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Patricia Wood

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Lottery Kindle Edition

by Patricia Wood (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.4 727 ratings

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Money isn’t the same as treasure, and IQ isn’t the same as smarts—An uplifting and joyous new novel hailed by Jacqueline Mitchard as “solid gold.”

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 multimillion-dollar jackpot. 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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Veteran narrator Michael brings his distinct gift for dialogue and vocal mannerisms to Wood's novel. The action centers on how winning a $12-million lottery jackpot complicates the life of 32-year-old Perry L. Crandall, the dedicated employee of a marine supply store in the harbor city of Everett, Wash. With an IQ of 76, Perry emphatically proclaims that he is slow, not retarded! Wood's dichotomy of Perry's impaired cognition does present some challenges for Michael, especially as the unsuspecting protagonist recounts—but does not grasp—the devious conversations among his money-grubbing relatives. The thriller elements manage to move along reasonably well, but the heart and soul of both Wood's storytelling and Michael's performance remains the exchanges between Perry and his close-knit surrogate family, including the beloved grandmother who raised him and the earthy band of characters with whom he shares the docks of Puget Sound. As Perry regularly interjects That is so cool! to his reflections on both the large and small joys of daily life, Michael gives the proceedings a refreshing breeze of Zen rather than garden-variety sentimentality.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

A wonderful first novel profoundly lovable.
Washington Post

A memorable character whose voice and world linger in one s imagination.
Miami Herald

Lottery is a winner.
Kate Jacobs

A winning narrator.
Seattle Times

It s memorable.
Miami Herald

It s wonderful.
Washington Post

It s irresistible.
Good Housekeeping

Uplifting.
Kate Jacobs

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, especially the reader.
Paul Theroux

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0019MPHTM
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Berkley (August 2, 2007)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 2, 2007
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 411 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 337 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0425222209

Best Sellers Rank: #644,063 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #2,467 in Romance Literary Fiction
- #2,936 in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Literary Fiction
- #5,060 in Contemporary Literary Fiction

Customer Reviews:
4.4 727 ratings

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Patricia Wood

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Patricia Wood was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. She has served in the US Army, worked as a Medical Technologist, been a horseback-riding instructor, and most recently taught marine science in a public high school working with high-risk students in Honolulu. Patricia is an avid SCUBA diver, has assisted with shark research, won the Hawaii State Jumper Championship with her horse Airborne and crewed in a 39-foot sailboat across the Pacific Ocean from Honolulu to San Francisco. Currently she is a PhD student at the University of Hawaii, focusing on education, disability and diversity. Lottery is inspired by her work, as well as by a number of events in her life, including her father winning the Washington State Lottery. She lives with her husband in Hawaii.

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4.4 out of 5

727 global ratings

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Amazon Customer

Life can be simple if you let it

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2024

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This book was an easy read but offered deep honest reflections on life.
We can make life hard or not, it is up to us.

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Susan

I am lucky because I met Perry L. Crandall!

Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2015

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Lottery was recommended to me by a novelist for whom I have utmost respect, and Kathryn did not disappoint. Perry L. Crandall is an unforgettable character beautifully developed by Patricia Wood because he learns the true meaning of happiness.

He initially lives with Gram, a feisty, uneducated but brilliant woman, who drills no-nonsense life lessons into Perry L. Crandall's head, along with vocabulary words, list making and work ethics. You see, Perry L. Crandall is slow, but he takes an IQ test twice and scores 76, one point above the cutoff point for mental retardation. Lottery is not cluttered with political correctness; a person is mentally retarded, slow or normal, whatever "normal" is. The one point difference in the IQ score is immensely important to Perry when he is mercilessly teased as a child for being a "retard", so much so that Gram pulls him out of school at 13 and teaches him her kind of education at home.

Perry works at a small marine supply store in Everett, Washington, for Gary, a good soul. His best friend is Keith, a Vietnam vet who has PTSD and owns a small sailboat and a beat up truck he calls, "Yo." Why Yo? Simple! Those are the two remaining letters of Toyota! Perry's other friend is Cherry, who works at the marina convenience store.

