What do you think?
Rate this book
Lucky Strikes
Set in Depression-era Virginia, this is the story of orphaned Amelia and her struggle to keep her siblings together.
With her mama recently dead and her pa sight unseen since birth, fourteen-year-old Amelia is suddenly in charge of her younger brother and sister, and of the family gas station. Harley Blevins, local king and emperor of Standard Oil, is in hot pursuit to clinch his fuel monopoly. To keep him at bay and her family out of foster care, Melia must come up with a father, and fast. And so when a hobo rolls out of a passing truck, Melia grabs opportunity by its beard. Can she hold off the hounds till she comes of age?
With her mama recently dead and her pa sight unseen since birth, fourteen-year-old Amelia is suddenly in charge of her younger brother and sister, and of the family gas station. Harley Blevins, local king and emperor of Standard Oil, is in hot pursuit to clinch his fuel monopoly. To keep him at bay and her family out of foster care, Melia must come up with a father, and fast. And so when a hobo rolls out of a passing truck, Melia grabs opportunity by its beard. Can she hold off the hounds till she comes of age?
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 5, 2016
21 people are currently reading
2440 people want to read
About the author
Louis Bayard
30 books715 followersA staff writer for Salon.com, Bayard has written articles and reviews for the New York Times, the Washington Post, Nerve.com, and Preservation, among others. Bayard lives in Washington, D.C.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 223 reviews
October 3, 2017
After the death of her mother, fourteen-year-old Amelia must raise her younger siblings herself and operate their family-owned gas station amidst the Depression. As a minor, Amelia is poised to lose her siblings and the family business if she’s unable to discern the identity and location of her father. Opportunity arrives in the form of a homeless man who falls out of a passing truck. Amelia takes a chance on the filthy vagrant, hoping he can stand-in as a father figure until she comes of age.
Bayard conveys Amelia’s story through a first-person narrative delivered with a distinct narrative voice.
Mama used to say [taking our meals straight from the store shelves] was like eating your own profits, but when she took sick, there weren’t nothing else for it. And Janey and Earle, they was all in at first, but as time went on, I could see the sag in their souls every time the food come squiooshing out, still holding the can’s shape. And on that particular Saturday morning, they was specially gray in the face.
Despite Amelia’s attitude, resilience, and optimism, she’s a somewhat forgettable character, as are her less-developed younger siblings. However, her relationship with the mysterious homeless man, Hiram Watts, gives a more satisfying portrayal of character growth and change.
In the two years we’d been in Walnut Ridge, I’d seen dozens of hoboes stagger on by, looking for a bite or a nickel or a smoke. Fellas as bad off as this one or worse, and they was gone from my thoughts as soon as I saw the back of ‘em. So you’ll ask me – one day you’ll ask me – what was it about this one?
Though the narrative follows a predictable arc, the story arrives at a somewhat unexpected conclusion.
Lucky Strikes is a sentimental but forgettable tale of family, forgiveness, and new beginnings.
-
Special thanks to Fierce Reads for providing a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Bayard conveys Amelia’s story through a first-person narrative delivered with a distinct narrative voice.
Mama used to say [taking our meals straight from the store shelves] was like eating your own profits, but when she took sick, there weren’t nothing else for it. And Janey and Earle, they was all in at first, but as time went on, I could see the sag in their souls every time the food come squiooshing out, still holding the can’s shape. And on that particular Saturday morning, they was specially gray in the face.
Despite Amelia’s attitude, resilience, and optimism, she’s a somewhat forgettable character, as are her less-developed younger siblings. However, her relationship with the mysterious homeless man, Hiram Watts, gives a more satisfying portrayal of character growth and change.
In the two years we’d been in Walnut Ridge, I’d seen dozens of hoboes stagger on by, looking for a bite or a nickel or a smoke. Fellas as bad off as this one or worse, and they was gone from my thoughts as soon as I saw the back of ‘em. So you’ll ask me – one day you’ll ask me – what was it about this one?
Though the narrative follows a predictable arc, the story arrives at a somewhat unexpected conclusion.
Lucky Strikes is a sentimental but forgettable tale of family, forgiveness, and new beginnings.
-
Special thanks to Fierce Reads for providing a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
July 12, 2016
*I won this book in a GOODREADS FIRSTREADS GIVEAWAY*
When this beautiful little hardback came in the mail I felt I wanted to read it right then. This is a story about hard times and perseverance, family and what you will do to keep it all together.
Amelia's (Melia) mom died and they buried her in a grave in an area her mom liked to be. So now Melia is the sole owner of Brenda's Oasis, the gas station, grocery store, and vehicle repairs. Melia is still a child just a few years shy of being able to adopt her brother and sister (Janey and Earle). Every day Melia worries how she is going to pull this off and keep everything together.
Let me tell you that the character of Melia is something else. She's hard, she gets it done, she one hell of a mechanic and has a mouth like a sailor.
Melia tells their lawyer (Chester) like it is and that she's going to figure it all out. All the while she's fighting off the jerk down the road that wants to buy out her station. He has every other station up and down Virginia. He's not a good guy and does some really terrible things to this family and I will not dignify him with a name even though he's fictional.
Melia has some really good friends in the truckers that come by every morning and evening to get their cigarettes and gas and chew the fat for awhile. They were kind enough to bring some things for the family. One man is meaner than a skunk but he likes Melia because she fixed his truck and he always tells her if she need something let him know. Pretty much while cussing about this and that :-)
I have already mentioned that Melia is one smart cookie so when a hobo sort of lands, yes lands, on her property.. she decides to clean him up and make him her father so that she can keep the family together. She really doesn't give him the chance to decide, she decides for him and that's that.
This hobo would be a man called Hiram Watts. After a little bit, Hiram fits right into the family and he actually helps them make more money than they do. He works in the store for them as before, they would just leave out a plate and hope people would be honest and leave the right amount of money. Not so much everyone, but Hiram had a way of making people buy more than they would have and the truck drivers finally took to him. Hiram also puts together other things to bring people in and help them pay off their bills. But at ever turn is that dreadful man that wants to bring them down and you know what? He just doesn't. He's no match for Melia and Hiram.
One day things happen and Melia is putting together and new scheme and it all works out. I find it funny that she tells a boy that she's dating that they are going to get married and that's how it is.
The characters are so full of spunk and I loved each one of them. Having relatives from the era that went through things made me think of the past and stories. The little family have a rich voice in the book. They are funny at times and serious at times. They do what they have to do and eek out a living with the love they have for each other.
MY BLOG: Melissa Martin's Reading List
When this beautiful little hardback came in the mail I felt I wanted to read it right then. This is a story about hard times and perseverance, family and what you will do to keep it all together.
Amelia's (Melia) mom died and they buried her in a grave in an area her mom liked to be. So now Melia is the sole owner of Brenda's Oasis, the gas station, grocery store, and vehicle repairs. Melia is still a child just a few years shy of being able to adopt her brother and sister (Janey and Earle). Every day Melia worries how she is going to pull this off and keep everything together.
Let me tell you that the character of Melia is something else. She's hard, she gets it done, she one hell of a mechanic and has a mouth like a sailor.
Melia tells their lawyer (Chester) like it is and that she's going to figure it all out. All the while she's fighting off the jerk down the road that wants to buy out her station. He has every other station up and down Virginia. He's not a good guy and does some really terrible things to this family and I will not dignify him with a name even though he's fictional.
Melia has some really good friends in the truckers that come by every morning and evening to get their cigarettes and gas and chew the fat for awhile. They were kind enough to bring some things for the family. One man is meaner than a skunk but he likes Melia because she fixed his truck and he always tells her if she need something let him know. Pretty much while cussing about this and that :-)
I have already mentioned that Melia is one smart cookie so when a hobo sort of lands, yes lands, on her property.. she decides to clean him up and make him her father so that she can keep the family together. She really doesn't give him the chance to decide, she decides for him and that's that.
This hobo would be a man called Hiram Watts. After a little bit, Hiram fits right into the family and he actually helps them make more money than they do. He works in the store for them as before, they would just leave out a plate and hope people would be honest and leave the right amount of money. Not so much everyone, but Hiram had a way of making people buy more than they would have and the truck drivers finally took to him. Hiram also puts together other things to bring people in and help them pay off their bills. But at ever turn is that dreadful man that wants to bring them down and you know what? He just doesn't. He's no match for Melia and Hiram.
One day things happen and Melia is putting together and new scheme and it all works out. I find it funny that she tells a boy that she's dating that they are going to get married and that's how it is.
