Lottery by Patricia Wood

Genre: Fiction
Publication Date: 2007
Pages: 305
Challenges: A-Z Reading #24 (W Author), Themed Reading Challenge #4

First of all I need to express a huge Thank You to both Bookfool and Les. It was their reviews of this book that convinced me I needed to read it. I’m so glad I did. This was just an utterly charming book. It had me laughing, crying, writing down words of incredible wisdom spoken by the main character and being torn between wanting to read faster and not wanting the book to end.

Perry L. Crandall is not retarded. His number is 76 and if your number is above 75, you are not retarded. Perry L. Crandall (the L stands for Lucky according to his Gram) is just slow. Perry is a wonderful character, somewhat Forrest Gump-like, yet completely different. When his Gram dies and he’s on his own for the first time at age 32, it’s not as bad as it could have been. He still has his job at the marine supply. His boss, Gary keeps an eye on him. He also has his fat, foul-mouthed, flatulent friend Keith on his side. It’s a good thing because his family is only interested in getting Gram’s house and land that she left to Perry.

Then things change – Perry wins the Washington State Lottery. Suddenly people who wouldn’t look him in the eye before are treating him differently and his conniving family suddenly wants to be very involved in Perry’s finances, but not necessarily his life.

Perry is a wonderful narrator. His knowledge of words comes from studying the dictionary every day. His Gram has taught him a lot and Perry has built that into a wisdom that is all his own.

A few of the quotes I marked along the way:

Vacations are when you stop being in a hurry to go to work and start being in a
hurry to go someplace else.

Keith's gray hair is long, greasy and tied in a ponytail. I think he
looks like Willie Nelson from the back. From the front, he looks like an
old fat white guy, but I do not tell him this. It would not be nice.

With Gram gone I have to not forget. Not forgetting is hard. I have
to work hard to not forget. Remembering is different than not
forgetting. It is the opposite of. Remembering is like a
little movie that comes back to you. It is something special and
unexpected. Like when I remembered the first time Gramp took me
sailing. A little movie.

I spent the first part of the book fearful that it would be either an overly sappy feel-good story, or a heartless real world crushes the nice guy story. I’m happy to say that neither of these is really true. It’s just a wonderful book to enjoy.