interesting enough, but a bit too much navel gazing going on. Doesn't help that the entire book takes place over a 3 day period (save the last chapter that is 1 year later). It was a SLOW read for me.

[Juliek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this only to find I had already read and rated it (no date). No recollection at all!