Lucky in the Corner

by Carol Anshaw

Nora and Fern's relationship as mother and daughter is a tumble of love and distrust. To Nora, her daughter is an enigma -- at the same time wonderful and unfindable. Fern sees her mother as treacherous -- for busting up their family to move in with her lover, Jeanne. As their lives become complicated by the arrivals of a skateboarding boyfriend for Fern, a shadowy affair for Nora, a baby in need of a family, and by the failing health of Lucky, their beloved dog, this mother and daughter find their way onto a fresh footing with each other.
"With sharp humor and perception" ( The Oprah Magazine), Lucky in the Corner shows us the way a family reconfigures itself as unexpected changes come its way -- and how, no matter what shape it takes, it remains a family.

Genres: Fiction, LGBT, Queer, Lesbian, Dogs, Novels

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Carol Anshaw is an American novelist and short story writer. Her books include Carry the One, Lucky in the Corner, Seven Moves and Aquamarine. Her stories have been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories in 1994, 1998, and 2012. She has an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts (1992). She has won a National Book Critics Circle Citation for Excellence in Reviewing, an NEA Grant, an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship, a Carl Sandburg Award and Society of Midland Authors Award. Her newest novel, Right after the Weather, is forthcoming in October from Simon & Schuster.

Anshaw is also a painter. She divides her time between Chicago and Amsterdam

Reviews

[Erika Nerdypants]

This was a book about relationships. Mothers, daughters, lovers, siblings and friends, no one escapes Anshaw's very perceptive scrutiny. I loved the characters in this book, particularly the protagonists, Fern and Nora. Although this novel is not really plot driven, apart from the opening scene events unfold almost ploddingly slow, it is a wonderful character study, and concerns itself much more with how events affect the people experiencing them. I found the interweaving of the past which Anshaw did by inserting short chapters into the present narrative a little confusing, but her writing has such a fresh quality, it never disappoints and always surprises. My only real complaint is her character Jeanne who never came alive for me and who I feel deserved more than the stereotypical, somewhat one-dimensional treatment she got. This was my second book by this author, and I wish she was more prolific. "Aquamarine", which she wrote years ago is no longer available at our local library, but I'll certainly keep my eyes open in used book stores.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've now read this book three times, which is almost unheard of for me. There are so many good books out there, who has time to keep rereading one of them, no matter how wonderful? But something truly resonated for me in Lucky in the Corner. The fact that most of us in life try to do the right thing and we succeed or fail at various times, in varying ways. And there is reward and forgiveness in both. We don't fail as human beings just because we fail to be wise in all our actions. There is a lot of love in this book, and it is sometimes almost painful to observe. There's also a lot of trademark Anshaw humor and wonderfully nuanced characters. The elegant, beautiful Jeanne, an unlikely betrayed lover, gives a gorgeous, reasoned explanation of how the betrayal devastates trust, one that should make anyone think twice before they have a dalliance.

[treehugger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book wasn't nearly as good as Aquamarine. Kind of a disappointment. The main character's mother was slutty, and somehow this was excused by the author and the other characters in the book. None of the characters were particularly likable, and the tone of the entire novel was a little dark and depressing. But it was interesting enough to keep me reading it, which is the only reason I gave it 3 stars. Had it sucked even 1 iota more than it did, it would have lost that 3rd star before it knew what hit it.

Slutty lesbian moms don't appeal to me as far as protagonists go, but it is an interesting look at what it's like to a)be a lesbian mom and b)have a lesbian mom.

[Faith Reidenbach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just when I was despairing that so little good literary lesbian fiction gets published in the United States, I met up with Carol Anshaw. This novel is perfection. It has an intriguing beginning, a pitch-perfect ending, a baby with personality, a dog with personality, 2 likeable men, lesbians with interesting problems, and a character who's part of an underacknowledged faction of the LGBT community: the straight adult child of a lesbian couple. Also, this is the best depiction of non-creepy sexual obsession (straight and lesbian) that I've come across.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the way that Anshaw handled the issue of infidelity - and more generally, secrets - in this novel. She weaves this theme throughout the different characters' lives, including in the flashbacks to their earlier, younger days. She doesn't choose sides, but is pretty fair to everyone involved.

Anshaw also bring us to a satisfyingly dense climax, but the resolution of this final drama leaves the reader with little closure. What will happen to Nora and Jeanne? I suppose we just have to extrapolate from what we know of them so far. And Harold is a wonderfully complex character, but he has little in the way of growth, merely supporting the others in their own movements through the novel.