The characters are so full of spunk and I loved each one of them. Having relatives from the era that went through things made me think of the past and stories. The little family have a rich voice in the book. They are funny at times and serious at times. They do what they have to do and eek out a living with the love they have for each other.
MY BLOG: Melissa Martin's Reading List
July 18, 2016
Okay, to be completely honest, I requested this book because of its cover. I mean, of course, I also read the blurb, but the cover is what really tickled me bloomers: gorgeous! Thankfully, after having read the book, I can say the same for the actual story as well.
I think this might be the first time I only made one note on my Kindle while reading. I wasn't even searching for things to criticise because I was too damn busy with reading. I know right?!
And now that I'm done, I still can't think of anything negative, or anything that I would've liked to see differently at all. Which means this book is damn well near perfect.
I cried twice. TWICE! One time in the beginning, when Amelia's mother died (it's no spoiler if it's in the blurb, right?) and then another time near the ending (which I did could not have predicted to play out the way it did).
It's 1934 and 14-year-old Amelia, better known as Melia, runs a gas station together with her mother. She also has two younger siblings, Earle and Janey, who help out when they can, but are more focussed on being 'regular children' and going to school.
I LOVED that both Melia and her mother are self-made car mechanics. They can simply hear what's wrong with a car and then fix it. Wearing car mechanic matching overalls and taking care of shit the same way a man would do is very impressive, especially because this is set in 1934 when women were still supposed to wear dresses, and cook and clean for the menfolk. Well, as Melia could've said: "Ain't nobody got time for that!".
The story is told in the first person by Melia, and she writes the way she talks:
" I set there just in case she did "
"... and they come right into my bedchamber ..."
It only took me two pages or so to get used to that. It's not like you have to try very hard to decipher those kinds of phrases.
It's a good thing Melia's such a strong character because after her mama dies, she has to take care of her siblings, keep the gas station running, and fight off the evil Goliath figure, Harley Blevins, who wants to claim the gas station and add it to his gas station collection.
When Hiram Watts, an old and smelly hobo, literally comes falling out of a truck onto one of the gas pumps of Brenda's Oasis (the name of the gas station), Melia decides to take him in and convince the outside world that Hiram is her daddy. It's going to be a challenge to do so because that outside world is rather judgemental, having called Melia and her family the ' Gas Station Pagans ' (which is also the original title of this book if I'm correct) because they refused to go to church and whatnot.
But guys, this book....it has everything you could wish for! Or maybe I should say that it has everything that I could wish for. It has dysfunctional characters, a strong heroine (who's far from perfect, mind you), a little bit of awkward romance, unconditional love, suspense, heartwarming actions, and gut-punching moments.
The writing is superb, I was totally convinced of the characters and the world surrounding them. Even though at times, nothing happens at all, I wasn't bored for a single second during these 320 pages.
Remember I was talking about the only note I made while reading? I bet you've been dying to read about it, skimming through the boring parts to get to it. OR , you just scrolled up again to look for it because the thought of it already left your brain again. Either way, here it is:
" Fuck me, this is like Little Women with gas pumps in Virginia!
And it sort of is! A book with strong female characters yet still leaving room for the male heroes to shine as well. Melia would be the Jo of this story, abbreviated name included. Brilliant. I'm giving this one 5 shiny brownies and a firm recommendation for basically anyone. It's targeted at young readers, and anyone who's over 12 years old should be able to enjoy it!
Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!
I think this might be the first time I only made one note on my Kindle while reading. I wasn't even searching for things to criticise because I was too damn busy with reading. I know right?!
And now that I'm done, I still can't think of anything negative, or anything that I would've liked to see differently at all. Which means this book is damn well near perfect.
I cried twice. TWICE! One time in the beginning, when Amelia's mother died (it's no spoiler if it's in the blurb, right?) and then another time near the ending (which I did could not have predicted to play out the way it did).
It's 1934 and 14-year-old Amelia, better known as Melia, runs a gas station together with her mother. She also has two younger siblings, Earle and Janey, who help out when they can, but are more focussed on being 'regular children' and going to school.
I LOVED that both Melia and her mother are self-made car mechanics. They can simply hear what's wrong with a car and then fix it. Wearing car mechanic matching overalls and taking care of shit the same way a man would do is very impressive, especially because this is set in 1934 when women were still supposed to wear dresses, and cook and clean for the menfolk. Well, as Melia could've said: "Ain't nobody got time for that!".
The story is told in the first person by Melia, and she writes the way she talks:
" I set there just in case she did "
"... and they come right into my bedchamber ..."
It only took me two pages or so to get used to that. It's not like you have to try very hard to decipher those kinds of phrases.
It's a good thing Melia's such a strong character because after her mama dies, she has to take care of her siblings, keep the gas station running, and fight off the evil Goliath figure, Harley Blevins, who wants to claim the gas station and add it to his gas station collection.
When Hiram Watts, an old and smelly hobo, literally comes falling out of a truck onto one of the gas pumps of Brenda's Oasis (the name of the gas station), Melia decides to take him in and convince the outside world that Hiram is her daddy. It's going to be a challenge to do so because that outside world is rather judgemental, having called Melia and her family the ' Gas Station Pagans ' (which is also the original title of this book if I'm correct) because they refused to go to church and whatnot.
But guys, this book....it has everything you could wish for! Or maybe I should say that it has everything that I could wish for. It has dysfunctional characters, a strong heroine (who's far from perfect, mind you), a little bit of awkward romance, unconditional love, suspense, heartwarming actions, and gut-punching moments.
The writing is superb, I was totally convinced of the characters and the world surrounding them. Even though at times, nothing happens at all, I wasn't bored for a single second during these 320 pages.
Remember I was talking about the only note I made while reading? I bet you've been dying to read about it, skimming through the boring parts to get to it. OR , you just scrolled up again to look for it because the thought of it already left your brain again. Either way, here it is:
" Fuck me, this is like Little Women with gas pumps in Virginia!
And it sort of is! A book with strong female characters yet still leaving room for the male heroes to shine as well. Melia would be the Jo of this story, abbreviated name included. Brilliant. I'm giving this one 5 shiny brownies and a firm recommendation for basically anyone. It's targeted at young readers, and anyone who's over 12 years old should be able to enjoy it!
Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!
September 23, 2016
I have about twenty books sitting on my bookshelf, half-started. Once I picked this one up I couldn't put it down. This is what good writing is from my point of view. He created an amazing set of characters, each created with such loving detail that they all but breathed on my afternoon snack.
These were not your milk toast and white bread characters but people who had flaws and spunk and failings. People I adored.
Louis Bayard gave me a picture of hard scrabble depression era life but with characters that made you want to pick up, reach into the book and give them a hand.
I loved it!
These were not your milk toast and white bread characters but people who had flaws and spunk and failings. People I adored.
Louis Bayard gave me a picture of hard scrabble depression era life but with characters that made you want to pick up, reach into the book and give them a hand.
I loved it!
June 14, 2016
Fantastic story. Kept me reading almost in one sitting. However ==> target audience?
Kirkus Review cites an age range of 10-14 and says "upper-middle-grade."
Ummm...no. Not in my experience in sixth grade and eighth grade classrooms.
Way too much language in this one. And it's too bad because I think the story would have worked without the use of all of the expletives.
Kirkus Review cites an age range of 10-14 and says "upper-middle-grade."
Ummm...no. Not in my experience in sixth grade and eighth grade classrooms.
Way too much language in this one. And it's too bad because I think the story would have worked without the use of all of the expletives.
August 16, 2016
This is what YA books could be and so rarely are. This is about growing up and learning to trust and love(although not necessarily romantic love) and heartbreak and what a family is.
I Loved it, start to finish. The character of Melia, who tells, the story, is hard as nails. She just gets on with what she must do and being tough is how she gets through. She pushes and works hard and tries to keep everything together. And she somehow manages along the way to still show that she loves her brother and sister and wants the best for them.
I like how she starts to pay attention, to let others help her, to learn, take advice. It doesn't always work out perfectly because that is how life is, but her mistakes still help her grow.
The actual writing, with the descriptions, is beautiful. But don't worry, it isn't too descriptive and it adds to the story instead of being a bother. It is written in North Carolina 1930s dialect so if reading in dialect bothers you then you won't like this one. It isn't difficult to read and for me it adds to the story, but if grammar must be perfect for you to enjoy reading, then this won't make you happy.
