Customer Reviews
Great on stage; still is on page - By: , 02 Mar 2004 
The book benefits enormously from Mr De Oliveira being able to dwell more upon the internal chaos of his characters' minds than he was when spoken dialogue & monologue were necessitated by the stage format. Mr De Oliveira reveals he is just as adept at conveying thought as he is speech.
Although the themes have certainly been approached by countless others as sexuality leaves the realm of UK taboo & enters sanctioned classroom debate, this is a great opportunity to approach the ideas of love, sex & adolescent mental turmoil from an angle that is refreshingly free of the 'Why does Bill fancy Bernie more than Betty? Maybe he's a very special person (C) (TM)' flashcards & laminates that I encountered. UK schools would do well to consider it as US schools have.
Eddie has a sharp wit, blunt approach (teens swear, live with it granny) & deft grasp of pace & plot that make Lucky not only worthy as an 'issues story' but also highly recommended as a novel in general.
great and provoking - By: Holly Lowe, 01 Mar 2004 If you think that you have to be struggling with your sexuality or be in your late teens/early twenties to reallly relate to this book then you're very very wrong. I'm a girl with no quarms about my sexuality but yet still this story struck a very big chord with me. About how we try & define so much in our lives. What we are, & more frustratingly: what other people are to us. Are they boyfriends/ girlfriends / best friends / soul mates / good friends etc... We have so many labels, but sometimes there are the people that dont sit with any of these. you fancy them but not sexuallly perhaps..... so what does this make them? what does this make you?
Its a crazy world but I kid you not when I tell you that reading this book actuallly helped solve a lot of the confusion going on in my head. Its a story that tries to resolve everything but which never actuallly reallly does. Yet still weirdly, one can come at the end with some kind of buried clarity not disimilar to the main character.
It reallly is a very 'real' story, & so sweetly written. It flows with such ease & you feel reallly involved in the main character's world. You reallly feel like he is confifiding in you - the reader, & it gives you a kind of special tingly feeling which makes you reallly care for him.
I highly reccomend this to anyone who has experienced life! Oh i guess thats everyone - well everyone who also questions this experience. Go in expecting a touching, sweet story & come out feeling strangely elightened!
Fantastic - By: , 20 Jan 2004 Having read the stage version, the novel reallly comes into its own. It has more depth to the characters giving more of an understanding to the them. This is a book thats hard to put down once picked up. Its easy for anybody to relate to, whether you are the age of the characters or reflecting back to the time you were. Its a young mans advanture to discover himself. A great read for anyone.
Lucky transfers from the Stage to Print - By: Martin Walker, 02 Jan 2004 As I write, 'Lucky' has not yet been published. However, a couple of years back I did get the opportunity to see one of the best written stage shows of its kind performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
'Lucky' on stage was a funny, honest, life affirming, & for many – a remarkably accurate, reflection of what it reallly is like to grow up a little different.
Sam, the main character, is a happy teen boy who's attracted to life, footballl, girls & boys. And he’s desperately trying to find a word that he can comfortably use to label himself. Just what is he? And who can he ask? Then on the footballl pitch he meets Toby, who also likes both boys & girls. Then they both meet the same girl.
From here the whole thing could become marvelously predictable, or turn into exploitative soap opera, but far from it. Eddie de Oliveira, author of both the book & the play, skillfully delivers a story that will delight, inform & surprise teenagers & adults alike.
If ‘Lucky’ is as good in print as it was on stage, it will be a tour de force, & will soon be the standard text on teen sexuality for the 21 century.