Other than that, this is a great book that can be enjoyed by gay or straight folks alike, mothers and daughters, and anyone who is staring down love and all the complexities it brings.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I'm turning into a Carol Anshaw fan.
Lucky in the Corner is a puzzling title, since none of the characters seem like luck is the main force in their lives, not even the dog named Lucky. Instead, the characters are real and plausible and interesting, doing things and interacting with each other in ways that make sense but aren't predicable. There's a strong plot, moving from A to B through moments of crisis, but since I prefer character to plot, it's not that important to me. I prefer the people, and watching them drive the bus, to mapping their route.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Understated and full of shadows...Nora and Fern are not your typical mother and daughter. Nora is a lesbian and has had a number of liasons. Now, her current partner Jeanne provides more stability, but Fern is a teen, and nothing is easy. Lucky is the dog who factors just a little bit in the book (should have been more!)The story takes it's twists and turns. Nothing is held back. I'd love to see more by Anshaw who is a marvelous storyteller.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, hard to describe about a mother and daughter in an unconventional family to say the least.
I found their relationship interesting and actually could relate to their disconnect with each other. I think the mother/daughter relationship can be such a complicated one full of push and pull. You love each other and cant stand each other at the same time.
I think Anshaw truly understands, her characters are real people and the story is very poignant.

[Sylvia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great characters. If you need plot, this is not the book for you. Intimate portrait of a modern family that has humor and is not afraid to show the real human condition in action. There's also lots of dog love, which makes me happy.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t think i would have finished it if it wasn’t required for class. I am glad I stayed with it— the moments of beautiful symbolism and characterization made up for the slow (at points) plot. The ending was lovely. Nice portrayal of two people struggling through life crossroads together.

[Elaine Burnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ll give this four stars, not because it’s a story to like as much as one to admire. She’s about as good a writer as you’ll ever see. And she doesn’t shy away from lesbian characters or relegate them to the background. That’s refreshing, coming from a mainstream publisher.

However, after some action to start and meeting the cast (great!), she dug into back story, which was less interesting. There’s a ton of misdirection, which is not a bad thing. You get each character’s opinion of the others and they so do not understand each other! That’s the fun of multiple POVs done well.

I’m coming to an interesting conclusion about literary (this) versus commercial fiction. All her beautiful writing, description, background, character development don’t do anything to make the story memorable. There’s a lot I can’t reveal without spoiling, but there’s a dog, and you all know what that means. I skipped that part.

Nora is a complicated character, and not easy to like. Suffice it to say, I remained unconvinced by her motivations. I have many thoughts I can’t include here without spoiling, but know Nora is a hot mess. There’s a key scene with her and Jeanne, her partner, that is gut punching in its quiet devastation. At the end, we get Fern’s POV. She’s only glad her mother has finally shown up, though she realizes her being late has to be because of something bad.

Gotta hand it to Anshaw, though, this is a tough story to tackle and she does it well. But it’s definitely one where you spend a lot of time screaming at a character, “Don’t do it! For the love of all that is holy, just don’t!”

[Diane Chiddister · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Washington Post reviewer described Carol Anshaw's prose as "buttery," and, after I finished this book, the word felt exactly right. Her writing is deep and rich and smooth, but not difficult, full of reflections and metaphors that push us a bit, jar our way of seeing things and help us view the world differently. It's exquisite writing.
And another strength of the novel is a new take on that most difficult of relationships, mother/daughter. The relationship between Nora and Fern brought me to tears several times in its wisdom and fresh perspective -- it helped me more deeply understand my own relationship with my grown up daughter. What's fresh and new, to me, is how clearly and deeply Anshaw creates the powerful bond between the two, the knowing of each other and even comfort together, even as Fern, the daughter, thinks of herself as hating her mother, distrusting her. When at the end Fern finds a way to begin the process of forgiving her mother, I was very, very moved.
A book with buttery prose and an expansive world view -- yup, that's what I want in a novel, and in this one, it's what I got.

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carry the One was such a wonderful book, so when I finally got my hands on more of Carol Anshaw's books I was happy to reconnect with her lovely sentences and delicious little comments and asides. This author is such a great example of "showing not telling" and I always feel a little elevated because she's trusted me to understand what she isn't "telling." We take comfort in little happy moments, gem-like sentences that sparkle in their settings. When she does tell, she seems to be letting you in on a private joke she wants to share only with you.
I loved Fern, who loves to learn.

My greatest accomplishment in life is my impersonation of sane.

and Delores

Sometimes missing someone is the best relationship you can have with someone.

Harold is vague about what he does for a living (can we guess?) and

...has a crush on Gretel, Nora can tell. She can imagine the two of them pretty graphically, scenes in which one or maybe both of them is wearing a girdle.

I'm not sure we're meant to like Nora, or even to sympathize with her, and that's where the book loses a star for me. We get a heaping helping of Nora's desires and selfishness and ambivalence and perspective without developing much empathy for her. I wanted less of Nora and more Uncle Harold, more Delores and a lot more Fern.
And I wanted Nora to get the smack upside the head she so richly deserves.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always enjoy Anshaw's wry observations, her satirical descriptions, and the way she creates extended groups of chosen families, friends, exes and lovers. It's so unusual to find books with lesbian characters years past the drama of coming out -- women who are just living their lives, still feeling passionate but in committed (or confused) relationships, working at grown-up jobs and hanging out with old friends, raising their children, making mistakes, still learning, and going on. It makes me hungry for more books by this author!