It had some lovely surprises and I'd highly recommend it. Give it a try.
I Loved it, start to finish. The character of Melia, who tells, the story, is hard as nails. She just gets on with what she must do and being tough is how she gets through. She pushes and works hard and tries to keep everything together. And she somehow manages along the way to still show that she loves her brother and sister and wants the best for them.
I like how she starts to pay attention, to let others help her, to learn, take advice. It doesn't always work out perfectly because that is how life is, but her mistakes still help her grow.
The actual writing, with the descriptions, is beautiful. But don't worry, it isn't too descriptive and it adds to the story instead of being a bother. It is written in North Carolina 1930s dialect so if reading in dialect bothers you then you won't like this one. It isn't difficult to read and for me it adds to the story, but if grammar must be perfect for you to enjoy reading, then this won't make you happy.
It had some lovely surprises and I'd highly recommend it. Give it a try.
June 9, 2019
Every book I’ve read by this author has been a five star read for me....
In this one, we meet Amelia, a fourteen year old girl who finds herself trying desperately to stop her family being torn apart.
She must hide the fact she is now having to run the family business by herself, whilst looking after her younger brother and sister.....
What she does to achieve this, and the obstacles she has to overcome, made me laugh and cry, made me angry at some characters and love others, and kept me completely engaged until the last page.
In this one, we meet Amelia, a fourteen year old girl who finds herself trying desperately to stop her family being torn apart.
She must hide the fact she is now having to run the family business by herself, whilst looking after her younger brother and sister.....
What she does to achieve this, and the obstacles she has to overcome, made me laugh and cry, made me angry at some characters and love others, and kept me completely engaged until the last page.
July 13, 2016
I know I am not the target audience for a YA book (as I am 53), but I could not put this book down - I adored the narrator, who reminded me of no one so much as, gasp, Scout Finch from TKaM. Really. And Bayard's lyrical prose were a pleasure (plus, the story was intriguing) - really, this book had it all. Highly recommend!
July 7, 2016
Short and Sweet:
Excellent Southern representation + resilient protagonist + family feels rivaling those in Lilo & Stitch= 5 shining stars
To Elaborate…
When Amelia’s mother dies, Amelia is left alone in charge of her little sister and brother. The three of them aim to continue running their small, family gas station, but without a parent, the foster care people are sure to be at their door any second. Not to mention, Harley Blevins, runner of Standard Oil, is not above scheming to get their gas station if they won’t sell. Amelia devises a plan involving a homeless man pretending to be their father in order to take care of the family she has left.
LUCKY STRIKES has everything I could ask for in a Southern set MG/YA crossover novel. The author captures Great Depression era rural Virginia to perfection, from the rich landscape to the Southern sayings to the more nuanced resilience found in Southern people, especially women. The theme of overcoming obstacles is a guaranteed hit with many, but what is more moving is the emotional journey trying to get there. Bayard never shies away from the desperate situation Amelia and her family are in. They are hanging by a thread financially, without a parent, and cornered by a company much larger than theirs. Their story does not wrap up in a neat little bow with everything solved and happy, but the characters, particularly Amelia, grow in leaps and bounds. LUCKY STRIKES proves family can mean more than blood, and one geographical place can hold roots as deep as the trees’.
While romance is a much minor part of the story line, I enjoyed this one immensely. Amelia has a difficult time letting people in and believing they will stay, not to mention that running a gas station doesn’t leave much time for dating. I love the slow build up in this one, and the sweet moments the two have in the middle of all the chaos.
I can’t recommend this book enough, especially for readers looking for a book with top notch Southern rep. Amelia and her family will hold your heart as tightly as they cling to their gas station, and you’ll be lucky to have a tissue left by the end.
Originally posted at The Forest of Words and Pages: http://www.forestofwordsandpages.com/...
Excellent Southern representation + resilient protagonist + family feels rivaling those in Lilo & Stitch= 5 shining stars
To Elaborate…
When Amelia’s mother dies, Amelia is left alone in charge of her little sister and brother. The three of them aim to continue running their small, family gas station, but without a parent, the foster care people are sure to be at their door any second. Not to mention, Harley Blevins, runner of Standard Oil, is not above scheming to get their gas station if they won’t sell. Amelia devises a plan involving a homeless man pretending to be their father in order to take care of the family she has left.
LUCKY STRIKES has everything I could ask for in a Southern set MG/YA crossover novel. The author captures Great Depression era rural Virginia to perfection, from the rich landscape to the Southern sayings to the more nuanced resilience found in Southern people, especially women. The theme of overcoming obstacles is a guaranteed hit with many, but what is more moving is the emotional journey trying to get there. Bayard never shies away from the desperate situation Amelia and her family are in. They are hanging by a thread financially, without a parent, and cornered by a company much larger than theirs. Their story does not wrap up in a neat little bow with everything solved and happy, but the characters, particularly Amelia, grow in leaps and bounds. LUCKY STRIKES proves family can mean more than blood, and one geographical place can hold roots as deep as the trees’.
While romance is a much minor part of the story line, I enjoyed this one immensely. Amelia has a difficult time letting people in and believing they will stay, not to mention that running a gas station doesn’t leave much time for dating. I love the slow build up in this one, and the sweet moments the two have in the middle of all the chaos.
I can’t recommend this book enough, especially for readers looking for a book with top notch Southern rep. Amelia and her family will hold your heart as tightly as they cling to their gas station, and you’ll be lucky to have a tissue left by the end.
Originally posted at The Forest of Words and Pages: http://www.forestofwordsandpages.com/...
July 25, 2016
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Louis Bayard is really quite the chameleon. I first read him when he was writing mysteries including either fictional or historical characters like Tiny Tim( try him as a sleuth), Edgar Allan Poe (great idea!) and Vidocq, the first French police chief. I enjoyed all of these, but then he began to get a bit onto the Dan Brown bandwagon of secret societies and conspiracies, and he lost me. And then of all things, he completely won my heart with his recaps of Downton Abbey! He was hilarious, and it was all done with love as well as mockery. Check them out if you're a DA fan, on the NYT site.
Now he's onto something completely different. I suppose you could call it YA, but then technically "To Kill a Mockingbird" is YA, and that definition could never encapsulate the truth of that book. While I can't say that "Lucky Strikes" is quite up to Mockingbird's standards, what is?
The book is about a plucky young woman who, upon the death of her mother, decides to undertake a deception in order to keep the family's gas station and also keep her brother and sister from being taken away into foster care. This deception comes in the form of a tramp or hobo ( the book takes place during the Depression) who comes by for a handout one day. Amelia, our heroine, decides that he'll do to be their long-lost father who has come to care for his kids at last.
There's also a villain in the piece. He's such a mustache-twirler that I fear Bayard went a bit too far, but he's certainly scary. He owns a whole franchise worth of gas stations and would love to get his hands on this little family business because then he'll essentially have a monopoly. He provides the tension while Amelia and family figure out how to do more than just get by with their moneymaker.
The book is best when it shows the characters coming into their own. Our heroes gain confidence and begin to shine, and that's the joy of the book. You may not be all that surprised by the plot- you've seen it before. But I'll bet you've never seen it with a podunk little gas station as the stakes. The characters are uniquely themselves, as well. I came to really care about them, and that's one of the main things I need to love a book.
While I had come around to giving Bayard another go, I wasn't expecting to love this book so much. I'm not the biggest fan of reading about the Depression, and I've never really cared that much about gas stations either. Bayard gets both the trappings and the emotion so exactly right that I lost my heart.
Louis Bayard is really quite the chameleon. I first read him when he was writing mysteries including either fictional or historical characters like Tiny Tim( try him as a sleuth), Edgar Allan Poe (great idea!) and Vidocq, the first French police chief. I enjoyed all of these, but then he began to get a bit onto the Dan Brown bandwagon of secret societies and conspiracies, and he lost me. And then of all things, he completely won my heart with his recaps of Downton Abbey! He was hilarious, and it was all done with love as well as mockery. Check them out if you're a DA fan, on the NYT site.
Now he's onto something completely different. I suppose you could call it YA, but then technically "To Kill a Mockingbird" is YA, and that definition could never encapsulate the truth of that book. While I can't say that "Lucky Strikes" is quite up to Mockingbird's standards, what is?
The book is about a plucky young woman who, upon the death of her mother, decides to undertake a deception in order to keep the family's gas station and also keep her brother and sister from being taken away into foster care. This deception comes in the form of a tramp or hobo ( the book takes place during the Depression) who comes by for a handout one day. Amelia, our heroine, decides that he'll do to be their long-lost father who has come to care for his kids at last.
