Praise for Lucky You
An NPR Best Book of 2017
An official Book of the Month Club selection.
1 of 6 New Paperbacks You Should Read in August (Vulture)
"[A] cooly enigmatic debut."—O Magazine
"If your fever dreams of going off–grid remains unfulfilled, sublimate with Erika Carter's chillingly adroit debut novel, Lucky You, about three twentysomethings who, bored with life in a college town, move to the no–paced Ozarks—where life lessons in sexual tensions, isolation, and personal foibles shift into fast–forward."—Elle
"Beautifully, sharply, humorously deployed prose." —Southern Living, one of the Best Books of the Year
"...[A] rich and observant debut."—Marie Claire
"Carter has written a wonderful novel, intelligent but unpretentious. As an author, she's both unsparing and compassionate, and among her greatest gifts is an ability to find a savage kind of beauty in the unlikeliest of places . . . Lucky You is, in the end, challenging, intelligent and, yes, quite beautiful." —Michael Schaub, NPR online
"[A] perceptive debut novel . . . The women’s journey of self–discovery, or lack thereof, make them perfect 21st–century heroines." —Vulture, 1 of 6 New Paperbacks You Should Read in August
"A darkly funny and melancholic look at the inevitable uncertainty of early adulthood." —PureWow
"As a novel about detached youth, Lucky You absolutely fits the bill . . . Certain moments of linguistic detail shine like the disco ball depicted on the book's cover . . . It's rare to see the plight of millennials cast outside of urban centers, out in the country, with frat couches on lawns and Old Crow Kentucky bourbon as well whiskey. Lucky You accurately and empathetically depicts the struggles of certain Southerners, and for that alone, it's worth a read." —BOMB
"Carter's ambitious debut novel delves into the ennui that comes with being young and unsure... Carter's no–nonsense prose is darkly witty, lacking the self–indulgence or mean–spiritedness often seen in stories about modern youth... Carter's compassion for her lost young women is clear, and the story never falters from the starkly realistic trajectories marked out for the protagonists. The result is a clever and honest look at the consequences of youthful malaise." —Publishers Weekly
"Throughout the novel, Carter's language is surprising, even tactile... A melancholy, elliptical tale of friendship and alienation in the South." —Kirkus Reviews
“Carter’s sharp debut novel reads like a long–remembered nightmare, eerily realistic and subtly horrifying . . . Off–grid–living stories have become quite popular as of late . . . and Lucky You is a nice addition to the canon . . . Readers will be hard–pressed to put the book down as the girls make their breaks back to civilization.” —Booklist
"With lean and impressionistic prose, Erika Carter casts a most compelling light on three young women trying to bloom into their very selves. But this blooming is never easy, and Carter renders it gorgeously with street–wise compassion, grit, and a kind of dark, life–loving humor that is absolutely irresistible to read. Lucky You is not only a superb novel, it heralds a strong and authentic new voice among us. From here on out, I will read whatever Erika Carter writes!” —Andre Dubus III, New York Times bestselling author of Townie
"Lucky You is a wry and unflinching portrait of three young women navigating dark and complicated issues of love and sex and loneliness, depicted with a sharply observant eye, precision prose, wicked humor and courageous insights into the hearts of these characters. This is a powerful and touching book written with the wisdom and control of a seasoned novelist, and Erika Carter has announced herself with a bold, honest, and emotionally scorching debut." —Nic Pizzolatto, author of Galveston, creator and writer of True Detective
"Erika Carter has that rare combination of tough intelligence—almost, as it were, the rough straightforward shrewdness of old–style city–beat newspaper writers—and the musical, sensual, subtle touch of the poet. Her story of these three young women will keep you reading, and you won't soon forget them. What a marvelously talented young writer." —Richard Bausch, author of Before, During, After
"The most beautiful novels read like fevered whispers, a shared secret, and Carter's prose lingers like that. For a book that features haikus, the novel has some of that style, desperately distilling life down to our dreams and desires." —Joshua Mohr
"With Lucky You, Erika Carter has written a magnificent novel that pitches and swirls forward as love stories pivot toward heartbreak, power poisons sex, drunkenness turns to sobriety and back to drunkenness again, and misguided people search for things that aren’t to be found, from dark basement bars to the rolling wooded landscape of the Arkansas Ozarks. Lucky You is an utterly captivating novel, written in precise, surprising sentences with a charge so electric they snap across the page like lightning."—Benjamin Hale, author of The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore and The Fat Artist
"By turns dark and funny, Lucky You is a stunningly honest novel about the inner lives of three women. Sexy, risky, with a pleasurably dangerous tension. Erika Carter’s writing is effortlessly remarkable." — Janis Cooke Newman, author of A Master Plan for Rescue
"The 'you' in this novel's title might refer to the reader, who's lucky to have discovered this book. Sexy, wise, wryly funny, it covers two years in the lives of three young women searching for—what?—love, health, happiness, or any combination of the three. It's brilliantly observed and masterfully paced, and its voice will resonate long after the last page. You lucky, lucky reader."—Tom Franklin, author of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter
2016-12-15
Three college friends experiment with an off-the-grid commune in rural Arkansas but struggle to find stability in the Project—or in one another.Carter's debut novel explores the crushing blow of the financial crisis on floundering 20-somethings in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where a college degree doesn't guarantee a good job or a happy future. Ellie is a struggling alcoholic having an affair with her married, older boss, while Chloe falls head over heels for a fair-weather lover. Both women spend their nights slinging drinks atViceroy and wondering if there's more. When their mutual friend Rachel invites them to move into a dilapidated country house she shares with her gurulike boyfriend, Autry, Chloe and Ellie try to find "peace and health in the chaos of a cruel, disconnected world." Over the course of a disastrous, slow-motion year, the young women attempt to trade alcohol and dead-end relationships for trance meditation and survivalist philosophy. Like most would-be revolutionaries, Autry winds up to be all talk and no action, and all three women worsen. Ellie retreats further into her destructive behavior; Chloe's mental health demons put her in danger; and Rachel grows more and more restless. Throughout the novel, Carter's language is surprising, even tactile. A cold-weather embrace feels like "the beginning of winter in his coat," while going through the motions of a bad relationship feels like being turned into "a stuffed animal." But the plot, which alternates among points of view, loses both the thread of Chloe's voice and the urgency of her breakdown. After a year at the Project, Rachel and Ellie struggle with the idea of normal lives, and Carter seems to suggest this is a symptom, rather than an effect, of the failed Project. A melancholy, elliptical tale of friendship and alienation in the South.