[Cdubbub · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is a three and a half for me. I so love Carol Anshaw's writing, and this book is full of great turns of phrase, rich characters and difficult, but comprehensible, plot points. That being said, I was distracted from the book a fair bit of the story. She always found a way to bring me back and the ending was very satisfying. Of the Anshaw books I've read, I think I'd put it below Carry the One, and just above Aquamarine.

[Muriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the varieties of family explored in novel. When a baby enters the family dynamic between mother and daughter change.

[Stefanie Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

""

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Have to say I was a bit disappointed with this one. I'd read a bunch of good reviews and it won an award for being good lesbian-based fiction. While the character of Nora is someone you tend to be judgemental over you can understand her plight of never truly being satisfied in a relationship and once things get relatively stable she gets antsy and therefore must self-destruct. The reader empathizes with Fern over feeling a sort of abandonment by her mother because she's never really exposed her true self to her daughter, rather hid the more unsavory female lovers, and paraded what she figured were the more acceptable ones around her child soon after she left her father and broke up a marriage that Fern felt was stable and comforting.

[SOME SPOILERS HERE:] I'm fine with the subject matter of a woman finding her true self/sexuality at a later stage and trying to make amends with her daughter for them to really connect. The problems are the pacing for one. Everything speeds by so fast and emotions seem to go too fast also. Nora and her lover seem to be in love, but aren't? Fern and her new boyfriend hop in the sack and becomes a staple in her life like that? Fern takes over the role of caretaker for her best friend's infant son without asking for a dime and her new boyfriend is on board? Turns out the boyfriend (James) has depression? Turns out that Nora's father dies halfway through with little warning. All these events come and go and it seems like the reader is missing important tidbits as to how James and Fern become so connected, why Fern would even contemplate taking on a child that wasn't hers full-time while still in school and dealing with her own feelings of distrust and lack of ambition, and why would Jeanne take Nora back so easily after the affair comes out in the open? And why does Lucky become such a strong focus towards the end? Yes, he's the signifier of the one thing from the marriage to now that Fern has kept hold of, the one element of her transition into adulthood that's made her feel safe. But near the end he just doesn't seem all that important in the grand scheme of things as he and the baby are used to try and join the disjointed relationships together but instead are seen as tools that are just too easy in the case of something that could have more depth to it really focusing on psychology.

Nora is the most developed character her and we're inside her mind a lot, just as we are with Fern's. The issue is the psychology could be further developed here and not rely so much on passing events. The snippets of the past are interesting to show Nora slowly coming out of the closet and attempting to accept motherhood, but there are still holes I felt needed to be filled. I'm sure people will applaud it for the fact that it focuses on a lesbian woman coming to terms with a lot of things which is fine (and doesn't revolve around focusing on sex scenes or anything which helps to keep the focus on the emotional), but it's still lacking in the depth that could be utilized to reveal how and why Nora and Fern need to come together.

[Liesl · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book based on Nancy Pearl's recommendation on NPR. I love her enthusiasm when discussing books and find myself catching her excitement. However, I was dissappointed when actually reading this. It had a potentially interesting plotline that never gelled for me and, while plot is not everything, it did not have much else to prop it up such as character development or prose. I would not recommend this book and would not reread it.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book when researching books with dogs/about dogs for work. I have been reading a lot of non-fiction and thought a nice, light read would be fun. I did like it, but can't give it a good review because the first half was so slow. The second have was quite good, but you have to get through the first half to get to it. And, Lucky (the dog) wasn't in as much of the book as I had hoped. I also just may not be as interested in light fiction as I used to...

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a long time to read this one. I definitely liked it better the more I got into it, but the plot is generally meandering. The characters seem like people you would actually meet in your everyday life, and I think I wanted more activity, more confrontations, more escaping if that is what the character is going to do. Lovely writing, but the story wasn't my favorite by this author.

[Tomi-Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a wonderful little book. Lucky is a dog. I heard about it from that librarian Nany Pearl they sometimes interview on Morning Edition on NPR. All her suggestions are great, by the way. It's a coming of age novel about a young girl and her dog. Read it.

[Mistinguette Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marvelously executed prose and fully realized characters with complexities, subjectivities and weaknesses just slightly more interesting than real life. I would read this again just for her great use of language and her elevation of snark to a literary level. Can't wait to read more by this author.

[Mary Ayres · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kept feeling ambivalent about this book - which I think shows that it has power. You can't help but get so annoyed with Nora - maybe pissed is a better word. I really liked Fern's development. I wanted more of Lucky.

[Barb · Rating 2 out of 5]

By page 89, nothing has really happened, except maybe the mother has had a one-nighter, but maybe not. I loved Anshaw's story in Best American Short Stories 2012 or 13 (can't remember which), but this book doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

[Toby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carol!

[TJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too much. Maybe too overwrought. Not worth the effort.

[Justyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A damned fine read.

[Katie M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Incredibly mediocre lesbian novel.

[Carrie]

glbt fiction