There's also a villain in the piece. He's such a mustache-twirler that I fear Bayard went a bit too far, but he's certainly scary. He owns a whole franchise worth of gas stations and would love to get his hands on this little family business because then he'll essentially have a monopoly. He provides the tension while Amelia and family figure out how to do more than just get by with their moneymaker.
The book is best when it shows the characters coming into their own. Our heroes gain confidence and begin to shine, and that's the joy of the book. You may not be all that surprised by the plot- you've seen it before. But I'll bet you've never seen it with a podunk little gas station as the stakes. The characters are uniquely themselves, as well. I came to really care about them, and that's one of the main things I need to love a book.
While I had come around to giving Bayard another go, I wasn't expecting to love this book so much. I'm not the biggest fan of reading about the Depression, and I've never really cared that much about gas stations either. Bayard gets both the trappings and the emotion so exactly right that I lost my heart.
July 24, 2018
After the death of their mother, Melia struggles to keep her siblings and their gas station going. Opportunity arrives in the form of a homeless man, and Melia takes a chance, hoping he can stand-in as a father figure. It’s a wonderful tale of survival against all odds, and how sometimes family can be found in the most unlikely places. I really liked all the characters and the story kept my attention throughout the whole book. The writing was beautiful, the story flowed all the way to the last sentence. Even though it didn’t quite reach 5 stars for me, I definitely enjoyed this book.
June 13, 2018
2.5 STARS
This book was a lot more mature than I was expecting and quite depressing at times. There was fair amount of profanity as well, which was a bit disconcerting for a middle age/young adult book.
This book was a lot more mature than I was expecting and quite depressing at times. There was fair amount of profanity as well, which was a bit disconcerting for a middle age/young adult book.
April 2, 2020
Lucky Strikes is a lighthearted, young adult novel about orphans running their family’s gas station during the Great Depression. Amelia is only 14-years-old, but after her mother dies, she is left in charge of a younger brother and sister. She also manages the family gas station and is a terrific mechanic. She never knew her father and is worried that she and her brother and sister will be placed in the foster care system. When a hobo shows up, she presses him into service as her missing father to fool the welfare folks. This was certainly a lucky strike for Amelia. The hobo, Hiram, provides a great deal of help and savvy advice on how to improve her gas station.
I kept thinking that the author’s name, Louis Bayard, sounded familiar, and then I realized I had read several of his historical thrillers – The Pale Blue Eye, The Black Tower and Mr. Timothy. This was his first young adult novel and while I did enjoy it, I still prefer his historical thrillers.
I kept thinking that the author’s name, Louis Bayard, sounded familiar, and then I realized I had read several of his historical thrillers – The Pale Blue Eye, The Black Tower and Mr. Timothy. This was his first young adult novel and while I did enjoy it, I still prefer his historical thrillers.
July 15, 2017
Wow! Two 5 star books in one summer. This author takes his readers seriously. Believes they are ready to read a book that puts them in the adult world but through a child's eyes. And what a child. Melia Hoyle, a gas station pagan who describes her late mother as someone "You could shake her all day, and not a single beef would fall out."
Rethinking this...maybe some of the stuff he includes is too adult! Need to know what some other readers think.
The setting is the mountains of Virginia in WWII. The writing stops you in your tracks every couple of pages. The story flows all the way to the last sentence. Can't say that about many books. The cover looks like a book for 5th graders but not sure a 5th grader would get as much out of this book. But worried I am not giving them enough credit. I would booktalk this book to 7th graders.
Rethinking this...maybe some of the stuff he includes is too adult! Need to know what some other readers think.
The setting is the mountains of Virginia in WWII. The writing stops you in your tracks every couple of pages. The story flows all the way to the last sentence. Can't say that about many books. The cover looks like a book for 5th graders but not sure a 5th grader would get as much out of this book. But worried I am not giving them enough credit. I would booktalk this book to 7th graders.
November 20, 2018
Wow. Best book I have read in a long time!
June 11, 2016
There isn't a lot of luck to be found in Walnut Ridge, Virginia, for Melia, her brother Earle, and her sister, Janey. There isn't a father in sight, and they've just put their Mama in the ground--and all that she has left them is a Blue Ridge mountain of debt and the family's roadside gas station.
Determined to keep herself and her siblings out of "Fos. Ter. Care," a solution (of sorts) rolls off the back of a coal carrier and falls at Melia's feet. Hiram Watts isn't much, but no one in Walnut Ridge really knows who Melia's father is.
Bayard keeps his characters one step ahead of the old spinster from the child welfare office--and trying to escape the machinations of a determined gas-station monopolist named Harley Blevins. The children are aided by a lawyer with a heart of gold. The wild card is Hiram Watts. Will he become fatherhood material in time to save the family and the service station?
Lucky Strikes is told in the clear, sardonic voice of Melia, who takes over from her mother as chief mechanic at the gas station, which keeps her mother's name, "Brenda's Oasis," even after her death.
As someone who shares Louis Bayard's love of the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwestern Virginia, I was particularly taken with his near-Homeric descriptions of daybreak and nightfall.
Considering the ages of the protagonists (10-15), I initially took this book to be a middle-school YA novel, but Bayard's use of language, the intense action of the climax, and regular discourses on subjects like marriage and religion, make this more likely to be enjoyed by older teens and adult readers.
Special thanks to Net Galley for letting me read an advance copy of this book.
Determined to keep herself and her siblings out of "Fos. Ter. Care," a solution (of sorts) rolls off the back of a coal carrier and falls at Melia's feet. Hiram Watts isn't much, but no one in Walnut Ridge really knows who Melia's father is.
Bayard keeps his characters one step ahead of the old spinster from the child welfare office--and trying to escape the machinations of a determined gas-station monopolist named Harley Blevins. The children are aided by a lawyer with a heart of gold. The wild card is Hiram Watts. Will he become fatherhood material in time to save the family and the service station?
Lucky Strikes is told in the clear, sardonic voice of Melia, who takes over from her mother as chief mechanic at the gas station, which keeps her mother's name, "Brenda's Oasis," even after her death.
As someone who shares Louis Bayard's love of the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwestern Virginia, I was particularly taken with his near-Homeric descriptions of daybreak and nightfall.
"When dawn come, I was already up, watching the mountains bleed out of the dark" (99)
"I stared off to the road where a couple beards of fog had crept down from the mountains" (52)
"I put on a sweater and set on the front porch with a mug of coffee, watching the fog yawn off the mountains" (61)
"Dudley and Earle come back not long after, carrying their rifles over their shoulders and dragging the last threads of daylight with them" (179)
Considering the ages of the protagonists (10-15), I initially took this book to be a middle-school YA novel, but Bayard's use of language, the intense action of the climax, and regular discourses on subjects like marriage and religion, make this more likely to be enjoyed by older teens and adult readers.
Special thanks to Net Galley for letting me read an advance copy of this book.
September 16, 2016
I am going to get this out of the way first: I am a huge fan of Bayard's work. When I heard he was writing a YA novel I did cringe a little. Why? Why join that bandwagon of adult fiction writers dipping their toes into the YA pool? I had little doubt that he could succeed, his talent is that good. I opened the cover and as he has accomplished with his adult fiction, I was transported to Depression era Virginia and found myself in the company of Amelia and her two siblings. (Being of a certain age, THE WALTONS, came to mind as Bayard toured me around his rural Virginia setting. He captured everything perfectly).
Janey, Earle and Amelia are left orphan's after their Mother Brenda passes away. Fourteen year old Melia (the first letter just got dropped, you find out in her story), now must keep her family together as well as keep the Service Station/Store operating. So begins this fantastic story. You are in for a real treat, as Bayard fills the story with characters right out of central casting. Each one is so well written into a strong story and you believe everything that is happening as you read deeper into Melia's travails.
Adults will adore this tale from Bayard, an escape from his superb historical thrillers, but younger readers may need some help with the historical references and rural dialogue/dialect. An occasional venture into YA from Bayard will be welcome, but I am eager to pick up a new thriller from him.
Janey, Earle and Amelia are left orphan's after their Mother Brenda passes away. Fourteen year old Melia (the first letter just got dropped, you find out in her story), now must keep her family together as well as keep the Service Station/Store operating. So begins this fantastic story. You are in for a real treat, as Bayard fills the story with characters right out of central casting. Each one is so well written into a strong story and you believe everything that is happening as you read deeper into Melia's travails.
