Lucky Everyday: A Novel
By Bapsy Jain
Published by Penguin Books, 2009
ISBN 9780143115359
Lucky Boyce's life is as complicated and convoluted as Bapsy Jain's first literary effort. The problem with Lucky Everyday isn't the writing - which is commendable - or the basic storyline - which is a page-turner. The problem is with the development of the characters and the choices Lucky makes both personally and professionally. The two sides of her personality don't make sense when woven together, and this disconnect runs the risk of leaving the reader scratching his head. Add to that the fact that Jain packs so much into what could have been a very strong, very simple story that, by the time the reader gets to the last page, indifference towards the main character settles in. That's never a good thing.
The reader meets Lucky just as she agrees to teach yoga at a medium-security prison. Right away, she begins dictating to the prison personnel not only how the class is to be managed, but also what equipment is essential to the yoga experience. Fair enough. When the warden informs Lucky that certain pieces of equipment are banned from the class, she immediately devises a plan to escalate her grievances. As the story progresses, she is rebuffed at every turn, yet she continues to stand her ground like a truly confident woman would. She knows what she wants for her yoga class and refuses to settle for less. But certain events before and after this introduction just don't add up.
Where Reality Begins to Unravel
Lucky marries Vikram Singh - a man said to resemble Omar Sharif - and they move to Bombay, India. Unfortunately, the couple meets familial resistance primarily from Geeta, the matriarch of the family who took over after Vikram's mother died, because Lucky is Parsi and unfit for inclusion within the prominent Singh family. After Lucky's mother dies, Geeta presses for closeness with her daughter-in-law under the guise of interest in the birth of an heir to the family fortune. She sends her to their physician, and the doctor promptly informs Lucky that, due to the severe infection she suffered - something she knew nothing about - she cannot get pregnant. Does she get a second opinion? Nope. A woman with a first-rate education, who stepped up at the 11th hour to manage a crisis at work and single-handedly rebuilds a company that had been hemorrhaging money for years, simply takes the doctor at his word...even though he was hired by the person who despises her. Huh?
After the divorce, Lucky moves back to New York for a fresh start and to reconstruct the shards that are her life. The bulk of her settlement from Vikram's family rests on collecting any outstanding debts owed to Fairdeal, the Singh company that she revived without her husband's support. Her first stop, then, is to a man named Mike Lockwood, a con artist vendor who tried to hustle her back in Bombay. Lockwood is a crook, and Lucky knows this, yet she agrees to partner with him to resuscitate his ailing company. As the firm's accountant, she comes across several shady entries in the company's financial records, and he, like a true crook, either explains them away or promises to do better. She, the captain of industry, simply takes him at his word...even though he previously tried to hustle her. Huh?
Amay Merchant, the man who worshipped at Lucky's feet, reenters her life as some sort of knight-in-shining-armor - complete with the white horse - except for the fact that he's now married with twins. But the luck this guy has is incredible! When she gets stranded on the highway, he just happens to rescue her...even though there are probably a few hundred thousand cars on the highway and she's driving a friend's. When she gets mugged and assaulted, Amay just happens to be standing across the street and sees the robbery...in Manhattan...during the day...while a few million people are coming and going. (Either Jain has never been to mid-town Manhattan or she visited on a national holiday-like Christmas Day at 9:00 in the morning.) When Lucky decides to move out of her friends' guest cottage on Long Island and get an apartment in the city, he just happens to have a little love nest in Greenwich Village...that's perfect for their trysts. That she continues to pay the $1000 rent bill every month while "tending" to his "needs" is even more unbelievable than Amay's luck.
Stop the Ride, I Want to Get Off!
From there, the story spirals into a murder mystery involving drug-smuggling and a corrupt cop, and Lucky's only way out is to channel a friend from Bombay's circular wisdom and become the bird she always wanted to be. Shanti, along with an ex-convict named Steve, are the only two characters in Lucky Everyday that arouse even the slightest modicum of interest; the rest of the cast is filled with two-dimensional figures sorely in need of that third layer. The author would have done well to keep the story simple and give Lucky et al a reason for "being" beyond solely existing, because watching them move from one scene to the next without the necessary injections of personality - or realism - is painful.
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