"Stay kind, kid. No one will see it coming."

If Fredrik Backman decided to try his hand at a creative retelling of The Girl on the Train, I imagine the resulting novel would look very similar to How Lucky. Will Leitch has achieved a near-impossible level of perfection, blending winsome, self-deprecating sarcasm with deeply-humanizing empathy.

"You don’t owe anyone anything. They help you because they love you. Why else does anyone help anyone? Letting someone help you is the nicest thing you can do for anyone."

In How Lucky, Daniel spends most of his time at home. He works remotely as a customer service agent for a regional airline and interacts with most of his friends online, as he also happens to have spinal muscular atrophy, a disease that has caused his body to deteriorate and leaves him confined to a wheelchair.

"I make a mental note: No more Batman underwear. Disabled people have a hard enough time with people thinking we all have the mental capacity of children without them seeing me in Batman underwear. Leave me alone."

One day, Daniel believes he witnesses a crime from his front porch. He wants to help local authorities figure out what happened, but because his disease makes verbal communication difficult, he decides to take matters into his own hands, setting off a chain of events that manage to be both slapstick and incredibly dangerous - in more ways than one.

"The world is just a cavalcade of surprises."

Daniel is funny, self-aware, perpetually grateful, and gives stellar representation to a community of people with disabilities. His best friend, Travis, and primary caregiver, Marjani, are devoted, selfless, and compassionate. How Lucky made me laugh out loud, over and over again, and kept me on the edge of my seat in suspense, and had me near tears more than once.

"I am blessed. I am blessed because I am going to go long before any of them do. I am not going to have to grieve for them, because they are going to have to grieve for me."

Fans of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Anxious People, and Good Eggs will fall in love with this book, and with Leitch's compelling narrative style. The unflinching hope, optimism, and intrinsic goodness seen in the first-person narrator, Daniel, will absolutely restore your faith in humanity, and the beautiful portrayals of friendship and devotion will warm your heart.

"I have not suffered. I have lived!"

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A huge thank-you to Will Leitch, Harper, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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Follow @letteredlibrary on Instagram!

A solidly entertaining book that grabs you right from the start. A young man facing many hurdles witnessing an abduction and when all else fails, takes matters in to his own hands. A winner!!

While it’s never a lot of fun to think about, we all know we’re going to exit stage left eventually. Yet death isn’t top of mind on a routine basis for most of us. The Grim Reaper isn’t always an arm’s length away.

But for Daniel, well …. the fragility of life IS his life. And the closer you come to drawing that final breath, the more you might start living on the edge.

Because, why not? Why not engage a possible kidnapper and/or murderer in an email exchange? Why not try to save the day?

In Will Leitch’s “How Lucky“,” out this May, readers are drawn into Daniel’s world, where a young man in his mid-20s plays a tug of war every day with just the day to day, from his home in Athens, Georgia. He’s not morose about it. It is what it is. In fact, despite his terminal, debilitating illness that robs him of the ability to move on his own or speak, he’s got his own place, caring friends and what some people think could be the dream social media job, responding to jerks on Twitter on behalf of the regional airline he works for.

So when he puts two and two together one day, when the girl he sees walking to campus every morning gets in a car and suddenly goes missing, Daniel suddenly finds himself in the middle of a “Where is she and who did this?” adventure with no directions. Just his caretaker Marjani, a hardworking Georgia Bulldogs super fan; and his best friend Travis, who’s been by his side since quite literally almost birth.

Set over the course of a week during football season, the novel’s fast pace will keep you from putting it down. Daniel’s cat-and-mouse game with the possible kidnapper is only half the story — the other half is Daniel’s coming to terms with the inevitable end, which could come at any moment. And the lessons that can be drawn from even a fictional tale where the protagonist wrestles with his mortality are important — living without regret, refusing to back down from a challenge, embracing a little self-deprecation, and mostly, just finding gratitude in each and every day.