Adults will adore this tale from Bayard, an escape from his superb historical thrillers, but younger readers may need some help with the historical references and rural dialogue/dialect. An occasional venture into YA from Bayard will be welcome, but I am eager to pick up a new thriller from him.
August 26, 2016
This reminded me of the kind of book I read as a child and my mother read in hers; where pluck and grit and humanity triumph over hardship. Reading the story of of Amelia, the oldest sister caring for her younger siblings while running the family gas station in the 1930s I was swept up in the story. This novel, like many classics for that age provide both entertainment and sustenance. Reading it gave me a wonderful shot of encouragement, (the character's pluck and grit are contageous) as well as hope. I'll be buying one for my 82 year old mother, and reading it to my 10 year old son. Wonderful! I also enjoyed the setting in rural virginia.
July 10, 2021
I found this in my Little Free Library and was delighted to find it was a great book! Really engaging, sweet and sad, and had wonderful descriptors...idk how to put that last part - just a good way with words! Really good light read for travel and commute, also.
October 11, 2016
Louis Bayard's "Lucky Strikes" is a selection for my Chapter and Verse book club's mock Printz list. I have read several Depression era novels ("Lucky Strikes" takes place in 1935) of late that have all been outstanding - "Full of Beans" by Jennifer Holm, "Tru and Nelle" by G. Neri, and "Echo" by Pam Munoz Ryan, for example. "Lucky Strikes is a wonderful addition to this list. And, speaking of lists, "Lucky Strikes" has shown up on several "best" lists for 2016, as well as having received several starred reviews - in "Publisher's Weekly," "Kirkus," and "Booklist," for example. It is highly deserving of these accolades. I loved every second of this book...
...starting with the first line: "Mama died hard, you should know that" ( a fabulous opening!). Amelia (Melia) Hoyle tells us her story in first person, beginning with the "hard" death of her mother. We don't discover until the end who the "you" is she addresses the first line of her story to. Amelia, the oldest of three siblings, has never known her father so, after her mother's death, she must find them all a father so that they can keep their struggling gas station (Brenda's Oasis) going and stay together. That "father" literally lands at their doorstep in the form of Hiram Watts when he falls, drunk, from the back of a truck. Hiram cleans himself up and the four of them become a family and build a successful business. Their nemesis is one Harley Blevins, the owner of every other gas station for miles around. He sees it as his mission to buy Brenda's Oasis and take down the entire family. We don't find out his motivations to do so until towards the end of the book. The plot is mostly character driven, but the last third of the book is filled with mystery, anticipation, and action. And the ending. OMG, the ending. Have plenty of tissue on hand is all I can say!
The strength of "Lucky Strikes" lies in the voice of the narrator, Melia. She is an old soul. For a fourteen year old she has seen more hardship than a human being should have to experience in a lifetime. She is rough around the edges - but cunning and strong and good and hard working and persistent. Her use of salty language is amusing and appropriate and believable. Though she isn't always easy for the other characters to like, as a reader it is impossible not to empathize with her plight and cheer her on. She can just as easily make us smile and laugh, as she can make is bust out in tears (which I did several times):
- p. 7 - After they bury their mother, Earle says, "'We done it all wrong...She should've been buried at a church...There should've been a preacher...And hymn singing. That's how God likes it...He's going to be pissed off. He ain't gonna let Mamma in.'" To that Melia replies, "'God don't care...the hell with him...After all he put her through."
Her repetition of "you'll learn this" or "you'll know it soon enough" is meant both for the reader and for the person to whom the story is addressed. (p. 89 - "You'll learn this about me. I ain't no good at waiting" and p. 266 - "Well, if you've learned one thing about me by now, it's that I don't like taking orders.") The secondary characters - from her half-siblings, Janey and Earle, to the father that they adopt, Hiram, and his love interest, Ida, to Dudley Blevin, Melia's romantic interest, to their lawyer, Chester Gallagher, and his wife, Mina, and even Gus, the dog - are all interesting and complex in their own right. And we grow to love all of them, along with their quirks. The antagonist, Harley Blevins, is as mean and dark as they come. He throws one punch after another, but Melia gets up again and again and does what she has to do.
Another important aspect of "Lucky Strike" is Bayard's lush and poetic prose. On page 2, Melia says, "I don't know why, but my hand went straight to her hair. I could feel, beneath her hair, her whole scalp crackling. I think now maybe that was her soul flying off." Every line feels spot on. The novel is filled with strong images (p. 74 - "...that's where they was, the both of them, when the police car drove up. Slow and tickly, like a caterpillar" or p. 247 - "...it was raining, and the rain was dripping like syrup from the sleeves of my uniform as I watched Harvey Blevin's office window blink through the fog") and symbolism (the Lucky Strike cigarettes, the red bird, and the Brenda's Oasis sign, for example).
The setting of Walnut Ridge, Virginia, is layered and complex in "Lucky Strikes" as well. Bayard brings this time and place to life for the reader. The heat is palpable. On page 304 Melia says, "You'll get to know early June. The first knuckles of heat come bowling up from the south and meet those cool soft bellies of mountain air, and the heat gives a punch, and the mountains punch back, and every barometer inside of ten miles gets drunk-dizzy, and the haze, before your eyes, turns from blue to gray to white and then back again. It's like the world's trying on summers in a store mirror." The Depression age struggle to survive gets under our skin.
p. 14 - "It's a queer town, Walnut Ridge. Some half a century back, the citizens got a little cash in their pockets and a couple stars in their eyes and figured they was going to be the next big deal...So they went and built themselves a main street. 'Course they couldn't run it but the two blocks before it reached the nearest cliff, but they was so keen on their prospects they decided to call it First Street. As in first of many to come. Well, fate had other plans for Walnut Ridge, and it turned into one of those places that just straggles along."
Finally, the lessons here are memorable and important. I especially appreciated the idea that we simply do what we must to survive - and we can do that with persistence, dignity, and goodness. In the end, there is a thing called "karma," and what we put out to the universe will be returned to us many fold. In addition, the idea of marriage and what makes a family is explored in many ways. "Lucky Strikes" expands our definition of these terms. The novel also looks at ideas such as loss and grief, education, religion (Melia delights in calling herself a "pagan"), persistence, ingenuity, love, community, etc.
p. 69 - "'If we let you take this here station from us...We'll get something taken the next day and the day after and the rest of our natural days 'cause once you get in the habit of rolling over, there's always someone to roll you.'"
p. 96 - "'Melia...when a man's ready to step up, you ought to let him.'"
p. 116 - "'If your enemy's forces are united, separate them...'"
p. 122 - "'My daddy...Fore he died, he told me if a gal don't give you the time of day?Why, you pass right on by 'cause your chances ain't good. But if a gal takes a real pleasure in devilin' you, why, you stick around 'cause it probably means she likes you all right.'"
p. 157 - Melia says to Janey - "'Ain't nothing wrong with a woman going off by herself. She don't need no damn man.'"
p. 172 - Hiram says to Melia - "...it's what comes of thinking on things...Mortal things...Like love...The first flutter, Amelia. It's like nothing else in the world. Never even knew how much I missed it...What it is, you see, it's looking into someone's eyes and having them look back. Oh, I know, you're thinking a fellow as ugly as me, he won't ever know that...Well, I'm here to tell you I do know, and it beats any liquor I've ever tasted. Only it goes away.'"
p. 184 - "Well, that's what happens when you get a fresh pair of eyes on your life. You see things. Possibilities. Even if the eyes in question belong to a crazy old coot and one of 'em is on the lazy side."
p. 191 - "It was like Mama used to say: 'If'n you don't like the sight of worms, you'd best not turn over any rocks.'"
p. 208-9 - Melia drops out of school halfway through fifth grade. Her mother decides to teach her at home. "See, she figured me out, Hiram. She knew I was made for the real world. Learning in doing, that was our motto."
p. 211 - "'The most lonesome people I've ever met have been married.'"
p. 211 - "'Amelia...society's already gone and washed their hands of us. Why don't we wash our hands of them? Do what we want, live how we want, love who we want. How does that sound to you?'"
p. 237 - Harvey Blevin tells Melia, "'...the thing about God...He's a man of business. You honor your end, He honors His...You made me question my faith. 'Cause when the Lord ain't living up to His end of the deal no more, a church-going man starts to wonder. He does.'"
