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LOTTERY by Patricia Wood
On Sale: June 3rd
Paperback
336 pages
ISBN-10: 0425222209
ISBN-13: 9780425222201
Perry L. Crandall knows what it's like to be an outsider. With an IQ of 76, he's an easy mark. Before his grandmother died, she armed Perry well with what he'd need to know: the importance of words and writing things down, and how to play the lottery. Most important, she taught him whom to trust-a crucial lesson for Perry when he wins the lottery. As his family descends, moving in on his fortune, his fate, and his few true friends, he has a lesson for them: never, ever underestimate Perry Crandall.
Patricia Wood is a Ph.D. student at the University of Hawaii, focusing on education, disability, and diversity. LOTTERY is inspired by her work, as well as a number of events in her life, including her father's winning the Washington State Lottery. She lives with her husband aboard a sailboat moored in Ko'Olina, Hawaii. This is her first novel.
It’s hard not to associate Paul Theroux-mentored Patricia Wood’s debut novel with books like Mark Haddon’s THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME or the late ’80s movie Rain Man. Although the stories themselves are dissimilar, the basic premise and overarching themes are the same: Mentally challenged underdog finds peace and glory in spite of boneheaded people around him. Or, perhaps: Afflicted hero teaches said boneheaded people the true path to happiness and contentment.
The trick to enjoying LOTTERY is to know that the narrator, Perry L. Crandall, is “slow” prior to cracking the cover (he has an IQ of 76; normal is 90-100). Therefore the prose, written in first person, is straightforward, somewhat stilted and very basic. While this might seem off-putting to some, it lends a certain authenticity to the overall story --- what you see is what you get. Consequently, it’s also quite easy to get what you read as Wood shies away from adding in any unnecessary surprises.
Before winning millions of dollars in the Washington State Lottery, Perry is relatively content. He lives with his grandmother (his mother shuffled him off on her when she found out Perry’s diagnosis), holds down a menial job at Holsted’s Marine Supply shop, and reads the dictionary to improve his vocabulary. He enjoys his day-to-day existence and sees no real need to change it.
Then, when his grandmother passes away suddenly, Perry’s life begins to change --- especially when he finds out he’s the sole owner of the winning $12-million lotto ticket. Soon Perry is inundated with requests for money from long-lost family members and strangers alike. And because Perry is so naïve and big-hearted, he doesn’t have a problem handing over the cash. Thankfully, two old family friends, Keith and Gary, step in to council Perry and prevent him from bestowing his riches on the undeserving.
Meanwhile, Perry develops a crush on Cherry, a chunky and pierced broad who works at Marina Handy Mart. Unfortunately for Perry, she gets involved with Keith, and the two inadvertently teach Perry a thing or two about love, sex (think rocking boats) and what it means to have a “grown-up” relationship.
Toward the end of the novel, tragedy strikes and Perry is forced to deal with emotions he’s never quite experienced before. The weight of it all, combined with his growing exasperation with being the center of attention, pushes him to do something drastic, but not unforeseen. (I won’t spoil it, but you can probably guess what happens.) And the end result is every bit as warm and fuzzy as you expect it to be.
Indeed, LOTTERY is predictable. And the characters feel a bit wooden. But the book does speak to a certain truth that always bears repeating --- money doesn’t buy happiness. (But it certainly is fun to buy cool stuff!)
--- Reviewed by Alexis Burling
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Chapter One
I write things down so I do not forget.
"Writing helps you remember. It helps you think, Perry, and that's a good thing," Gram said.
"You're only slow." That's what my old teacher Miss Elk said. "Just a little slow, Perry."
The other kids had different names for me.
Moron. Idiot. Retard.
Miss Elk told them to be nice. She said I was not any of those things.
"Don't you pay attention to them, Perry," Gram told me when I cried. "Those kids are just too goddamn fast. If you want to remember, you write it down in your notebook. See…I'm not slow. I'm old. I have to write things down," she said. "People treat you the same when you're old as when you're slow."
Slow means you get to a place later than fast people.
Gram had me do a word a day puzzle in the dictionary since I was little.
"One word, Perry. That's the goddamned key. One word at a time."