When Gram dies, Perry's mother, two brothers and their wives swoop in like vultures, strip the modest house and sell it for a substantial price, giving Perry a whopping $500 as his share and abandoning him. Within a few paragraphs, I despise these people to the point at which I start talking out loud, using the salty words that would have caused Gram to wash my mouth with Fels Naptha.

Gary lets Perry stay in a small apartment above the marina. By now, Perry is an adult, who despite being slow, remembers all of Gram's lessons. He and Gram had bought a lottery ticket each week, and he buys tickets from Cherry to continue the tradition. To his utter disbelief and that of his friends, he wins $12M!

Remember the relatives who walked away with barely a goodbye? They put vultures to shame, as they try every underhanded trick to steal Perry's winnings, assuming that he is too retarded to catch on. Between Gram's warnings about the skanky relatives and the wisdom of his friends, Perry L. Crandall thwarts one scheme after another. Again, I realized that I was cheering for Perry and even saying little prayers out loud!

Lottery touched me in so many ways. Perry's boss, Gary, began to ask Perry for advice about expanding his business and was a little surprised when Perry's ideas paid off. Perry, Keith, Cherry, Gary and Gary's family became Perry's family. He was finally treated as an equal by this disparate group of people, who all loved each other. The story, with its gamut of emotions, tore at the heartstrings of this often cynical reader. I will not soon forget a smart, good man named Perry L. Crandall. Thank you, Patricia Wood, for letting me know him.

9 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Quite Possibly The Best Novel You Will Read For 2007

Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2007

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I feel very privileged to have been able to read and review a copy of LOTTERY. Patricia Wood's debut novel is one of those all-too-rare stories that pulls you in, shows you a different view than you are accustomed to seeing, and really makes you care. The characters are so well-crafted you feel as though you could reach out and touch them, even if there are a few you would not touch with a ten-foot pole (you'll know them when you see them).

Wood's writing is fluid and pure, very easy to read and extremely engaging. This simple, elegant narrative kept me pretty much glued to the pages the entire time. For anyone out there who may be wondering how to write effectively, this is how it's done. In my opinion there are more than a few older, more established writers who would benefit from a few minutes of reading LOTTERY.

I could literally type for an hour or more on this book, but I'm going to exercise common sense and keep this simple. If I can offer any advice at all to the book-buying public for 2007 it would be this: Buy LOTTERY. Read it. When you've read it and loved it, don't thank me for recommending it. Thank Patricia Wood for writing it.

Yes, folks. It's THAT good.

5 people found this helpful

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D. Pease

LOTTERY Made a Grown Man Cry

Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2007

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I don't normally read novels of this genre, but when I kept seeing stories online about LOTTERY by Patricia Wood, I decided to give it a try. I got the book in the mail at lunchtime and sat down at the kitchen table to read. An hour later I was deep into the story, with tears in my eyes. Patricia painted such a beautiful picture of a man who most of society would look down upon. In the end, Perry became the kind of man that I hope I can be. Above all else Perry puts others first; the friends that surround him during tragedy, and even the family who try to take advantage of him after he wins $12 Million in the lottery. It is so refreshing to see a story, that puts the American pastime of getting more stuff aside and shows us that there truly are more important things in life.

This is not to say Perry did not have fun with the money. I laughed as he went on a shopping spree with his friend Keith, looking for a 27" TV. Still the most enjoyment he seemed to get, was writing those $500 checks (because he couldn't fit in more zeros) to nearly everyone that asked.

By the end of the day, I read the entire novel and for days after I can't get Perry out of my mind. Thank you Patricia for such a beautiful story. And for anyone unsure about buying the book, please take my word for it, you will be blessed to read it. I would not be surprised to see this rise to the bestseller's lists.

One person found this helpful

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BrianB

Jackpot!

Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2008

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This is a wonderful story, the best I have read in a long time. I can recommend it almost without reservation. The author, in her first published novel, speaks in the first person for a young man with an IQ of 76 who wins the lottery. That is not the type of story that I would normally read. Luckily my wife convinced me to read it anyway.

