Lucky Strike

by Nancy Zafris

Just as she did in her New York Times Notable debut novel, The Metal Shredders, Nancy Zafris follows a colorful cast of characters into uncharted fictional territory, this time landing in the canyon country of the desert Southwest in 1954. For motivations as straightforward as striking it rich to reasons far more complex and confounding, they each embark on very personal divergent journeys across an unforgiving countryside, even while their quest to find uranium unites them. By turns meditative and funny, frightening, witty and refreshingly wise, Lucky Strike explores the ways that language simply put can mine the inexpressable. In the process, a young widow and her two children learn much about uranium but even more about the nature of the love that binds them. This is a story to touch your heart.

Genres: Fiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2005

Reviews

[Saleh MoonWalker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Onvan : Lucky Strike - Nevisande : Nancy Zafris - ISBN : 193296116X - ISBN13 : 9781932961164 - Dar 336 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 2005

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was interesting and introduced me to some history I didn't know about, and I liked the different points of view, but the narration felt too disjointed and I felt like I didn't know what was going on half the time.
I will admit that I was also mightily distracted and very annoyed with the continual reference to Mormons, when the people being referred to were not Mormon (we Mormons get really sick and tired of repeatedly having to explain that polygamists are NOT MORMON). The author obviously did some research into the time period and location, but clearly didn't do enough homework to get that straight, and it really bugged me, but it wouldn't make a difference to someone who wasn't LDS.

[Kirsten · Rating 1 out of 5]

What I hoped would be a quirky story about a time period I didn't realize existed (the time of uranium mining), left me bored and kind of frustrated, with too many unanswered questions. The only reason I kept reading is my bookclub's "Suck it up and read" rule. I kind of liked the story telling from different character's points of view, but I felt that left each character somewhat underdeveloped. Overall, I found most of them unlikeable and I didn't really care about what happened to them (with the possible exception of Beth and Ms. Dazzle). Many reviews talk about the great sense of humor in the story telling - apparently I don't share that sense of humor, it was lost on me. A disappointing read.

[Marguerite Hargreaves · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is unlike anything I've read. A widow and mother of two sets off for the Utah desert to get rich quick in the uranium rush of the 1950's. Superbly unprepared, they meet up with other fortune hunters, some of them claimjumpers, some hateful in other ways, all of them strange. As events unfold, they learn about dreams, adventure, love and loyalty -- sometimes from unexpected directions. The ending felt a bit truncated, but the pace was lively and the characters, especially Beth, nicely nuanced. I'll look for more books by Nancy Zafris.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not sure about this book at first, sometimes the prose seemed to ramble off onto tangents I didn't understand. But then I decided that was a way of sharing the characters' internal thought process. After all, our thoughts down usually flow through our brains in complete organized sentences. I especially liked Harry's pastiche of impressions and interpretations of what he was seeing, followed by his process of gelling (normalizing) things. very unique.

[KellyWells · Rating 1 out of 5]

silly

[Kristin R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read about uranium mining

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quirky characters. A little slow at times.

[Dianecammer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Our book club was split on this one - got as high as a 7/10, and a low of 1/10 (me), averaging 4.5. Topic unusual and interesting, but too much head-hopping made the story confusing.