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    Lucky Us: A Novel
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    Lucky Us: A Novel
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    Lucky Us: A Novel
    Audiobook7 hours

    Lucky Us: A Novel

    Written by Amy Bloom

    Narrated by Alicyn Packard

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND O: THE OPRAH MAGAZINE

    My father's wife died. My mother said we should drive down to his place and see what might be in it for us.

    So begins this remarkable novel by Amy Bloom, whose critically acclaimed Away was called "a literary triumph" (The New York Times). Lucky Us is a brilliantly written, deeply moving, fantastically funny novel of love, heartbreak, and luck.

    Disappointed by their families, Iris, the hopeful star and Eva the sidekick, journey through 1940s America in search of fame and fortune. Iris's ambitions take the pair across the America of Reinvention in a stolen station wagon, from small-town Ohio to an unexpected and sensuous Hollywood, and to the jazz clubs and golden mansions of Long Island.

    With their friends in high and low places, Iris and Eva stumble and shine though a landscape of big dreams, scandals, betrayals, and war. Filled with gorgeous writing, memorable characters, and surprising events, Lucky Us is a thrilling and resonant novel about success and failure, good luck and bad, the creation of a family, and the pleasures and inevitable perils of family life, conventional and otherwise. From Brooklyn's beauty parlors to London's West End, a group of unforgettable people love, lie, cheat and survive in this story of our fragile, absurd, heroic species.

    Editor's Note

    Unforgettable characters…

    Beautifully written & populated with diverse & vibrant characters, “Lucky Us” follows half-sisters Eva and glamorous Iris as they traverse the US in search of fame, while WWII brews across the globe.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJul 29, 2014
    ISBN9780804191357
    Unavailable
    Lucky Us: A Novel
    Author

    Amy Bloom

    Amy Bloom is the author of a novel, Love Invents Us, and two collections of stories: Come to Me, nominated for a National Book Award, and A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You, nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her stories have appeared in Best American Short Stories, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, and numerous anthologies here and abroad. She has written for the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly , Vogue, Slate, and Salon, among many other publications, and has won a National Magazine Award. Her first book of nonfiction, Normal: Transsexual CEOs, Crossdressing Cops, and Hermaphrodites with Attitude, is an exploration of the varieties of gender. She lives in Connecticut and teaches at Yale University.

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    Reviews for Lucky Us

    3.5/5

    258 ratings67 reviews

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    • 3/5
      See full review @ The Indigo Quill

      Special thanks to Netgalley and Random House for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

      After receiving this book for review, I had heard good things about it on NPR. The reviews for Lucky Us are all over the place, so you may just have to read it yourself to decide what you think about it. It's definitely a unique work, and if you like a lot of dynamic and don't mind some explicit storytelling, then you will enjoy it. One reviewer didn't seem too impressed, and especially did not find the connection between the cover art and the pages that lie behind it. Related or not, the absurdity of a lion and a zebra stacked and balanced on a tight rope was appealing to me, but then again, my phone case has elephants flying by hot air balloon.

      Lucky Us is a story of two girls, Eva and Iris, who blindly feel their way through life after emerging from their dysfunctional and abandoned family unit. We are then catapulted into a series of quasi-unrelated events that somehow lead these girls from one experience to the next (and the reader isn't entirely sure how they got there).

      Iris is an emerging starlet who carries the potential to be America's next sweetheart. In the hype of Hollywood's glamour, she begins experimenting with her sexuality and the reader suddenly finds themselves in the center of several scandalous sexcapades. Needless to say, this is not a family-friendly book. Iris is betrayed by her fellow starlet and femme-fatale lover and is banished from the limelight forever.

      Eva, on the other hand, is the conventional one who lives in Iris' shadow, but she is also the storyteller and gives us a glimpse into the quiet-but-fierce persona of her own. She may not be another pretty face, but she definitely has a strong stomach, and so the reader learns to admire her through her narrative.

      This book possesses an exceptional level of realism and artistry that will leave you dazed and charmed all at once. Truly, it's a ripple effect of serial events that keeps the reader's attention because of its unpredictability. It's impossible to guess the ending or what is going to come next, so be prepared to adapt quickly and spend moments wounded and thrilled simultaneously. Because of this, you can't help but feel dynamic attachments to the characters. It's almost comedic how bizarre and jarring it all is.

