- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Vintage Canada; 1st Edition edition (Jun 27 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0676977014
- ISBN-13: 978-0676977011
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13.2 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 299 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #216,479 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Joan Barfoot's witty 10th novel (a runner-up for the 2005 Giller Prize) opens with the discovery of a dead body. Philip Lawrence, a 46-year-old furniture maker, has died quietly during the night, lying next to his sleeping second wife, Nora. This "remarkably mild and merciful, even enviable, ending" can be construed as a final piece of luck for a man whose life has rarely strayed from the course of good fortune. But for the three women left behind in his unconventional household, Philip's unexpected demise introduces some rather ambiguous possibilities.
Luck describes, with black humour and a mischievous sense of the banality of death, the first three days post-Philip. The point of view of the newly widowed Nora, an artist who stole Philip from a casual friend when he was young and lithe of figure, intersects with those of her live-in artist's model, Beth (who secretly despised him), and Sophie, the buxom housekeeper-cum-accountant (who secretly loved him). Happy-go-lucky Philip, it quickly becomes apparent, elicited strong responses from the women in his life, and one of the tensions in this erudite and entertaining novel is which woman's vision of Philip will ultimately prevail.
Yet while Barfoot delves deep into the recent and even distant pasts of her three female characters, she spends less considerably energy developing the action of her contemporary story line. It's as if having assembled Philip's would-be mourners together in one room, she's not entirely sure what to do with them. It's not that nothing happens--each woman runs into a bit of luck that sets her on a new path--but there is a tenuous, drifting quality to the plot that makes one yearn for the decisive presence of, say, a Philip. Too bad he's dead. --Lisa Alward --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Canadian novelist Barfoot (Dancing in the Dark) may finally get the recognition she deserves for this brilliantly conceived, masterfully realized 10th novel. Nora, a successful sculptor in her late 30s, wakes up one morning to find her custom furniture-designer husband, Philip Lawrence, 46, dead beside her. The rest of the novel simply follows her and the rest of the household, verité-style, as they make decisions and try to internalize what has happened over the course of that day and the two that follow. The rest of the household consists of Beth, a wispy former model who moved in to serve as Nora's muse over the past few years, and Sophie, a fleshy economist who burned out as an aid worker, and has been holed up with the other three as caretaker and financial manager. Barfoot makes the most of this uncomfortable ménage without overplaying her hand a single time: yes, Philip and Sophie were sleeping together, and yes, it's even possible that Beth poisoned Philip in order to get with Nora. Barfoot alternates among the three women's points of view with comic but never trivializing adroitness, and expertly spins out their backstories and recent lives together. The book is set in an English West Country town (with flashbacks to London), and there's a nice subplot concerning Nora's controversial use of religious imagery. But the real fireworks are in the minute explorations of this closed set of unorthodox relationships, all brought to a finish in a short coda set a year after Philip's death. Coming upon this novel is a fine piece of luck indeed. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Joan Barfoot displays a quiet brilliance.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Luck (Hardcover)
Luck by legendary Canadian author Joan Barfoot displays a quiet brilliance in her latest novel, about three women who come to terms with the unexpected death of the man in their midst. In a large house in a small town, somewhere in North America, a man dies in his sleep. The middle-aged and hitherto robust Philip Lawrence has had a heart attack. His wife Nora screams, something she failed to do years before when she rang a doorbell and first encountered Philip "lean, grinning, nude." Impressed by her cool, Philip promptly jettisoned his first wife and took Nora back to his hometown, where he thrived as a furniture designer and she as a cutting-edge artist. Nora's scream brings Sophie and Beth running. Sophie, a voluptuous, 30-ish redhead, is the housekeeper/bookkeeper; the younger Beth, a beautiful airhead, is Nora's live-in model. The novel plays out over the next three days, culminating in the funeral. Wryly humorous and bittersweet, it is full of surprises. For the last two months, Philip and Sophie have been lovers, passionate but cautious; Sophie, then, is as devastated as Nora. Beth, however, feels liberated; she has erotic designs on Nora. There are intriguing mysteries: Why has Nora's artwork caused outraged townspeople to daub their fence with graffiti? What is causing Sophie's nightmares? Why is Beth so tight-lipped about her family? (The answer there is a real shocker.) As the funeral nears, the memory of good-hearted, gregarious, sometimes fickle Philip is everywhere. Nestled snugly within the narrative are numerous themes: the nature of grief, the making of art, the uses (and misuses) of beauty, with the role of chance looping through them all. There is a livelyfuneral (Beth goes nuts, for one) and a satisfying coda at an art gallery a year later. Barfoot brings a fine protean energy to the different perspectives of the women, intensifying our curiosity about their destinies; nice work.I also recommend'The Quest' by George Kostantinos.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dark and Memorable,
By Jenny - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Luck (Paperback)
I really loved this book. Barfoot's prose really captivated me from the first sentence. I found her rhythm and cleverness continually engaging. I also liked how she treated each of the three women individually as characters, so that I got to fully experience each.If the first sentence draws you in as much as it did me, I hope you read this satisfying novel. 1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
I really wanted to like this book,
By Melanie - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Luck (Paperback)
I wanted to like this book, but I didn't. It was just too tedious. There was far too much attention to the colour of someone's skin and not enough attention to establishing a depth of character in the 3 women and 1 man that make up the main characters in the book. The women seemed shallow and the plot was flat and unexciting. Right from the start, the book seems poised to distance the reader from the character of Philip which is unusual. The distance and borderline dislike I felt for Philip was problematic because since I didn't relate to him or care for his character all that much, I also didn't understand why any woman would want to share a life with him and I lacked sympathy towarads his grieving wife. The 2 females that were employed by Philip and his wife were portrayed as simple cardboard cut-outs of people and also lacked emotional depth. The observations all 3 women made always seemed selfish or petty.The ending seemed wrong too, although I won't go into detail about that because I don't want to spoil it for anyone who still wants to read this book. Maybe the next one she writes will be more enjoyable. The potential is there in the writing, so I'll check in later and see what Joan Barfoot comes out with next. |
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