Best to Laugh

by Lorna Landvik

No one steps up to life’s banquet, holds out her tray, and orders, “Grief, please!” But as a child, Candy Pekkala was served a heaping helping of it. Every buffet line has a dessert section, however, and when a cousin calls with a Hollywood apartment to sublet, it seems as though Candy is finally offered something sweet. It’s good-bye to Minnesota and hello to California, where a girl who has always lived by her wits has a real chance of making a living with them. With that, the irrepressible Lorna Landvik launches her latest irresistible character onto the world stage—or at least onto the dimly lit small stage where stand-up comedy gets its start. Herself a comic performer, Landvik taps her own adventurous past and Minnesota roots to conjure Candy’s life in this strange new Technicolor home. Her fellow tenants at Peyton Hall include a female bodybuilder, a ruined nightclub impresario, and a well-connected Romanian fortune-teller. There are game show appearances and temp jobs at a record company and an establishment suspiciously like the Playboy Mansion, and of course the alluring but not always welcoming stage of stand-up comedy. As she hones her act, Candy is tested by humiliation, hecklers, and the inherent sexism that insists “chicks aren’t funny.” Written with the light touch and quiet wisdom that have made her works so popular, this is classic Lorna Landvik—sometimes so funny, you’ll cry; sometimes so sad, you might as well laugh; and always impossible to put down.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Book Club, Chick Lit, Coming Of Age, Adult Fiction, Historical Fiction

296 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Lorna Landvik is a mother of two and wife of one. She is the author of eight novels, including the best-selling ANGRY HOUSEWIVES EATING BON BONS, PATTY JANE'S HOUSE OF CURL and OH MY STARS. Also an
actor and playwright, Lorna has appeared in many stage productions. She is a new and passionate neophyte to the practice of yoga, which is a fine antidote to her long established practice of lounging.

Reviews

[Shelleyrae at Book'd Out · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read and enjoyed several of Lorna Landvik's novels so couldn't resist sampling this offering. Partly based on Landvik's own early years in Hollywood, Best To Laugh is a funny yet poignant coming of age story set in the 1970's.

Candy Pekkala is a half Korean, half Nordic, American born twenty two year old who trades Minnesota for California with a half formed idea of becoming a comedienne. She sublets an apartment from her cousin in the once famous Peyton Hall, right in the heart of Hollywood, bordered by Sunset, Santa Monica and Hollywood Boulevards and takes up a series of temp jobs while she tentatively hones her act in local comedy venues.

Candy's quirky neighbours play a large role in the novel. There is the body building daughter of a television star, a retired animator, a Romanian fortune teller, a substitute teacher who supplements his earnings with game show wins, an elderly man who once owned the most popular nightclub in town, his son, a punk rock singer, and an assortment of actors, actresses and executives waiting for their big break. Orphaned at a fairly young age and raised largely by her grandmother, Candy creates an extended family among the residents of Peyton Hall who give her the confidence and support she needs to pursue her dreams.

There isn't a lot of story to Best to Laugh but it is an engaging read with plenty of humour and a touch of wistfulness. Landvik acknowledges that the novel is a homage to the people and places that launched her career and as such it has a rosy glow of warmth and nostalgia. I enjoyed it.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's no dark mystery. There are no steamy sex scenes or explicit vocabulary words. There are no villains. There is no drama. I loved this book. It was just a sweet, sensitive story of a young woman who has lost her way but with the help of friends and the love of a grandma, that young woman emerges as the person she always meant to be, doing what she always dreamed of doing.

Candy Pekkala has few but treasured memories of her Korean mother--the mother who was always able to laugh at herself and to turn away from insults and slights by saying, "best to laugh". And that is what Candy herself did. As a child she laughed and made other people laugh. She was always chosen to be in school plays. She had no stage fright, she was funny and she could ad lib. She even thought about being a stand-up comedienne even when women had no place in that profession.

Through the years, though, after Candy's father became more and more withdrawn and depressed over the death of his wife, Candy lost her love of laughing and performing. Her grandmother encouraged her, loved her, and supported her; but it didn't make up for the feeling of being abandoned, even if only emotionally, by her father. By the time her father died, Candy was way off track.

