Thoughts 
Lottery by Patricia Wood, Berkley Books 2007, 322 pages, tradeback
I don’t remember how I got this book. Did I win it? Did Nancy send it to me? Did I purchase it on my own because Nancy suggested it would be a good idea?
“Ordinary riches can be stolen; real riches cannot.”
– Oscar Wilde
It WAS a good idea. I really enjoyed this book on many levels. Great characters – characters to love and characters to loathe, a beautiful setting in the Northwest on the ocean at a marina and a marina supply store, vocabulary exploration, love, acceptance, respect and more love.
The Washington Post blurb says, “A wonderful first novel… vivid and funny and poignant and joyful.” Four of my favorite words.
Nancy knows me too well. Thank you, Nancy, for telling me about this novel.
WHAT’s it ABOUT: This is the story about Perry L. Crandall and how the “L” stands for LUCKY. He’s so lucky, he wins $12 Million dollars in the lottery. Of course, his horrid family who has been ignoring and shunning and abandoning Perry for years suddenly realizes how much they love and adore him and are only trying to help.
We meet his Gram who is absolutely wonderful. We meet Perry’s best friend Keith who has issues but a big heart and we meet Gary, Perry’s boss. We are unfortunately introduced to Perry’s mother, brothers and sisters-in-law. We learn that Perry is slow but not stupid. His IQ is one point higher than the state’s definiton of ‘retarded’, so he is NOT retarded. He rails against the word. (As he should, the word is banned and I shouldn’t use it even here.) He accepts that he is slow and some people are fast. And he has his grandparents to thank for teaching him how to be true to what is really important.
It’s a lovely funny glad sad heart-warming story. Well done, Ms. Wood; you have one more fan waiting for your next work of fiction.
RATING: Four slices of pie. Four slices of Hershey’s Chocolate Kiss Pie.
HIdeinWhitetoSkipLine
Care's Books and Pie 
I have very little of use to say, as I hadn’t heard of this novel before. It sounds cure. Perhaps a little too cute on first glance? But then, you did love it so I think I can safely give it a try myself.
Also, hello, you keep reminding me how much I ejoy your writing style.
This sounds delightful and Perry sounds like a character I would love!
Sounds like a wonderful read. I’ve always wondered what happens to a lot of the people who win the lottery. This is a great premise for the novel.
This sounds perfectly charming! I am into charming right now which is hardly EVER. I grabbed My Life In Paris (Julia Child) just now at lunch and it’s also charming. LOL.
how can i argue with hershey’s chocolate kiss pie? 🙂
I really liked this, too!!
This sounds like a fun read! I like that it’s so light-hearted and poignant (true- very good word), unlike the very disturbingly poignant Lottery by Shirley Jackson.
Oh my, I doth think I have let this one languish on my shelves for far too long! But you know, I could really go for “vivid and funny and poignant and joyful” right about now, so maybe I was unconsciously waiting for the right time to read it.
You probably heard about Lottery from me, but I don’t think I sent it to you. I do loudly recommend it. Such a fantastic book and I’m thrilled you enjoyed it as much as I did. Definitely a chocolate pie kind of book.
I read this back when I first started blogging and it was pretty good though I didn’t enjoy it as much as you. I found it interesting that she based the book on her own family’s experiences in winning the lottery.