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When the death of her father leaves her mother in a state of shock, card shark Hallie Palmer – the fiery protagonist from BEGINNER’S LUCK and HEART’S DESIRE - returns home from college to bravely deal herself in as head of a chaotic household and care for her eight younger siblings. But even after the invasion of those well-meaning, casserole carrying purveyors of food and comfort – church ladies – Hallie’s in a downward spiral. Thank goodness for old friends like Bernard and Gil, now proud parents, who manage to keep Hallie afloat with good humor, brilliant organizational skills, and Judy Garland’s most quotable quotes. But things aren’t entirely peaceful once Bernard’s wise, willful, and delightfully outrageous mother Olivia is back from Europe with a big (and much younger) surprise. Through it all, Hallie discovers that life can indeed turn on a dime, and that every coin has two sides plus an edge. But just because beginner’s luck can’t last forever, it doesn’t mean you’re out of the game.
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By Elizabeth (Pennsylvania)
This was a sweet read...sweet in terms of the character being sort of naive and unknowing about things going on in life.
She to me was happy go lucky even though her situation wasn't that great. She did love her "adopted" family...they were a different combination of characters but very loving. I loved how they set up the house for the prom....cute.
By Sharon Gardiner (Rochester, NY)
BEGINNER'S LUCK is a high-spirited old-fashioned novel with enough realism about the ups and downs of friends and family to keep it grounded. No, the events in this book probably haven't happened to most of us, but I certainly wish some of them would. The larger theme is that we make our own fun in good times and bad, and we don't need a life filled with money or fame for it to be replete with laughs, good times, and even success. In this tough economic and political climate it was a relief and a pleasure to enjoy some laugh-out-loud humor, delightful prose, and optimism. It's apparent that Pedersen is a humanist and believes people are inherently good, given the chance, and she shares her warmth and hopefulness on the page in a way that reminded my book group how grateful we are for the small and large things -- a plate of warm cookies, a child prevailing over difficulties -- but in the author's capable hands the small pleasures seem large and the big problems don't seem so problematic. People matter, not things. To paraphrase the author: It's the kind of novel that can make you feel lucky, if you believe in luck.
By Debra Hamel (TwitterLit.com)
Hallie Palmer is an unusually clever 16-year-old who applies her formidable math skills to the business of gambling, often riding her bike to the race track during school hours or sneaking out of the house to join a clandestine poker game in the local church basement. Hallie's long-term goal is the acquisitiion of a car, by means of which she hopes to escape the twin discomforts of school and life with her too-large nuclear family--neither of which is a good fit given her tendency to nonconformity. Her life changes when she lands a job working as a groundskeeper for the Stocktons, a mother and son team who embrace noncomformity in general and in particular quickly adopt Hallie as a sort of stray. Olivia Stockton, poet and pornographer and amateur fertility specialist, is a Ruth Gordon-esque, 60-something Bohemian who's never met a liberal cause for which she wasn't eager to man the barricades. Her son Bernard is a slightly more subdued antiques dealer and a passionate chef. Bernard's boyfriend Gil lives in the house as well, as do Olivia's husband--long suffering from Alzheimer's--and Rocky, a near alcoholic--wait for it--chimpanzee trained to work with paraplegics.
Laura Pedersen's Beginner's Luck is equal parts irritating and charming. A number of things bothered me about the book. Hallie is a likable character, but it's hard to believe that a 16-year-old girl could be as seasoned a gambler as she's made out to be, comfortable among the grizzled and chain-smoking at race tracks and OTB parlors. Olivia and Bernard, who are likewise likable, never jump off the page as believable, three-dimensional characters, and after a while their too-clever dialogue--all literary references and bon mots (delivered, in fact, often in French)--become tiresome. The book can be preachy, too, as Olivia makes her case for every cause that comes her way. And at 336 tightly-packed pages in my edition, the book is about a hundred pages too long. Add a cocktail-swilling chipmanzee--a chimpanzee, people--and the book has, as it were, jumped the shark.
That said, Pedersen's writing is often charming, particularly in the first half of the book, before the recitation of Olivia's causes begins to weigh too heavily. And Hallie, despite my credibility concerns, is a very appealing character whom one is happy to root for. In short, the book is a mixed bag, but I'll probably read Pedersen's sequel, Heart's Desire. Just not for a while.
-- Debra Hamel
By D. Moller
I enjoyed BEGINNER'S LUCK for it's delightful characters and clever dialogue. Most of all I loved the depiction of the American Midwest as a place where a lot has changed with the advent of technology, collapse of the family farm, and so many industries that provided jobs to Rust Belt city dwellers, but where life still hums away with the changing of each season and most people are friendly, proud, and involved in their communities. There was a time when, if you lived in the heartland, you really had to be neighborly because disaster could strike -- fire, flood, illness -- and it was the people who lived nearest who were going to rescue you (or not). But even with the advent of good fire departments, hospitals, and police, I find that this sensibility of helping others and spirit of generosity still prevails, if you turn off the ratings grabbing-fear instilling evening news and wander over to the baseball diamond, church potluck, synagogue, local theater group, etc.
BEGINNER'S LUCK displays the sharp-edged humor, quick dialogue, and modern social issues that anchor it as a 21st century novel more than one of the 19th or 20th centuries, but there is still something beautifully timeless in the action and people that harkens back to everything good about an earlier America. Main character Hallie Palmer continues to return home for more adventures with this entertaining cast of characters in HEART'S DESIRE and THE BIG SHUFFLE, and now the question is -- will she settle down in her hometown after college or move on to "bigger things." However, Pedersen has set things up nicely in that if Hallie does move away, she'll be taking all the best of growing up with her, and if she decides to stay, well, who wouldn't?
By jesse
This has to be the best book I read in 2005! The characters are endearingly funny and Hallie is a child to be admired. The Stockton household is one any child would be thrilled to inhabit. For a side dish, we get history lessons, literature classes and plenty of social conscience raising. The rich descriptions of Olivia, Bernard and even Rocky make us want to spend a summer with this family; even if we have to weed the garden!
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