Epeolatry Book Review: Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle

Luck is a funny thing. For instance, the other day, I was in an airport and found five dollars. “What good luck,” I said to myself. That same trip, bad weather rolled in, and I was diverted to an airport hundreds of miles away. I chalked that up to bad luck. What if luck was proportional like that? What if every instance of luck, good or bad, resulted in an equal but opposite return? Chuck Tingle’s Lucky Day offers a view of that very situation. 

Vera Norrie is a complex and well written character. She is suffering from depression. Lacking motivation to do anything but care for herself on the most basic level, she lives a life of isolation. Little by little, events come together to push her out of her depression. As she gets involved in investigating the aftermath of the LPE, her lack of social grace manifests in some humorous dialog. Another talking point is Vera’s sexual orientation. As a bi-sexual, she faces scrutiny from both cis and gay characters through the book. One thing that never waives is Vera’s identity. Even when others are telling her bisexuals aren’t real or that bisexual just means you’re looking for attention, she never falters on who she is.

Officer Jonah Layne serves as comic relief and has a few well-delivered zingers. The Low Probability Event Commission officer is responsible for the clean-up of events after the LPE. Looking to live each day to its fullest, Layne has a habit of eating as much and as varied types of food he can. 

Tingle weaves an amazing story around the concept of balanced luck. When a man is killed by a chimp wielding a typewriter (I’d call that very bad luck), there’s a reasonable explanation for it. He’d had some very good luck recently. Things just needed to be balanced. The novel illustrates a grand point: that we only focus on the bad luck and not the good. For instance, you’re upset when you get into a car accident, but how many days did you drive without getting into one? We don’t consider our luck when it’s good, only when it’s bad.

The other concept explored in his book is “nothing”. By that, the absence of everything. Leave it to Tingle to create a story in which the idea of “nothing” is well-rounded. This point reflects on Vera’s depression, on how easy “nothing” is. It’s simple, clean, devoid of chaos, and Vera will struggle with whether to accept “nothing” or to continue facing her new reality. 

Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle is a powerful look at the value of self-worth, self-identity, and finding the will to keep going. Thought-provoking and emotional, I highly recommend this novel.

/5

Available from Amazon and Bookshop.