Lucky Fools

Details

Title: Lucky Fools

Author: Coert Voorhees

Publisher: Hyperion Books
Publication Year: 2012

Language: English

Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction

Rating: 7/10

Continuation: No continuation yet.

Pages: 293

Review

Lucky Fools follows the protagonist David Ellison, who has his sights set on Julliard. His parents want him to focus on the nearby Stanford university, pointing out that it is foolish to throw away his private education to study acting. 

David, on the other hand, is determined to follow his dreams. As his audition for the prestigious Julliard approaches, David throws himself into his school's latest production of The Great Gatsby. Enter Vanessa, his beautiful costar who undeniably attracts him. He is caught between his devotion to Ellen, his long-term girlfriend and the gorgeous Vanessa. David finds himself stuck in a love triangle of his ow making, with his relationship ready to plunge into disaster. 

To make the situation even more complicated, Oak Fields Prep is attacked by The Artist, a mysterious prankster set on ruining the college aspirations of Oak Field students. He sabotages the school's highest achievers and David, as the star of every play, is the next potential target.

I have to say, when I finished this book, I wasn't sure what I had just read. First of all, a contemporary novel for guys? About time. It was an interesting concept and quite insightful. It was a light read, but it wasn't high school fluff. The book extracted a range of responses from me. I was laughing out loud, gasping and at times, was just as confused as David was. David was a hilarious character, if not a little full of himself. The only problem was that the novel had too many plots going at the same time. David has conflict with his parents and a love triangle between Vanessa and Ellen. On top of that, he has to worry about the artists. It was a complete mess in certain parts of the book and the reader was very confused, as to which aspect to concentrate on. 

The reason found parts of it easy to relate to is because the pressure David faces from his school, parents and dreams is very similar to most high school students. I have to say that the plot was too jumpy. Voorhees snapped from point to point without any explanations. I was forced to draw my own conclusions from the story. I also felt that the ending is what brought the book down a couple notches. I felt it was rushed and all over the place. It was open-ended and left more plot points unresolved than resolved. I was looking forward to the Artist's identity being revealed throughout the book, so the ending disappointed me thoroughly. 

I also found the ending very unrealistic. Stanford has announced that only one student from Oak Field Prep can make it David's grades aren't up to par. He has no extra curricular activities on his resume except acting. His overall school participation isn't very high. This profile doesn't make for a very promising Stanford candidate. Yet, David gets into Stanford, when the competitive school hold several, more qualified candidates such as Vanessa and Ellen! It's quite hard to believe that David's essay was so fantastic, that the board overlooked all his flaws.

All in all, the book is fun and humorous so I will recommend it, but a clear or well-thought out novel cannot be expected.