When Candy finally realizes that she is going nowhere, she gets a chance to leave her home in Minnesota to sublet her cousin's apartment in, of all places, Hollywood! This could be her chance to follow that dream--but it will take patience, courage, determination, and spunk. She has all the things and she also has friends and her grandmother to cheer her on along with her own personal mantra that she would just as soon keep a secret.

Candy is the main character, but she meets many new people in her apartment complex and each one has a personal story that makes them more endearing. There are a few laughs sprinkled throughout, but for the most part, this is just a quiet and uplifting story of a young woman who is not quite ready to go down for the count when it comes to fulfilling her dream.

[Johanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had the pleasure of reading this book after listening to Lorna Landvik at a speaking event and then chatting with her afterward. She is genuine, generous, self-deprecating and funny in person, and this semi-autobiographical novel was especially appealing to me because I kept imagining Lorna's face and voice in her intrepid heroine Candy Ohi. A satisfying pleasure to read, as are all of her novels.

[Carole · Rating 5 out of 5]

She is one of my favorite writers and this book doesn't disappoint. She moves out of Minnesota to warmer climes in LA. Set in the late 70's, the characters are from old-time Hollywood and those trying to make it now. A wonderful book where you love all the characters.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

My book club wanted a happy book and though there is struggle in the story, it is one of hope and achieving dreams, hard work, and laughter. The discussion for the title was engaging and enjoyable. Another fantastic title from Landvik.

[Sydney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can’t tell if I really liked this book or because it was tons better than the book I read before this one. I think I liked it. There’s a lot of quotable sentences that I liked. It was like hearing a story of someone’s life mixed with Friends (the show) vibes.

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun story of making it as a comedienne...against many odds. But probably more importantly, a story about making community where you are. Candy was a delightful character to follow on this path.

[Mary Aalgaard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best to Laugh is classic Lorna Landvik with her wit and wisdom woven tightly together. Add to this story a parade of colorful characters along the Sunset Strip of Hollywood, an eclectic apartment complex that felt like a never-ending summer camp, and a main character, Candy Ohi Stand-up comic, that you root for, and you've got a hit. This was our book club pick for December (I may, or may not, have influenced the choice), and I'm excited to discuss the book with the Northside Bookies. I'm hoping we'll take a fieldtrip to the Minne-Apple (Minneapolis) in January to see Lorna, live, doing her impov show "Party in the Rec Room" at Bryant Lake Bowl. I saw it last year and want to go again. And, of course, with improv, it's a different show every time. I learn so much from Lorna every time I read one of her books, see her MC or perform live, and read her witty FB posts. Enjoy this light read with heart and a bit of social commentary on women in Hollywood and comedy.

[christa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Candy Pekkala's younger years were marred by tragedy, her teen years were chemically altered and her young adult years have been a monotonous plod-along.
This all changes with a single phone call: Her snarky cousin Charlotte has gotten an acting gig aboard a cruise ship and she needs someone to sublet her apartment in Peyton Hall,a storied building off Hollywood Boulevard filled with seers, former club moguls, the offspring of soap opera royalty and everymans who were drawn out west in the 1970s.
"Best to Laugh," a new release by Minneapolis novelist Lorna Landvik, is a period piece set in post-glam Hollywood. The humorist has borrowed a few bullet points from her own dip into showbiz as plot points for this story about the half-Korean, quarter-Norwegian, quarter-Finnish Minnesota transplant who is trying to jump-start her stalled life in Los Angeles.
Candy Pekkala lost her parents by the time she was in her mid-teens. After quickly ripping through college, she's fallen into a rut, serving pie in a diner and hanging with her best friend/grandmother. Her cousin's insistence that she sublet pushes the kind-of suicidal 20-something out of her comfort zone.
She lands at Peyton Hall, which, in the 1940s, contained the pied-a-terres for Clark Gable-Shelley Winters-Cary Grant-caliber celebs. Her simple quest to borrow a cup of sugar - they seemingly don't carry it at the nearby grocery store - introduces her to the building's quirky cast.
Maeve is the weightlifting daughter of a famous soap opera actress.
Madame Pepper is a fortune teller to the stars.
Francis Flover owned a popular nightclub on Sunset in the 1930s and '40s.
Ed Stickley is a conspiracy theorist and substitute teacher.
Candy's story unfolds in sitcom-style episodes and past and present diary entries. She wins a few bucks, a trip to Tahiti and an unbreakable set of dishes on a game show. She takes a temp job working for a record company and another at the equivalent of the Playboy Mansion.
But it'sa trip to acomedy club that really resonates: Candy decides to try her hand at standup.
The latter half of the novel follows Candy as she goes from comedy bomb to an improv natural capable of easily disarming aheckler.
Landvik, who is also a comedian /playwright/actor and has a one-woman improv show, breaks the fourth wall at the end of the book to share that she lived at this complex in the 1970s. She adds shout-outs to some of her former neighbors and the people she performed with back in the day.
"Best to Laugh" has Landvik's signature humor - a little corny, a lot of sweet - and the sort of friends-become-family characters that defined her best-selling debut "Patty Jane's House of Curl." There is a "Steel Magnolias" -style of laugh-aw-cry-laugh likability to the tale and the 1970s-ness is so palpable, you can practically hear the whisper-walk of a woman's silk pantsuit.
Things go on and on a bit at the end, where every chapter end feels like the group-hug finale— but it's all in character. You've heard of the long Minnesota goodbye.
* Originally ran in the Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune.