      There are times when the plot seems to be in utter chaos, traveling around in strings weaving out and in between, but in the end they enter twine together to become a masterful design. If you enjoy a story that hybrids historical and modern society, and names its chapters after vintage song titles, then you'll love this book. Not to mention the mystery cover that leaves you both intrigued and scratching your head!
    • 4/5
      How can Amy Bloom say so much in so few pages? In his blurb on the book jacket, Michael Cunningham says she has "sentences that should be in a sentence museum." Amen to that.From her first intriguing sentences to the end of this short book, Amy Bloom trusts the reader to grasp everything she is saying without belaboring any points. Her historical references are woven into the fabric of the novel, without exposition, and every word carries the tale along.And a tale it is. Like her previous novel [Away], [Lucky Us] has elements of a tall tale. A bit over the top, not quite believable, but effective in transporting the reader to that time and place. [Lucky Us] considers the nature of family, of jewishness, and of luck in a way that will make the reader reconsider his own.
    • 3/5
      Thanks to Net Galley for the opportunity to read this.

      I enjoyed the beginning of this book. It started out in a beautiful historic tone. It seemed that the story got stranger and stranger as it went on. The characters were wonderful and pretty realistic.
    • 1/5
      I had to force myself to finish it. The reviews sounded great. No matter how many topics she threw in (abandoned children, WWII, kidnapping, tarot, and on and on) to try to make this book seem interesting, it bombed. The plot never was developed and I never felt invested in any of the characters. Save your time.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoy Bloom's writing. Lots of great characters set off in different directions and then brought back together. Very satisfying read.
    • 2/5
      I was pretty disappointed by this book. I heard a fantastic radio interview with Amy Bloom, and I was really looking forward to the book, especially after hearing her read the beginning of the chapter in which Iris turns Gus in to the FBI (to get him out of the way because she's in love with his wife). I dove right into the book, and was immediately caught up in the writing, which is, for the most part, very lovely.

      But I found the structure of the book confusing and disjointed. There are letters from Iris to Eva that recount, in detail, things that Eva certainly would have known, since she was there. There are first-person accounts from Eva. There are third-person accounts from... someone. There are letters from Gus that are interesting, but since they're never delivered, he has to tell Eva everything that was in them when he finally makes it back home.

      In the third-person accounts, particularly, the viewpoints are kind of bizarre. There's one scene with Iris and Rose that I read three times, and finally figured out that it said "Rose" where it meant to say "Iris" (or Rose was giving herself a massage suddenly, in the middle of the paragraph). In the scene where Ruthie and Danny are at the rich girl's house, it's hard to figure out who's seeing what (and also, the inclusion of whole chapter made no sense; how did they meet someone in such a different economic situation? And how was it at all important, since she never showed up again?).

      Like many others, I found the cast of characters unbelievable. I found it hard to believe that in the 1940s, nearly every woman Iris is interested in is interested in her too. While that might have been true, I doubt that a lot of women would have a) acted on their interest; and b) been so open about their relationships with her, even in New York or Hollywood. They actually stole a little boy from an orphanage and then went around asking about his brother and nobody noticed? Their dad was actually not the Englishman he had always claimed to be, but was in fact Jewish and, what, American? (That's never explained AT ALL; it's just thrown in there at the end).