I’d wish for a sequel, but I don’t know if I want to think about a world that doesn’t have Daniel shooting the shit with Travis in it, so I’ll have to settle for just this one great read. Great summer book with easy-to-love characters throughout. Pick it up!

HOW LUCKY is an amazing novel that is a love letter to friendship and resilience. The protagonist has profound physical limitations and yet lives his life to the fullest with a wry sense of humor and a great deal of compassion. The novel is funny, heartbreaking and joyful. Just terrific!

Daniel has a nice home, decent job, and very loyal friends. He’s also unable to talk, care for himself, or move without his wheelchair. When a local college student goes missing, he may be the only witness. Explaining what he saw and being taken seriously is the only problem.

This book was incredible! Just the unique and clever type of read I needed. I loved that the main protagonist was disabled and learning about his daily life. I absolutely just fell in love with him; really ALL the supporting characters in this book. This was a special special read that left me with a smile and tears in my eyes. No doubt it’s too early to say, but I think this will be my favorite April read (it’s 4/5 as I write this). I’ll be recommending this to many and am thankful I got early access to it!

“One of the many annoying things about being disabled is the obligation I always feel to make you feel better about your reactions to me.”

“If we communicated solely with emojis, there would be no wars.”

How Lucky comes out 5/11

The story itself felt pretty straightforward. It almost felt like an essay or editorial (but this might have been due to the limited use of speaking). There were some humorous lines and good observations as well. I'm not interested in sports so those parts felt more like filler for me (I realize that this is a big part of the author's interests, just not mine).

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you're looking for a unique mystery/thriller with a great depiction of someone with a major disability, How Lucky is a great choice!

Daniel lives alone in Athens, GA (with some help from aides). He has a progressive disease (Spinal Muscular Atrophy) that has him in a wheelchair, unable to speak on his own, but he has a job handling social media for a regional airline. His best friend Travis comes by frequently to hang out and take him to events, such as the all-important UGA football tailgates, and to talk with him. He and Travis have been friends since birth, and he is the one person who never treats Daniel like he has a disability.

One morning, as he sits outside on his porch, he sees a young lady he recognizes from the neighborhood walking down the street. He thinks she is a student at UGA and she seems very quiet and shy, but this day, she waves at him. A few moments later, a car drives down the road, the driver talks to this young lady, and she gets in the car with him. Later that day, Dan finds out she is missing, and he may have been the only person to see her get in the car with this mysterious person. He didn't see much of the alleged kidnapper, only his car.

Daniel posts on social media what he saw, and someone begins communicating with him who might be the kidnapper. However, the police aren't inclined to believe him, and he realizes he must try to convince this young man to return this young lady to her friends and family (if, in fact, he has her).

What elevates this above other typical mysteries/Rear Window homages is the nature of Dan's limitations in life, and the obstacles he must overcome to be heard and believed. I had never heard of SMA before this book - it is somewhat overshadowed by the more prevalent ALS - but I have witnessed people assume that non-verbal people in wheelchairs must not be intellectually able to communicate. Because of his best friend Travis and his wonderful aides, Daniel leads as normal of a life as possible. He goes to tailgates, he plays chess in a coffee shop once a week, he lives alone, all because the people around him choose to believe he can do these things as long as he has the correct supports. His disability is described in a matter-of-fact manner and in detail, but never in a way that invokes pity.

The end will definitely have you on the edge of your seat and willing Daniel's wheelchair to go just a little faster. The suspense is low-key for much of the book, but really cranks it up in the last few chapters!

Thanks to Netgalley for an advance copy of this great book!

This book has everything: Mystery! Intrigue! College town life! Spinal muscular atrophy! Ruminations on death! Incel behavior! Wait, what?