[Cindy Roesel · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s not only BEST TO LAUGH (Univ. of Minnesota Press) when you start reading one of Lorna Landvik’s novels, it’s impossible not to split one’s side. She's one of the funniest story-tellers and creators of memorable quirky characters that you’ll ever come across.

Lorna comes from the land of 10-thousand lakes, also known for the phrase, “you betcha,” "hot plates,” and weather temperatures varying from extremely cold to deathly frigid. We’re talking about Minnesota. “Fargo” recently won the Emmy for Best Mini-Series, so Americans appreciate that part of the heartlands special brand of humor. Lorna Landvik serves it up in huge helpings. BEST TO LAUGH is Lorna's own fictional account of going to Hollywood in her twenties to try to make it in stand-up comedy! She takes a real funny story over the top.

In BEST TO LAUGH, we meet Cathy Pekkala, half Korean, half Norwegian, one-hundred-percent Minnesotan. Her parents have died and she is raised by her grandmother. Soon after she graduates from college without any plans for the future, her cousin calls from Los Angeles asking her to sublet her apartment, so Candy picks up and moves. It's good-bye Minnesota, hello California!

Candy moves into Peyton Hall, a two-story apartment complex smack in the middle of Tinseltown right by Sunset, Santa Monica and Hollywood Boulevards. There's an Olympic sized pool designed by Douglas Fairbanks in the center of the complex which is gossip central for residents. Peyton Hall is full of old and new Hollywood characters, which provide 24-hour drama. There's a female body builder, a ruined nightclub promoter, a well-connected old Romanian Fortune Teller, as well as those trying to make it, those who have made it and lost it and those who will never make it. Once she hits the stage, there is no turning back. The friends Candy makes at Peyton Hall create a family for her but her grandmother is her biggest cheerleader.

Thank you to the University of Minnesota Press and http://www.netgalley.com for a kindle copy of BEST TO LAUGH for an honest review. I look forward to reading more from Lorna Landvik.

FYI: I've read several of her previous novels, including her 1996 debut, PATTY JANE'S HOUSE OF CURL and 2004 ANGRY HOUSEWIVES EATING BON BONS. She's written a total of ten and after you read BEST TO LAUGH, you will want to read them ALL!

[Linda]

Charming. This book is quintessential Lorna. I laughed, I cried. I wanted to go there. If you liked any of her earlier books, you will love this. This book will let you see further into her than any other - I have it on good authority. She says it is the most autobiographical of any of her books.

Candy Ohi was born to a Korean mother and a Finnish father before anyone even knew where Korea was. Losing her mother when she was five, she had to deal with a distant father who remained grief-stricken. Lucky for Candy, she had a strong, loving grandmother who helped her grow up. When her father dies, Candy loses herself for a while, but a phone call from her cousin in California offers her a change of scene, and she decides to take it.

I'm not giving anything away, as we know from the first pages what ultimately happens. But the getting there, that's the fun part.

Landvik is a smart, whip-funny wisecracker who does dialogue like no one else, and I have no doubt that many of these lines were taken from real life. The idea of putting them in the mouth of someone so obviously different from her is where the genius lies. But how different is Candy, really?