"Lucky Strikes" literally gets its name from the cigarette brand that Melia sells at Brenda's Oasis. However, it is symbolic of many things in the story. On page 45 Melia says, "I tossed him a packet of Lucky Strikes as I was walking to the door. And a book of matches" when Hiram first arrives. His arrival was a "lucky strike" for both of them. For the reader it is a lucky strike to have found this book! Highly recommended.
*It should be noted that there is a lot of obscenity (completely appropriate given the time, the place, and the situation) and some adult situations (though nothing graphic or gratuitous) in the book, making it more appropriate for grades 8 and up.
...starting with the first line: "Mama died hard, you should know that" ( a fabulous opening!). Amelia (Melia) Hoyle tells us her story in first person, beginning with the "hard" death of her mother. We don't discover until the end who the "you" is she addresses the first line of her story to. Amelia, the oldest of three siblings, has never known her father so, after her mother's death, she must find them all a father so that they can keep their struggling gas station (Brenda's Oasis) going and stay together. That "father" literally lands at their doorstep in the form of Hiram Watts when he falls, drunk, from the back of a truck. Hiram cleans himself up and the four of them become a family and build a successful business. Their nemesis is one Harley Blevins, the owner of every other gas station for miles around. He sees it as his mission to buy Brenda's Oasis and take down the entire family. We don't find out his motivations to do so until towards the end of the book. The plot is mostly character driven, but the last third of the book is filled with mystery, anticipation, and action. And the ending. OMG, the ending. Have plenty of tissue on hand is all I can say!
The strength of "Lucky Strikes" lies in the voice of the narrator, Melia. She is an old soul. For a fourteen year old she has seen more hardship than a human being should have to experience in a lifetime. She is rough around the edges - but cunning and strong and good and hard working and persistent. Her use of salty language is amusing and appropriate and believable. Though she isn't always easy for the other characters to like, as a reader it is impossible not to empathize with her plight and cheer her on. She can just as easily make us smile and laugh, as she can make is bust out in tears (which I did several times):
- p. 7 - After they bury their mother, Earle says, "'We done it all wrong...She should've been buried at a church...There should've been a preacher...And hymn singing. That's how God likes it...He's going to be pissed off. He ain't gonna let Mamma in.'" To that Melia replies, "'God don't care...the hell with him...After all he put her through."
Her repetition of "you'll learn this" or "you'll know it soon enough" is meant both for the reader and for the person to whom the story is addressed. (p. 89 - "You'll learn this about me. I ain't no good at waiting" and p. 266 - "Well, if you've learned one thing about me by now, it's that I don't like taking orders.") The secondary characters - from her half-siblings, Janey and Earle, to the father that they adopt, Hiram, and his love interest, Ida, to Dudley Blevin, Melia's romantic interest, to their lawyer, Chester Gallagher, and his wife, Mina, and even Gus, the dog - are all interesting and complex in their own right. And we grow to love all of them, along with their quirks. The antagonist, Harley Blevins, is as mean and dark as they come. He throws one punch after another, but Melia gets up again and again and does what she has to do.
Another important aspect of "Lucky Strike" is Bayard's lush and poetic prose. On page 2, Melia says, "I don't know why, but my hand went straight to her hair. I could feel, beneath her hair, her whole scalp crackling. I think now maybe that was her soul flying off." Every line feels spot on. The novel is filled with strong images (p. 74 - "...that's where they was, the both of them, when the police car drove up. Slow and tickly, like a caterpillar" or p. 247 - "...it was raining, and the rain was dripping like syrup from the sleeves of my uniform as I watched Harvey Blevin's office window blink through the fog") and symbolism (the Lucky Strike cigarettes, the red bird, and the Brenda's Oasis sign, for example).
The setting of Walnut Ridge, Virginia, is layered and complex in "Lucky Strikes" as well. Bayard brings this time and place to life for the reader. The heat is palpable. On page 304 Melia says, "You'll get to know early June. The first knuckles of heat come bowling up from the south and meet those cool soft bellies of mountain air, and the heat gives a punch, and the mountains punch back, and every barometer inside of ten miles gets drunk-dizzy, and the haze, before your eyes, turns from blue to gray to white and then back again. It's like the world's trying on summers in a store mirror." The Depression age struggle to survive gets under our skin.
p. 14 - "It's a queer town, Walnut Ridge. Some half a century back, the citizens got a little cash in their pockets and a couple stars in their eyes and figured they was going to be the next big deal...So they went and built themselves a main street. 'Course they couldn't run it but the two blocks before it reached the nearest cliff, but they was so keen on their prospects they decided to call it First Street. As in first of many to come. Well, fate had other plans for Walnut Ridge, and it turned into one of those places that just straggles along."
Finally, the lessons here are memorable and important. I especially appreciated the idea that we simply do what we must to survive - and we can do that with persistence, dignity, and goodness. In the end, there is a thing called "karma," and what we put out to the universe will be returned to us many fold. In addition, the idea of marriage and what makes a family is explored in many ways. "Lucky Strikes" expands our definition of these terms. The novel also looks at ideas such as loss and grief, education, religion (Melia delights in calling herself a "pagan"), persistence, ingenuity, love, community, etc.
p. 69 - "'If we let you take this here station from us...We'll get something taken the next day and the day after and the rest of our natural days 'cause once you get in the habit of rolling over, there's always someone to roll you.'"
p. 96 - "'Melia...when a man's ready to step up, you ought to let him.'"
p. 116 - "'If your enemy's forces are united, separate them...'"
p. 122 - "'My daddy...Fore he died, he told me if a gal don't give you the time of day?Why, you pass right on by 'cause your chances ain't good. But if a gal takes a real pleasure in devilin' you, why, you stick around 'cause it probably means she likes you all right.'"
p. 157 - Melia says to Janey - "'Ain't nothing wrong with a woman going off by herself. She don't need no damn man.'"
p. 172 - Hiram says to Melia - "...it's what comes of thinking on things...Mortal things...Like love...The first flutter, Amelia. It's like nothing else in the world. Never even knew how much I missed it...What it is, you see, it's looking into someone's eyes and having them look back. Oh, I know, you're thinking a fellow as ugly as me, he won't ever know that...Well, I'm here to tell you I do know, and it beats any liquor I've ever tasted. Only it goes away.'"
p. 184 - "Well, that's what happens when you get a fresh pair of eyes on your life. You see things. Possibilities. Even if the eyes in question belong to a crazy old coot and one of 'em is on the lazy side."
p. 191 - "It was like Mama used to say: 'If'n you don't like the sight of worms, you'd best not turn over any rocks.'"
p. 208-9 - Melia drops out of school halfway through fifth grade. Her mother decides to teach her at home. "See, she figured me out, Hiram. She knew I was made for the real world. Learning in doing, that was our motto."
p. 211 - "'The most lonesome people I've ever met have been married.'"
p. 211 - "'Amelia...society's already gone and washed their hands of us. Why don't we wash our hands of them? Do what we want, live how we want, love who we want. How does that sound to you?'"
p. 237 - Harvey Blevin tells Melia, "'...the thing about God...He's a man of business. You honor your end, He honors His...You made me question my faith. 'Cause when the Lord ain't living up to His end of the deal no more, a church-going man starts to wonder. He does.'"
"Lucky Strikes" literally gets its name from the cigarette brand that Melia sells at Brenda's Oasis. However, it is symbolic of many things in the story. On page 45 Melia says, "I tossed him a packet of Lucky Strikes as I was walking to the door. And a book of matches" when Hiram first arrives. His arrival was a "lucky strike" for both of them. For the reader it is a lucky strike to have found this book! Highly recommended.
*It should be noted that there is a lot of obscenity (completely appropriate given the time, the place, and the situation) and some adult situations (though nothing graphic or gratuitous) in the book, making it more appropriate for grades 8 and up.
November 12, 2021
Set in the fictional town of Walnut Ridge, in the real Warren County, Virginia, Lucky Strikes gives readers a glimpse into small-town America in the 1930s. Told from the perspective of Melia, a fifteen-year-old girl trying to run a business (a gas station) and hold her family together after the death of their mother, Lucky Strikes gives us a glimpse into small-town politics and values.
Melia hatches a plan to keep her family together by "hiring" an actor, Hiram (a drifter that falls off the back of a coal truck), to play her and her siblings' father. Melia has to work to overcome her mother's less than sparkling reputation while fighting against the "local king and emperor", Harly Blevins.