      The thing is, I kept reading because I liked the writing. But there were several times I almost gave up--even on a book as slim as this one--because it was just felt too contrived and confusing.
    • 4/5
      Don't get comfortable. That's all.
    • 4/5
      When Eva was 11, her mother deposited Eva with her father and left. For the first time, she met her sister Iris, and really got to know her father. When Iris turned 18, they left Ohio and went to Hollywood so that Iris could be a star. That was only the beginning of the places Iris led Eva to.
    • 3/5
      Sweet, interesting and fun. An easy weekend read with a historical backdrop. The characters never get completely fleshed out, but it kept me engaged.
    • 2/5
      Started out ok, then got really slow and boring. I had a difficult time paying attention to the narrator quite a bit. It got a little interesting when they went and STOLE A CHILD from the orphanage ( I mean - who does this...?????), and then it got boring again very quickly. Then the fire happened and it was interesting for another chapter or so. By the end, I was begging for it to finish.
      2.5 stars, and not recommend unless you would like something to help you sleep at night.
    • 2/5
      I often wonder if the reviews on the jacket are written by people that actually read the book.
    • 5/5
      What a story and slice of life. I loved the way Bloom used letters and different points of view to give us a glimpse into this family in all its guises.
    • 4/5
      Told from several points of view, the novel begins with the first person narrative of Eva, a 12 year old whose mother suddenly drops her off at her father's house and leaves forever. Her older half sister Iris becomes a pivotal person in her life, and the two of them run off to Hollywood together. Throughout, the chapters shift from Eva's first person to third person accounts of Iris, then Clara, then Gus, and settings from the early to late 1940's, Brooklyn, and Germany. Heartwarming characters balance the faults of Eva's parents, with the backdrop of the inhumanity of Hollywood and World War II. Some of the motivations seem unclear to me, in particular the enmity Eva comes to feel for Iris, but the ending wraps things up successfully.
    • 3/5
      A collection of vignettes that finally comes together.
    • 3/5
      This was not a book I could connect with. I found no appeal in any of the characters so therefore their stories did not interest me. I kept reading in hopes of finding that special something I was looking for, but it never showed up. I did like the places the novel took me to, especially the beauty parlor and the tarot readings and the internment camps Gus was sent to. I guess if those are the highights of a book, then perhaps it was not a book for me. I am not sure of what customer I would recommend this book to and that does not happen often.
    • 4/5
      A novel about two half-sisters, the glamorous Iris and the bookish Eva, and their complicated and often very unlucky lives in the 1940s and beyond.I have very mixed feelings about this one. On an intellectual level, it's doing a lot of things I like. I like the diverse cast of characters and their unusual points of view, and I like the way Bloom peels back the layers of those characters, slowly revealing various interesting and disturbing things about them. But the problem is, pretty much all my appreciation was on an intellectual level. The characters never really came alive for me, and whatever weird or tragic things might happen to them, it never really affected me emotionally. Something about the writing just kept me constantly at one remove from it all.
    • 5/5
      I admit to being an ardent fan of Amy Bloom's novels, her unique writing style and prose, her memorable characters, and her ability to transport me to another era in history. Lucky Us did not disappoint me, and I felt a particular connection with several characters and plot twists, likely because of my genealogy research and the stories I listened to as a child. I could almost know parts of these characters, and how history and luck shaped their lives, and how strange family and love can be.The story is told from a variety of perspectives, including letters, and I couldn't help but be reminded a bit of reading 84 Charring Cross Road, and how this heartbreaking, yet funny and surprising story was reminiscent of John Irving or Kurt Vonnegut for me. But Amy Bloom is unique and every time I read her novels, I remind myself that she is a poet, and can paint vivid pictures with a minimum of words. As always, I wished the story were longer, I wanted to know more about everything and everyone. But the author left me with a beautiful description of a snapshot that lets me fill in most of the blanks with my imagination. I've gone back to reread the last chapter several times and I can almost picture the scene and I know that the more of this story and these characters is simply love and family, in all its permutations.I highly recommend this book, for Amy Bloom fans and for those unfamiliar with her work. It is a book that will resonate for a very long time.
    • 4/5
      As usual Amy Bloom does not disappoint! Lucky Us was such a joy to read with a clear, efficient writing style, Ms Bloom's starts with Eva abandoned by her mother at her philandering father and his daughters's front door. Eva tells the story of her and and her sister, Iris' lives for the next 20 years. Set in the 1940's, the 2 sisters bond and go on to make a new life for themselves,Iris following her dream of stardom and Eva supporting her sister. So many ups and downs that would make most people just give up.I loved this book and love Ms Blooms style where she often tells what the future was for characters as they exit the story.
    • 4/5
      Enjoyed this book. Loved hearing the story of these two sisters, the friendships they made along the way, the struggles they faced, and the hardships they overcome. This is a quick read, and if you love the 1940's, it's definitely a trip back in time. Each chapter is the title of a song from the era, I made a Spotify playlist based on the chapter titles ad listened to it while I read. Different style of music than I'm used to, but I liked that I was able to gain some insight into what the author was inspired by while writing this book.
    • 3/5
      Lucky Us is the story of Iris and Eva two half sisters who don't know that the other exists until they are thrown together after Iris's mothers funeral. I had a difficult time figuring out what was lucky about them as they had a tough time through out the book but they did manage to create a family and friends no matter where they were and that seemed to be the luck in their lives. I found the book to be very confusing because it was told by different people and thought that parts of it were just unbelievable. It was an ok book but I prefer Amy Bloom's short stories.