Goddamned is an adjective, like "I'll be goddamned!" Gram will be reading something in the newspaper and it will just come out all by itself. Out of the blue. "Goddamn." Or sometimes "Goddamned." Or even, "Goddamn it."
At nine, I was on page eight of our dictionary.
"Active. Change, taking part." Reading is hard. Like riding my bike up a hill. I have to push to keep going.
"Sound it out, Perry." Gram chews the inside of her lip when she concentrates.
"Squiggle voooollll…caaa…nooo" It takes me a long time to figure out that word.
"That squiggle thing means 'related to.' Remember Mount Saint Helens?" Gram has a good memory for an old person and knows everything. On May 18, 1980, Mount Saint Helens blew up. Three days after my birthday.
"Ashes from breakfast to Sunday!" Gram hollered. "Breakfast to Sunday!"
The ashes were gray sand that got in my mouth when I went outside, just like the stuff Doctor Reddy used when he cleaned my teeth.
"What's breakfast to Sunday?" I asked.
"Don't be smart." Gram always cautioned me about being smart.
At ten, I was still in the A's. Gram and I sat down and added it up. Our dictionary has 75,000 words and 852 pages. If I did one word a day, it would take me 205 years to finish. At three words, it would take 51 years. If I did five words, it would take 12 years and 6 months to get through the whole book. I wrote this all down. It is true because calculators do not lie and we used a calculator. Gram said we needed to rethink.
"Does that mean we made a mistake?" I asked.
"No, it's not a mistake to rethink. Rethink means you get to change your mind. You're never wrong if you just change your mind." Gram clapped her hands together to get my attention and make sure I was listening. "Pick up the pace, Perry," she said. "We have to pick up the pace."
That is when we got our subscription to Reader's Digest. We bought it from a girl who needed money for her school band to go to Florida.
"This is better than chocolate bars!" Gram was excited when the first one came. "Word Power!" Here you go, Perry!"
It was the February issue and had hearts on the cover. We saved every copy that came in the mail. I remember I was on the word auditor. An auditor is a listener. It says so in the dictionary and in Reader's Digest Word Power. Answer D. A listener. I decided right then to be an auditor. Answer D. I remember this.
We picked up the pace and by the time I turned thirty-one, I was on page 337. Gram was right. That day my words were herd, herder, herdsman, here, hereabouts, and hereafter. Hereafter mean future.
"You have to think of your future!" Gram warns about the future each time I deposit my check in the bank. Half in checking and half in savings. For my future.
"It is very important to think of your future, Perry," she tells me, "because at some point it becomes your past. You remember that!"
My best friend, Keith, agrees with everything Gram says.
"That L. It sure does stand for Lucky, Per." Keith drinks beer wrapped in a brown paper sack and calls me Per for short. He works with Manuel, Gary, and me at Holsted's Marine Supply. I have worked for Gary Holsted since I was sixteen years old.
Keith is older and bigger than me. I do not call him fat because that would not be nice. He cannot help being older. I can always tell how old people are by the songs they like. For example, Gary and Keith like the Beatles, so they are both older than me. Gram likes songs you never hear anymore, like "Hungry for Love" by Patsy Cline and "Always" by someone else who is dead. If the songs you like are all by dead people, then you are really old.
I like every kind of music. Keith does not. He goes crazy when Manuel messes with the radio at work.
"Who put this rap crap on? Too much static! The reception is shit! Keep it on oldies but goodies." Keith has to change it back with foil and a screwdriver because of the reception. Static is when somebody else plays music you do not like and you change it because of the reception.
Before Holsted's, I learned reading, writing, and math from Gram and boat stuff from Gramp. After he died, I had to get a job for money. I remember everything Gramp showed me about boats and sailing. Our family used to own the boatyard next to Holsted's.
"It's a complicated situation." Whenever Gram says this, her eyes get all hard and dark like two black olives, or like whn you try to look through that tiny hole in the door at night. That is not a smart thing to do because it is dark at night and you cannot see very well.
Just before he died, Gramp took out a loan for a hoist in the yard.
A loan is when someone gives you money then takes collateral and advantage. After that, you drop dead of a stroke by the hand of God.
A hoist lifts boats up in the air and costs as much as a boatyard.
That is what the bank said.
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