While at first glance it may seem that Lucky Strikes plays to the typical stereotypes surrounding rural communities (uneducated and insular), we quickly learn that while Melia has dropped out of school, she is well educated. Not only is Melia well versed in Shakespeare and car repair, but she has plenty of street-smarts as well. Her younger siblings are also portrayed as smart.
The author also confronts gender stereotypes for this time period (boys can go to college, girls should settle down and find a husband). While Melia's mama's plan was for Earle to go to college and for Janey to find a husband, things get turned on their head when Melia realizes (with Hiram's help) that Janey is more suited for college.
While Walnut Ridge has its history and skeletons, we see most of the community embracing Hiram despite the fact that he himself is an outsider and is attached to a family that is on the outside. Readers see that maybe it wasn't the community keeping Melia's family on the outside, as much as it was them shutting the community out. When things get beyond difficult for Melia's family, it is the community that lifts her and her family up and helps them keep going.
Melia hatches a plan to keep her family together by "hiring" an actor, Hiram (a drifter that falls off the back of a coal truck), to play her and her siblings' father. Melia has to work to overcome her mother's less than sparkling reputation while fighting against the "local king and emperor", Harly Blevins.
While at first glance it may seem that Lucky Strikes plays to the typical stereotypes surrounding rural communities (uneducated and insular), we quickly learn that while Melia has dropped out of school, she is well educated. Not only is Melia well versed in Shakespeare and car repair, but she has plenty of street-smarts as well. Her younger siblings are also portrayed as smart.
The author also confronts gender stereotypes for this time period (boys can go to college, girls should settle down and find a husband). While Melia's mama's plan was for Earle to go to college and for Janey to find a husband, things get turned on their head when Melia realizes (with Hiram's help) that Janey is more suited for college.
While Walnut Ridge has its history and skeletons, we see most of the community embracing Hiram despite the fact that he himself is an outsider and is attached to a family that is on the outside. Readers see that maybe it wasn't the community keeping Melia's family on the outside, as much as it was them shutting the community out. When things get beyond difficult for Melia's family, it is the community that lifts her and her family up and helps them keep going.
April 2, 2017
This story takes you back in time to the depression ear and into the lives of Amelia, her two younger siblings, and a "hobo" that is dropped off by truck at Amelia's family service station. The themes of survival, acceptance, and family are the focus of this historical fiction young adult novel. Very enjoyable!
December 30, 2022
This is a book that I wanted to read straight through without pausing for food or rest. It is the fascination of seeing how brave and resilient children are when faced with adversity. It is the excitement of wanting to know what will happen next. This is an exciting book because you know what will happen will be untraditional and a little bit suspect. Yet you long to see what will happen to the Service Station Pagans. It is a book that reinforces the idea that family is important. It tells an unusual story that could happen.
August 11, 2017
Very cute story - I really enjoyed this read...
November 12, 2017
Depressing in the way all depression era fiction is, but also a truly heartwarming story where, in the words of Oscar Wilde, "the good end happily and the bad unhappily".
February 21, 2019
4.5* Legit got this as a cover buy from BookOutlet. Was blown away by what I discovered inside. It now has a home among my favorites. Everyone needs to read this. K, bye.
October 10, 2017
Melia is a tough girl who I fell in love with right away. In this book, she figures out what family means, and when she brings Hiram into hers the fact that it’s not about blood is made clear. The personality traits that are revealed in the children are indicative of people who have been through trauma without being stereotyped.
My one criticism is that I felt like the children started out acting and being described as significantly younger than at the end of the novel, and I was okay with it until the author reminded me that it takes place over less than six months.
My one criticism is that I felt like the children started out acting and being described as significantly younger than at the end of the novel, and I was okay with it until the author reminded me that it takes place over less than six months.
August 4, 2016
I don’t normally read YA novels. Whenever I see that acronym it conjures up images of the Twilight Saga, and its ilk, and I steer clear. However, I have enjoyed Louis Bayard’s historical fiction very much and this didn’t seem like typical YA subject matter, so I was interested in checking it out. I found Lucky Strikes to be classic Bayard storytelling, definitely deserving to be read by more than just the YA audience. I hope that label doesn’t put off some folks from what is an engrossing Depression-era story.
The story centers on three siblings, two girls and a boy, who lose their mother to illness and find themselves without any parent or guardian. The father of the two youngest children is in jail, and the father of the oldest child is unknown to her and has never been present in the family. The children’s mother had purchased a gas station in Walnut Ridge, a small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, and the family was doing everything they could to get by during the Great Depression.
The oldest child, Melia Hoyle, is not quite fifteen years of age. Forced to grow up too soon, she is determined to do what it takes to first and foremost keep the family together and, secondly, to keep operating the gas station (which also serves as a general store and mechanic shop). If all that responsibility wasn’t enough, the owner of the remaining regional gas stations, Harley Blevins, is out to take control of the Hoyle’s station and secure a tight grip on a regional fuel monopoly. The story is narrated by Melia, as she recounts her efforts to keep her family out of foster care and her gas station out of reach from Harley.
A bit of luck comes into play when a hobo in the back of a passing truck tumbles out in front of Melia’s gas station. This girl is very clever and, if anything, too smart in the ways of the world for her age. She sees the hobo, Hiram Watts, as a way to keep the child welfare authorities off her back by claiming he is her long lost father. With the assistance of her mother’s lawyer, she manages to make this ruse stick, at least for a while. In the interim, Hiram Watts not only transforms the lives of the Hoyle children, but also many of the residents of Walnut Ridge.
Hiram’s physical appearance and present circumstances belie his true nature. This is a thoughtful, erudite man. His relationship with the Hoyle children transforms from one of deception to one with genuine familial bonds, as he becomes their guardian angel incarnate. That bit of luck may actually have been providence. Hiram also has an impact with the townsfolk, who originally looked upon the secular Hoyle family with disdain. Through him, they begin to see that family is not defined by blood alone and their feelings toward the Hoyle’s begin to soften. This transformation is heartwarming and uplifting.
Of course, mixed in with this is the scheming of Harley Blevins. This was the weakest part of the story for me. You could say Harley is a bit of a caricature; Melia’s personal Boris Badenov. Maybe because we never really learn much about him, his sociopathic actions seem overwrought. They do ultimately, however, bring about a truly inspiring scene at the end of the novel; something that, at least for a moment, quieted my generally pessimistic view of humanity.
Louis Bayard has quickly become one of my favorite authors, and Lucky Strikes continues to affirm that opinion. This is a wonderful story that takes place in an era that the YA audience probably knows little about. What better way to experience this significant time in our nation’s history than through this engaging story? The author’s next book can’t come soon enough.
The story centers on three siblings, two girls and a boy, who lose their mother to illness and find themselves without any parent or guardian. The father of the two youngest children is in jail, and the father of the oldest child is unknown to her and has never been present in the family. The children’s mother had purchased a gas station in Walnut Ridge, a small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, and the family was doing everything they could to get by during the Great Depression.
The oldest child, Melia Hoyle, is not quite fifteen years of age. Forced to grow up too soon, she is determined to do what it takes to first and foremost keep the family together and, secondly, to keep operating the gas station (which also serves as a general store and mechanic shop). If all that responsibility wasn’t enough, the owner of the remaining regional gas stations, Harley Blevins, is out to take control of the Hoyle’s station and secure a tight grip on a regional fuel monopoly. The story is narrated by Melia, as she recounts her efforts to keep her family out of foster care and her gas station out of reach from Harley.
A bit of luck comes into play when a hobo in the back of a passing truck tumbles out in front of Melia’s gas station. This girl is very clever and, if anything, too smart in the ways of the world for her age. She sees the hobo, Hiram Watts, as a way to keep the child welfare authorities off her back by claiming he is her long lost father. With the assistance of her mother’s lawyer, she manages to make this ruse stick, at least for a while. In the interim, Hiram Watts not only transforms the lives of the Hoyle children, but also many of the residents of Walnut Ridge.
Hiram’s physical appearance and present circumstances belie his true nature. This is a thoughtful, erudite man. His relationship with the Hoyle children transforms from one of deception to one with genuine familial bonds, as he becomes their guardian angel incarnate. That bit of luck may actually have been providence. Hiram also has an impact with the townsfolk, who originally looked upon the secular Hoyle family with disdain. Through him, they begin to see that family is not defined by blood alone and their feelings toward the Hoyle’s begin to soften. This transformation is heartwarming and uplifting.