Daniel was such an A+ character. Charismatic, candid, and pretty easy-going, all considering he has a lifelong progressive disease that will kill him sooner rather than later. He resides in a raucous college town leading a semi-independent and, by his account, normal life…until he experiences a Rear Window situation when he believes he is the last person to see a young woman right before she’s reported missing. Daniel takes it upon himself—with a little help from his friends—to try and find out what happened to her.

I enjoyed thinking about the major theme of communication, like with Ai-Chin working on her English and strangers using social media/the internet for attention or as an outlet for venting. And then there’s Daniel: using a computer voice, having amusing telepathic-esque conversations with his closest confidants. He also has to reckon with how others communicate with him—he notices when he’s not directly spoken to, when someone doesn’t look him in the eye, when someone seems to make no effort at all to understand him. How we all speak with each other matters.

Overall, How Lucky was a crazy ride that I was not expecting, and I’d like another. Thanks, NetGalley!

This is a captivating mystery told through the lens of a young man with spinal muscular atrophy. I found the method of storytelling quite unique and effective, that being the use of color and italics to refer to mental communication and the way how Daniel talks directly to the reader. This book touches on themes of death, friendship, and perceptions while still maintaining a tense main narrative. Overall, a beautiful debut.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Harper for the ARC in exchange for my honest review*

The cover of this makes it seems like this is going to be a little more light hearted than it is. Don't get me wrong, it's funny. Daniel has a great sense of humor and tells it like it is with his illness and life in general. But by the end, this thing is total thriller. By 80% or so I was wondering if Daniel and Ai-Chin were going to get out of this alive.

This is a bit Rear Window for the modern age. It works though as a great updated story. Young women go missing a lot now, and with human trafficking on the uptick (my area has a hot spot because we are near an International port), it's a good switch from murder. Making the witness have a genetic disorder that makes them disabled instead of just a broken leg changes the character from a board guy stuck at home to someone struggling to maintain independence and to be taken seriously by society.

I don't know much about SMA, but, from a cursory search of NIH's MedlinePlus database, it seems Leitch has done his research. He's also crafted a character that completely accepts that they are slowly dying. Living with a genetic, incurable disorder isn't easy. I know it's not. But Daniel is so nonchalant about it and describes it perfectly.

Daniel lives as independently as possible. He has a job helping to run the Twitter account for a regional airline, a chair that can really book it, and lives in a college town with great public transit so that he can get out of the house. He has a carer, Marjani, who comes in the mornings and evenings, two night time guys that check on him to make sure he's alive (Yes, you read that right), and a lifelong best friend that is like a brother who helps out and takes him places. And they are all there for him in the end when he needs it. They are his family.

I really enjoyed this one and am so glad the publisher approved my request. I can't wait to promote this one. Five Lightsabers for the humor, found family, mystery, and thriller aspect.

I have been a fan of Leitch's sportswriting for a long time. So I was already primed to like this, but became even more excited when I saw the blurbs from Richard Russo and Kevin Wilson. It's deserved. Leitch has written a funny, wonderful novel. It's about a wheelchair-bound man suffering from SMA. The detail the author gives to living with the disease is fascinating.

But it's not just about a man living with a disability. Leitch has so many interesting insights about lonliness in the internet age, living life in a college town, mortality, are we doing enough with the time we have....

I really couldn't get enough of this book. Highly recommended.

Netgalley sent me an e-copy of the book in return for this review.

How Lucky
A Novel
by Will Leitch
Harper
You Like Them You Are Auto-Approved
General Fiction (Adult) | Literary Fiction
Pub Date 11 May 2021 | Archive Date 06 Jul 2021

I am not familiar with this author. I liked this book but I wasn't drawn to it like some books. Thanks to Harper and NetGalley for the aRC.

3 star

The main character's voice is unique and compelling; funny, smart, self-deprecating, wise, and honest. You are instantly drawn into his specific corner of the world and circumstances. The sense of place is well developed and made me want to visit Athens, Georgia. This book feels intimate, (the main character speaks to you directly), but has also has twists that read like a big budget thriller.