    • 2/5
      With an attention getting book cover and the first lines being "My father's wife died. My mother said we should drive down to his place and see what might be in it for us." Amy Bloom has attracted readers to enter to world of Eva Logan. But that's all she did. Though the book cover, at least for me, had nothing to do with the novel itself, it does get one wondering on what's inside. Mind you I am not saying that this novel is BAD I am saying that it doesn't live up to the hipe of the first two lines or the book cover. Eva's life before the age of twelve was one in which she had no complaints, but that changed when her mother dropped her on Eva's father's door step and drove off, never to return again. Eva is astonished to find out that her father is actually a wealthy, college professor with a sixteen year old daughter. Though her father won't even acknowledge that she is his own daughter Eva becomes know to all as his niece. With all this negativity in her life the only person with whom she is treated nicely is her own half sister, Iris. After helping Iris with practicing to win competitions, Eva and Iris run to Hollywood on the money from the competitions. This is only the beginning, the drama piles up in the novel, but Amy Bloom does a wonderful job describing her scenes and the characters experiences that it doesn't read like a contemporary drama. Narrated by Eva Logan herself, Ms. Bloom interrupts the narrative with letters from Iris and another character. Thus, the reader is able to follow these other characters in their paralleled lives without derailing the main narrative. This novel shows that family is not just limited to the relatives you have but the people who love you too. Though life can through a lot of troubles your way all you have to do is dust yourself off, move forward and triumphs will come your way.
    • 1/5
      I found this book hard to follow and the plot and purpose totally escaped me. If not for my book club I would not have finished it. I would have tossed it after the first 50 pages. Gratuitous lesbian sex orgy did not entice me to finish it. Only perserverance did. I found the characters disjointed and only fractionally connected which led to a somewhat belabored ending of a "blended" type family. Would not recommend.
    • 3/5
      The exploits of an unconventional family during the 1940s. The writing is good but the characters never seemed real and a few times the changes in family circumstances were made so quickly that I thought I had skipped a few pages.
    • 4/5
      Finished in two days (only because I was interrupted on Day 1!). Wonderful tale of two sisters and the family they acquire and lose along a serpentine route from poor to rich to poor to happy. Superb characters, about many of whom the reader truly cares. Wonderful main character, Eva Acton, who ages from about 8 to young adulthood.
    • 4/5
      ucky Us by Amy Bloom: Lucky us to have this book surprising novel -- a series of short chapters in multiple points of view (something I love -- see Before My Eyes and LIE) -- and essentially about what makes us a family. The story centers on Eva and Iris, half sisters. But no one is what they seem at first. For example, their father presumably a WASP, a literature professor, and a dead-beat is anything but a WASP, a professor, or a truly dead-beat father. All the characters re-make themselves over and over. Set in the 1940s to the 1950s and traveling from small town Ohio to Hollywood to Great Neck, Long Island, college town, the story unfolds in sometimes improbable ways, but I was sold on these characters. By the end, I was cheering Eva and Iris and all of them on. And, the writing is superb. Like I said: Lucky us.
    • 2/5
      When Eva's mother drops her off at her father's doorstep, she meets her half sister, Iris. Immediately, Eva becomes Iris' sidekick and the two strike out to Hollywood. Iris lands a few movie rolls before she is blacklisted for a romantic relationship with a female star. Their father shows up in Hollywood, and together with a close male friend, the four move across the country to New York.I thought this book came across as very unrealistic. The characters were more caricatures than real people. At times, it seemed as if the author didn't know how to move the story forward, so she would throw in a letter giving away most of the plot. Overall, a bust.
    • 3/5
      It took me a while to work through this story. Overall, the idea behind the story is great, but the characters themselves are unlikeable, so I had a hard time engaging in the plot. I think that Bloom has a great talent for description and I do like her use of the letters spotted throughout to give the book some texture.
    • 3/5
      I received this book through the Early Reviewers program in exchange for an honest review.Lucky Us tells the story of Iris and Eva Acton, half sisters who travel across 1940s America, experiencing trials and triumphs at every turn. Author Amy Bloom's prose is beautiful, and the cast of characters she's created are wonderful. The supporting characters are well drawn, and add interesting depths to this novel. Bloom also does a great job tying all the loose threads created as the Acton sisters go on their adventure into a deeply satisfying conclusion.
    • 2/5
      LUCKY US by Amy Bloom starts with the following line: ""My father's wife died. My mother said we should drive down to his place and see what might be in it for us." Unfortunately, things did not stay with that same level of awesomeness. What I was pitched by the synopsis was a story that involved two sisters stumbling through life together. What I got was two sisters thrown together until something happened that tears them apart and the rest of the story we only really get to see the life of the one sister - Eva - the sister who, in spite of Bloom's best efforts, was somewhat of a wet-rag type of character.Read the rest of this review at The Lost Entwife on August 10, 2014.
    • 4/5
      Look at the deliciously inventive cover and get ready for all the quirkiness Amy Bloom can hurl at the reader! Dual family fathers, disappearing mothers, tarot cards, Hedda Hopper, the Pride of Israel Orphan Home, American deportees sent back to Germany during WWII - yikes, this book has it all. The characters are all rounded and fascinating, the circumstances all beyond their control. Destiny changes in the flick of an apron too close to a flame. Lucky Us, and lucky me: I got to stay up all night and read this full-to-the-rim off-the-wall adventure.