Pg. 69: Patricia Wood's "Lottery"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Patricia Wood's Lottery.

About the book, from the author's website:

Perry’s IQ is only 76, but he’s not stupid. His grandmother taught him everything he needs to know to survive: She taught him to write things down so he won’t forget them. She taught him to play the lottery every week. And, most important, she taught him whom to trust. When Gram dies, Perry is left orphaned and bereft at the age of thirty-one. Then his weekly Washington State Lottery ticket wins him 12 million dollars, and he finds he has more family than he knows what to do with. Peopled with characters both wicked and heroic who leap off the pages, Lottery is a deeply satisfying, gorgeously rendered novel about trust, loyalty, and what distinguishes us as capable.

Among the praise for Lottery:

“Patricia Wood’s debut novel tickles your funny bone, tugs your heartstrings, and redefines the word ‘fortunate’ all at once."
--Redbook

“Irresistible…A feel-good read.”
--Good Housekeeping

“This wonderful first novel is about a guy who starts off with all the chips stacked against him and still comes out a winner. It’s an underdog novel, and the underdog is a most satisfying hero, for more than any other protagonist, the underdog is the one we love to love…. Patricia Wood’s portrait of Perry is so vivid and funny and poignant and joyful that it avoids the disappointing flatness of the predictable.”
--Washington Post

“Certainly it is no easy task to make readers comfortable with a developmentally disabled narrator. But with Lottery, Patricia Wood has accomplished much that is difficult. Rejecting a number of previous literary models, she has created a character who is neither man-child nor idiot savant nor saint, but rather a well-rounded person with defined shortcomings and admirable strengths.”
--San Francisco Chronicle

“In her debut novel, Patricia Wood asks readers to experience life in an unexpected, sometimes uncomfortable, often humorous way: as Perry, a 31-year-old man with an IQ of 76 who wins $12 million in the Washington State Lottery. The consistent voice and emotional logic of the first-person narration anchors readers securely in Perry's world, gently prodding them to reexamine intelligence, capability and at what point money affects society's perceptions.”
--Miami Herald

“In her debut novel, Patricia Wood defines poignancy in words of one syllable. Lottery is solid gold.”
--Jacquelyn Mitchard

“What I love about Lottery is that it is much more than a novel about a windfall affecting a simple soul - it's a book about a stupendous event affecting a great number of people, all the winner's friends, and especially the reader.”
--Paul Theroux

Read an excerpt from Lottery and learn more about the novel and the author at Patricia Wood's website, her blog, and her MySpace page.

The Page 69 Test: Lottery.

--Marshal Zeringue