She is someone we want to know, who we wouldn't mind having as a friend, whose famous yellow cake with the fudge icing we would want to sample. (Lorna confessed to me that hers was "real" fudge, with a shell that you had to crack.) I would love to have her for a neighbor. And being herself, we can't help but root for her. We don't know from the beginning explicitly what happens to her, so every turn around the corner is a delight, from working at the record company to being a temp at the 'Rogue Mansion' to her relationship with the seer to the stars to her blossoming comic career.

The whole cast of characters is delightful, and the ending could not have been more satisfying. Except, of course, for Peyton Place.

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ms. Landvik’s stand-in Candy Pekkala is a riotous and wounded character, flawed, lonely and yet rather giving. So what does she do? She decides to go in for stand-up at a time when the field was very much an all-boys club. Oy, what she’s let herself in for.

The adventures listed within this book aren’t always funny. But the panoply of characters that enliven Candy’s existence makes it one of the best novels about comedy that I’ve ever read. Candy was always exhorted to have a “script” when she went onstage, a gimmick, a hook, an act. But improvisation was where she thrived because she inherently knew that life itself doesn’t have a script. Sometimes you just have to take what it throws you and roll with the punches.

Candy may have learned the hard way that tragedy plus time equals comedy. But she makes it a lesson that we all can share and laugh through our tears. Life may dish up tragedy but Candy serves it with cake.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed, I cried... could not put it down

An engaging semi-autobiographical story. Landvik takes her reader on the never boring ride of Candy Pekkala (Ohi) as she strives for her dreams in the world of stand up comedy. Centered on her life among the residents of the Peyton Hall complex, a bit of Old Hollywood. Her fellow residents include those looking for their big break, a fortune teller to the stars, faded entertainment industry workers, and a stray substitute school teacher and game show winner. Her writing draws you in capturing the look, feel, and at times smell of the city.

[Megalion · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adore Lorna's stories. She ranks up there with Fannie Flagg and Maeve Binchy for wonderful character rich stories.

This book follows the story of a woman who wants to be a stand up comedian. But is stuck in a rut until life gives her a kick and she ends up landing in Hollywood.

If you look at Lorna's bio, it's easy to see that Lorna went to her own life as a source for credible details to add to the story.

There's been a gap in her writing so I'm especially happy to see this book appear!

[LakeGal · Rating 4 out of 5]

The night before I finished this book, Lorna came to our local library. It was really fun to hear her tell her life story and realize that she had lived at Peyton Hall and that she had held many of the same temp jobs as the main character. I knew she had been a stand-up comic, so I was wondering if the story was somewhat autobiographical. It's not an autobiography, but she writes the story with a lot of first-hand information. She is a great presenter if you ever get the chance to hear her, don't miss the opportunity.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED THIS BOOK. Before I started reading this book, I thought I had heard this was a biography about the author but once I started reading it I wasn't so sure. It wasn't until the end of the book that I put it all together. I loved the characters and the story line. She really made you feel like you were in Hollywood. I like the connection to Minnesota/Minneapolis. Since I live in MN, I can feel a connection to her characters and storyline.

[Shelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly, there were few laughs in this book. I got midway through it, thinking the pace would pick up. Didn't happen. Another abandoned book on my list. Perhaps I am the one that lacks a sense of humor? At any rate, I am on to the next book.......

[Kelsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring. Not funny at all. Couldn't read it anymore - skimmed to the end.

[Ann J · Rating 1 out of 5]

Augh! Normally her books are quite amusing - this was not. I wasn't impressed.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Minnesota author and stand-up comedian, Lorna Landvik's 2014 publication, "Best to Laugh" is a novel based on events from her own life. Once again, I enjoyed her work immensely.

The story begins in the late 1970's in Minnesota. Candy Pekkala, a Korean American, has been dealt more difficulties than anyone should have to endure. She lost her Korean mother at a young age. Because he is steeped in grief, she essentially loses her white father as well and is raised by her grandmother. When her father eventually passes away, she turns to drugs and alcohol to self-medicate. Despite these challenges, she graduates from college early. When a cousin needs someone to sublet her apartment in Hollywood, she jumps at the chance to move and pursue her dream of becoming a comic. In Hollywood she develops and lives her "life saber"/mantra, meets a wonderful cast of characters who become her friends, and explores her ambitions.