Wood makes Perry L Crandall believable, sympathetic, and funny. This is a delicate balance, but she never strikes a false note. I began rooting for Perry, and desperately hoping that he wouldn't get hoodwinked by his greedy family. I enjoyed his observations about the world, which are wise in an amusing and affecting way. I was laughing out loud throughout. The ending has an unusual twist, but the story is not about the action. It is about love. As the quote in the epilogue says, "Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius." Amen to that.

The story contains some sexual content and coarse language that would not be appropriate for young readers.

3 people found this helpful

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Dave and Joe

The 'R' Word: Respect

Reviewed in Canada on October 16, 2009

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Books that present characters with disabilities often rely on stereotype and drip with pity ... The Lottery rises above the commonplace with a tender story about a fellow with a disability that is frustratingly real. This book looks at the thorny issues of 'family' and 'trust' and places us in the middle of a story with realistic people facing difficult decisions. There is much to learn from this book. Gram's rules for survival are brilliant. Anyone can enjoy this book but if you work with, or care about people with intellectual disabilities - this book should go at the top of your reading list. My agency has just selected it for our book club, can't think of a better choice.

2 people found this helpful

KSG33

"This is better than chocolate bars!"

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 9, 2008

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I have read all the shortlisted books for the 2008 Orange Prize for Fiction, and enjoyed some more than others. "Lottery" was the one I enjoyed the most. The book addresses a broad range of themes, society's values and prejudice, and the power of unconditional love, narrated from the unreliable point of view, of thirty-two year old Perry, whose IQ is 76. He is cognitively-challenged, NOT retarded. "You have to have an IQ of less than 75 to be retarded. "

The story centres on what happens to him, how he is perceived by others and the decisions he makes, after the key catalysts that trigger the action-packed story: his Gram dies and he wins twelve million dollars in the State Lottery. It's funny, it's sad, serious and easy reading. But don't let that fool you into thinking it's insubstantial. The more you delve into the relationships between the characters and Perry's perception of them and theirs of him, you are forced to examine your own prejudices and values. The relationships are all beautifully crafted, authentic and serve to make us question: What weighting to we give to intelligence, beauty and wealth? What do we value in life? What makes a family?

The language is very carefully selected and used to enhance our understanding of the characters, reveal prejudices or make the reader laugh.
"My name is Perry L. Crandall and I am not retarded. Gram always told me the L stood for lucky." At first, the use of the "r" word might make you feel awkward. Later you see how it is used by various people in authority, his schoolmates and what language is used by those trying to be sensitive to his position 'on the boundary' between the labels that IQ numbers assign. Author Patricia Woods' academic and hands-on teaching experience of people in these groups is apparant in her authentic but sensitive writing. That word makes Perry angry but he always keeps in control. Perry sees the world as it is for him. Sometimes we need to remember that he is not meant to be a 100% factually accurate narrator. He narrates his own story, as he sees it. The short sentences allow us to see his thought patterns develop, the connections he makes, and his sometimes highly sensitive and accurate perception of people. We get to see inside his thoughts, hope with him, dream with him and share in his contentedness. Perry is a man who is not sidetracked by some of the worldly distractions in the everyday world, and keeps his focus on doing his best at his work, helping people and simply being himself, no matter how other people see him.

In today's economy, it is wonderfully heartwarming to have the opportunity to meet Perry, and have him remind us, what the real world is like and what really matters, from such a grounded point of view. And to have the opportunity to laugh whilst examining our own values, is a bonus. This book's story lingers with me as a reader. Read it slowly, as Per would, to appreciate it fully. You'll be sad to get to the end. And immensely happy. As Gram would say, "This is better than chocolate bars!"

mum

lottery

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 15, 2009

Verified Purchase

this book is written in a very simple language which makes it easy to read but can also be a little like you are being spoken to like a child! Taking the book into context though it is appropriate and I thoroughly enjoyed this light hearted read.

BHC Stok

A fortunate find

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 17, 2013

Verified Purchase

Superb mix of simpleness, loyalty,love, selfishness and greed, A story that makes you cry and laugh, Almost a moral tale, wonderfully funny and deeply sad at the same time. I could not read it story fast enough. A winner of a book!

Honest Blogger

Very Touching and So True

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 3, 2009

Verified Purchase

A great story that is simply about unconditional and conditional love between family members and friends. It ended well but sad too.

A must read. Buy it.

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