In Just My Luck, Butler introduces us to Lanita Lightfoot who is a 30-something soon-to-be graduate of USC. Her husband (who is also graduating today) has paid for for to have a spa day including hair, makeup, and nails before the graduation ceremony that is set to take place later in the afternoon. On her way into the salon, Lanita finds four quarters sitting on the ground. She chalks it up to her "luck" that has been showing itself since her birth. Upon entering the salon she is greeted by the receptionist, Natasha, to whom she begins telling her life story.
In the midst of the Watts riots in the 60s, Lanita's mother went into labor. Her father is nowhere to be found. Since the area was so chaotic and hectic, she ends up giving birth in a local store owned by Chinese immigrants. This store remains untouched by the rioters because Lanita's mother was giving birth. So overwhelmed with joy, the owner of the store (who also managed to own/rent many apartment buildings) offered Lanita's mother an apartment rent free for the rest of their lives. After living in the apartment for 12 years, Lanita and her mother are evicted at the behest of the landlord's children who have taken over since his death.
With no skills and having not worked a day in her life, Lanita's mother is forced to go on welfare. They are moved from a luxurious 2 bedroom apartment to a 1 bedroom efficiency. I should also mention that at this point, Lanita's mother's drinking increased heavily. She was mixed up with a no good man and he had her strung out on gin and table wine. There was barely enough money to cover their groceries, let alone buy toiletries, so Lanita was barely able to wash herself. She became known in school as the stinky kid and was an outcast. One day she confides in her teacher and the teacher sets out to help Lanita and her mother. She gets the mother set up in a nursing training program and helps out whenever she can.
A few years pass and Lanita's mother is doing much better. They are still living in the one bedroom apartment, but she is working steadily and providing for Lanita properly. During thistime period, Lanita's father makes a reappearance in theie lives. Things seem to be going well between her parents until her father's infidelity becomes too much to deal with and her mother puts him out. Blaming her mother for her father's absence, Lanita begins to seek solace in one of two places the home of her childhood friend, Gloria or the local library. Here she forms a bond with the librarian who becomes a positive guiding force in her life. Right before they are to begin highschool, Gloria and her family move up to Oakland, leaving Lanita on her own.
In her high school years, Lanita spends most of her time with a friend named Stacey. She and Stacey are both on the cheerleading team, so that's how they bonded. On one occasion, Stacey's boyfriend gets them tickets to a taping of a Pepsi commerical starring The Jacksons. You know...the infamous one where Michael gets burned. Well, in this account Lanita and Stacey are among the first to see his hair spark flame and flag down the staff to bring it to their attention.
Although she was a cheerleader, Lanita didn't have much luck in the dating world. The only boy she ever allowed herself to "love",Jermaine, passed her by when an upperclassman sought out his affections. This leads to her librarian friend finding her a date for Prom at the last minute. She keeps mentioning a son of her friend's named Todd who is a really nice boy. Fastforward to the night of Prom and Todd is actually Todd Bridges of Diff'rent Strokes fame. He ends up being really nice and down to Earth. He makes Lanita feel like a princess and shows her a really good time. Of course, all of the girls in school were jealous when they saw her date, natch. Lanita also ends up being Prom Queen, much to her surprise, with Jermaine as her King.
Lanita goes off to college and reunites with Gloria at Howard University in DC. AT Howard she is living the life, excelling in all of her classes while partying to her heart's content on the weekends. It is at Howard that she first experiments with alcohol and drugs. In her junior year, Lanita is summoned back home because her mother is diagnosed with cirrohsis of the liver. When she returns home, she finds that her mother's life is in shambles. She is behind on rent, bills, and barely has enough food to eat. Instead of going back to Howard after winter break, Lanita decides to stay home and help her mother. She begins working as a secretary, but is barely making ends meet.
Looking to make more money, she goes to a strip club looking for a waitressing gig. She is told that there are no waitressing spots, but they do have opening for dancers. Initially resluctant, Lanita ends up auditioning and winning a spot at the club. During her stint at the club, she relies heavily on alcohol and drugs to get her through. She thinks that she is successfully concealing how she makes her money until an old friend from the neighborhood, Jermaine (remember him? The only man she ever loved) shows up to the club one night and sees her stripping. Jermaine, now an honest working man, manages to get her to leave that life behind and get back on the straight and narrow.
Years pass & Lanita and Jermaine find themselves comfortably ensconced in a relationship. Things progress and they eventually get married and have a child. A few years after their daughter was born, both of them return to school at USC. This brings is to present day. Lanita has had all of her spa treatments, telling her story to everyone she encounters while there. They are all so impressed with her tale, that she is told that her treatments were on the house and they wished her well. Lanita then goes on to graduate and bask in the loving glow of her wonderful, lucky life.
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So I picked this up randomly in the library. Sometime I scan the shelves and pick books all willy nilly. This was published by One World Books who've published other books I've loved like "
Going Down South" and "
Orange Mint and Honey", so I was immediately interested. Reading the plot summary on the back brought my interest level down a bit, but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway. Ugh. So mad, I did, haha.
As you can tell, my review of this book is LACED with sarcasm. I was not a fan. I found it to be too unbelievable. Yes, it is a work of fiction, but no one is that *lucky*. The overabundance of pop culture references were not helping either. I didn't like the way that the author found a way to put Lanita in too close of a proximity to these events. If they were a backdrop, I'm sure I would have been less annoyed. I found myself saying "Oh you're GOT to be kidding me" aloud several times while reading this book.
One of the character's names was Jimmy Choo for Christ's sake (no it wasn't the famed shoe designer, either). The plot was wholly unbelievable. Maybe I'm naive, but I can't imagine someone who went through all of the stuff that Lanita did, walking into a salon and spilling their guts to everyone they meet. I mean, clearly she was a walking, talking testimony of how God can get you through anything, but it was all chalked up to her being "lucky". *eye roll* I kinda of thought the book was a waste of my time. Not the discredit the author fully because I feel that she is a talented writer, but this one just did not do it for me. Perhaps I'll read another book by Butler and feel differently.