Of course, mixed in with this is the scheming of Harley Blevins. This was the weakest part of the story for me. You could say Harley is a bit of a caricature; Melia’s personal Boris Badenov. Maybe because we never really learn much about him, his sociopathic actions seem overwrought. They do ultimately, however, bring about a truly inspiring scene at the end of the novel; something that, at least for a moment, quieted my generally pessimistic view of humanity.
Louis Bayard has quickly become one of my favorite authors, and Lucky Strikes continues to affirm that opinion. This is a wonderful story that takes place in an era that the YA audience probably knows little about. What better way to experience this significant time in our nation’s history than through this engaging story? The author’s next book can’t come soon enough.
June 6, 2016
Review copy provided by NetGalley
Set in the Depression Era, this was a story of three children orphaned with nothing more to their names than the humble gas station that their mother had operated. I didn't know quite what to expect when I volunteered to give this one a shot. In general, I tend to not enjoy stories set in this era. I recognize their importance, but I don't normally look back on the reading experience and think, "Wow, that might have been one of the best books I've read this year."
This book, though, is one of the exceptions to the rule. A few words of caution before I dive in: this book is not right for an elementary audience. Characters use foul language throughout, even the younger characters, and the title Lucky Strikes comes from the brand of cigarettes that the eldest child smokes with the man she hires to impersonate her father. Still, for an older audience, this book is a phenomenally well written story with real heart and grit.
Melia (Amelia with the "A" dropped for efficiency) wants nothing more than to keep her family going after their mother dies. There's no father figure to speak of, making them orphans, and that means that they will become wards of the state, will be moved into foster homes and separated. Also, their mother's gas station will be put up for auction and likely sold to the evil Harley Blevins, who owns every other gas station for miles in any direction. Melia won't let that happen though. She won't be separated from her siblings and she won't give up on her mother's gas station, despite being deep in debt to the bank and every supplier the station has.
Therefore, Melia, with the reluctant help of the family lawyer, fraudulently names a drifter that falls out of a passing coal truck to be her father. Melia is a character whose strongest trait is blind determination. She knows her life isn't what she would have liked it to be, and decides that she is going to make it that way, no matter what obstacles stand in her way. Though he doesn't seem like much at first, this drifter turns out to be just what the gas station and the family need. He's had a varied past, one that might have included any number of different odd jobs that provide him with just the skill set he needs to be a passable father to the three children and an inventive businessman that turn the fortune of the failing gas station around.
Meanwhile, there is fight coming throughout the story. Harley Blevins is unscrupulous and heartless and he wants the gas station no matter what it takes. He's not above manipulating, bending, and breaking the law if that's what it takes. Slowly, as Melia's family's fate takes its turn for the better, Harley turns to more and more desperate measures to make his ambition a reality. The climax of the whole book is stunning, a little heart wrenching, and deeply thought-provoking.
I was wildly impressed with this book as a whole. While it won't be a part of my school library, it certainly deserves a place on the shelves of the public library. This is a book that anyone, adult or young adult with the maturity to handle it, should read. I think the deepest message that it conveys is that a happy ending might also hold a well of sadness, yet be no less satisfying for it. Outstanding. It turned my thinking.
Set in the Depression Era, this was a story of three children orphaned with nothing more to their names than the humble gas station that their mother had operated. I didn't know quite what to expect when I volunteered to give this one a shot. In general, I tend to not enjoy stories set in this era. I recognize their importance, but I don't normally look back on the reading experience and think, "Wow, that might have been one of the best books I've read this year."
This book, though, is one of the exceptions to the rule. A few words of caution before I dive in: this book is not right for an elementary audience. Characters use foul language throughout, even the younger characters, and the title Lucky Strikes comes from the brand of cigarettes that the eldest child smokes with the man she hires to impersonate her father. Still, for an older audience, this book is a phenomenally well written story with real heart and grit.
Melia (Amelia with the "A" dropped for efficiency) wants nothing more than to keep her family going after their mother dies. There's no father figure to speak of, making them orphans, and that means that they will become wards of the state, will be moved into foster homes and separated. Also, their mother's gas station will be put up for auction and likely sold to the evil Harley Blevins, who owns every other gas station for miles in any direction. Melia won't let that happen though. She won't be separated from her siblings and she won't give up on her mother's gas station, despite being deep in debt to the bank and every supplier the station has.
Therefore, Melia, with the reluctant help of the family lawyer, fraudulently names a drifter that falls out of a passing coal truck to be her father. Melia is a character whose strongest trait is blind determination. She knows her life isn't what she would have liked it to be, and decides that she is going to make it that way, no matter what obstacles stand in her way. Though he doesn't seem like much at first, this drifter turns out to be just what the gas station and the family need. He's had a varied past, one that might have included any number of different odd jobs that provide him with just the skill set he needs to be a passable father to the three children and an inventive businessman that turn the fortune of the failing gas station around.
Meanwhile, there is fight coming throughout the story. Harley Blevins is unscrupulous and heartless and he wants the gas station no matter what it takes. He's not above manipulating, bending, and breaking the law if that's what it takes. Slowly, as Melia's family's fate takes its turn for the better, Harley turns to more and more desperate measures to make his ambition a reality. The climax of the whole book is stunning, a little heart wrenching, and deeply thought-provoking.
I was wildly impressed with this book as a whole. While it won't be a part of my school library, it certainly deserves a place on the shelves of the public library. This is a book that anyone, adult or young adult with the maturity to handle it, should read. I think the deepest message that it conveys is that a happy ending might also hold a well of sadness, yet be no less satisfying for it. Outstanding. It turned my thinking.
July 8, 2016
Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed this one! It wasn't exactly what I was anticipating but it was still good in it's own right. I would definitely classify it more as a Middle Grade novel than an Young Adult one, but I still thoroughly enjoyed my reading of it. I was put off a bit by some of the phrasing of things and the fact that this was basically one long letter but I wasn't sure who it was addressed to or if I was supposed to be someone in Melia's life.
I thought that there was a good mix of believable good things that came out of this and some things that were almost too good to be true. And while it works in some novels, I found that this one could have used with more of the down and out sort of feeling rather than the happily ever afters. There were definitely some things that went wrong, but it felt like it went up and up and the real issues that could have set them back didn't really do so. And I feel like that made me feel a bit cheated for the story.
I did really like all the characters though. I thought Melia was really strong and tough and while she sounded older than 14, I could believe it through context and timing. I feel as though with historical fiction, you can get away with how your MC sounds and acts because of context and this was definitely one of those instances. I think she was really brave and did anything and everything she could to survive and keep her family together. I liked that she was really innovative but also still a child and allowed to be a child in this story.
I think the family was really well constructed. I liked that everyone had their role but they were also really dependent on one another. I think there was a lot of pressure for Melia to be the leader but she defected when she had to because it was the right thing to do.
I really liked this one. I thought it felt like the time period, had a really strong main character, and enough hope to mix with the sad parts that I found myself smiling as much as I did crying. Overall a well rounded novel with a great message that no matter what life throws at you, you are stronger than it.
Books and Ladders | Books Are My Fandom | Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin'
I really enjoyed this one! It wasn't exactly what I was anticipating but it was still good in it's own right. I would definitely classify it more as a Middle Grade novel than an Young Adult one, but I still thoroughly enjoyed my reading of it. I was put off a bit by some of the phrasing of things and the fact that this was basically one long letter but I wasn't sure who it was addressed to or if I was supposed to be someone in Melia's life.
I thought that there was a good mix of believable good things that came out of this and some things that were almost too good to be true. And while it works in some novels, I found that this one could have used with more of the down and out sort of feeling rather than the happily ever afters. There were definitely some things that went wrong, but it felt like it went up and up and the real issues that could have set them back didn't really do so. And I feel like that made me feel a bit cheated for the story.
I did really like all the characters though. I thought Melia was really strong and tough and while she sounded older than 14, I could believe it through context and timing. I feel as though with historical fiction, you can get away with how your MC sounds and acts because of context and this was definitely one of those instances. I think she was really brave and did anything and everything she could to survive and keep her family together. I liked that she was really innovative but also still a child and allowed to be a child in this story.
I think the family was really well constructed. I liked that everyone had their role but they were also really dependent on one another. I think there was a lot of pressure for Melia to be the leader but she defected when she had to because it was the right thing to do.
I really liked this one. I thought it felt like the time period, had a really strong main character, and enough hope to mix with the sad parts that I found myself smiling as much as I did crying. Overall a well rounded novel with a great message that no matter what life throws at you, you are stronger than it.
Books and Ladders | Books Are My Fandom | Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin'
Displaying 1 - 30 of 223 reviews