This was really a pleasure to read - filled with wonderful and quirky characters, good humor, lots of details from the late 1970's and early 1980's, great information about Hollywood at the time, and more. And along the way we are reminded that "...secrets do less to protect us than...to stifle us" (p.138), "...if you're going to do something-do it," (p. 175), "...however and whenever luck comes your way, you tackle it and hold on," (p.295), and of course, "Best to laugh!"

Highly recommended.

[Claudia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could see this becoming a charming movie but it doesn’t work as a book. The “funny” parts are probably much more amusing when delivered by a capable comedian with accompanying physical emphases. As a book…. A little dull and forced.

Also, I’m curious about Landvik’s decision to make the main character, Candy, half Korean and half Scandinavian. As this is supposedly somewhat autobiographical, it makes me wonder if Lorna Landvik is a mix of Asian and Northern European. As a person who is that mix, I wanted more of that storyline (or none at all). It seems gratuitous if it’s not Landvik’s own experience.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Lorna Landvik's books because of her humor and ability to create such lovable characters. She did it again in this one. I didn't realize until the end that much of this story was autobiographical. Candy goes to Hollywood and lives in an Old Hollywood residence with a delightful cast of eccentrics, entertainers and gentle people. She realizes her dream of becoming a comic (albeit much faster than most). Having withstood a difficult childhood, her adulthood is filled with dreams come true.

[Sam Fldmin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book as part of a sale at the library, 25 cents to a bagful. It was definitely worth more than that. The first 90% of the book was highly entertaining, with a hilarious unique voice and snappy dialogue. The ending, however, was a bit of a let-down. Why didn't she go back into the business? I was so sure she would! Candy doesn't seem the type to settle down and become a housewife, like, ever. :(

[Cindypbarnard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read any Lorna Landvik in years but I remember enjoying her books. They made me laugh. This book made me laugh too but there were a few times when the story kind of stalled and I almost put it down. Then Lorna would come out with yet another clever, hilarious line and I was back IN.
She has a wonderful sense of humor and she writes as if she is sitting next to the reader TELLING her story.

[IrishFan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I haven't read one of Lorna Landvik's books in years, but I saw this one in the library and grabbed it. It was ok. It had a lot of characters, so I kept getting confused a bit until I mostly figured them out. I just never got truly invested in the story. Also, the one thing that really bothered me was the cover and pages of the book. It was a very stiff book, and I didn't like the feel of the pages. Silly, but I think it contributed to my not liking it, it wasn't a comfortable book to hold.

[Vikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved Best To Laugh by Lorna Landvik. It was hysterical at times in a very subtle way. Candy Pakkala goes to Hollywood to sublet her cousin's apartment. This apartment complex was Peyton Hall which was a real complex on Hollywood Blvd. And our author actually lived there. There were Hollywood people from the 1930s living there. So we love the characters and their stories. Great read.

[Deb Quist · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s been years since I read a Landvik novel; this made me wonder why I had forgotten about her.

It’s a novel, but you can tell she put much of her life into it. All the characters feel very real. It reminded me of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City. The city and Peyton Hall feel like characters as much as the people.

It transported me to another time and place, which of course is what good stories are supposed to do. Very enjoyable read.

[Beverly Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read and loved all of Lorna Landvik's other novels. And this one was no different. She has the ability to create a cast of characters that are so real you don't want to say goodbye to them at the end of the novel. And you end up rooting for all of them, not just the main character.

I don't know of any of her novels that have been made into movies. But, frankly, I don't know why someone hasn't snapped them up. Lots of life and laughter in each one.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Landvik's books are almost always easy to read, with engaging and interesting characters, this one is no different. Like some of her books though, this one was also a bit cheesy at times and had a not terribly realistic happy ending for pretty much everyone in the book. Still, an easy summer read, and the main character was breaking into comedy - which in itself was interesting.

[Peg (Marianna) DeMott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Based on the partly on the author's own time in Hollywood in the early 70's, it's hard not to cheer on the protagonists efforts to break into the male dominated world of stand-up-comedy. A half Korean American half Scandinavian girl finds her footing by making friends with her famous chocolate fudge cakes. Funny and warm, this story was a walk down memory lane for me.