Better Luck Next Time: A Novel
(Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)
Description
It's 1938, and women seeking a quick, no-questions split from their husbands head to the "divorce capital of the world," Reno, Nevada. There's one catch: they have to wait six-weeks to become "residents." Many of these wealthy, soon-to-be divorcees flock to the Flying Leap, a dude ranch that caters to their every need.
Twenty-four-year-old Ward spent one year at Yale before his family lost everything in the Great Depression; now he's earning an honest living as a ranch hand at the Flying Leap. Admired for his dashing good looks—"Cary Grant in cowboy boots"—Ward thinks he's got the Flying Leap's clients all figured out. But two new guests are about to upend everything he thinks he knows: Nina, a St. Louis heiress and amateur pilot back for her third divorce, and Emily, whose bravest moment in life was leaving her cheating husband back in San Francisco and driving herself to Reno.
A novel about divorce, marriage, and everything that comes in between (money, class, ambition, and opportunity), Better Luck Next Time is a hilarious yet poignant examination of the ways friendship can save us, love can destroy us, and the family we create can be stronger than the family we come from.
"Doesn't a romantic comedy set on a 1930s Nevada dude ranch teeming with about-to-be-divorced women owe a certain debt to the era's big-screen classics? Then again, it's hard to believe a cinematic version could be any more fun." —New York Times Book Review
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Julia Claiborne Johnson. (2021). Better Luck Next Time: A Novel. HarperCollins.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Julia Claiborne Johnson. 2021. Better Luck Next Time: A Novel. HarperCollins.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Julia Claiborne Johnson, Better Luck Next Time: A Novel. HarperCollins, 2021.
MLA Citation (style guide)Julia Claiborne Johnson. Better Luck Next Time: A Novel. HarperCollins, 2021.
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| Library | Owned | Available |
|---|---|---|
| Clearview Library District | 1 | 1 |
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Julia Claiborne Johnson is the author of the bestselling Be Frank with Me, a finalist for the American Bookseller's Association Best Debut Novel Award. She grew up on a farm in Tennessee before moving to New York City, where she worked at Mademoiselle and Glamour magazines. She now lives in Los Angeles with her comedy-writer husband and their two children.
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- A 1930s cowboy learns about friendship & love while working at a Reno divorce ranch in this comic novel by the bestselling author of Be Frank with Me.
It's 1938, and women seeking a quick, no-questions split from their husbands head to the "divorce capital of the world," Reno, Nevada. There's one catch: they have to wait six-weeks to become "residents." Many of these wealthy, soon-to-be divorcees flock to the Flying Leap, a dude ranch that caters to their every need.
Twenty-four-year-old Ward spent one year at Yale before his family lost everything in the Great Depression; now he's earning an honest living as a ranch hand at the Flying Leap. Admired for his dashing good looks—"Cary Grant in cowboy boots"—Ward thinks he's got the Flying Leap's clients all figured out. But two new guests are about to upend everything he thinks he knows: Nina, a St. Louis heiress and amateur pilot back for her third divorce, and Emily, whose bravest moment in life was leaving her cheating husband back in San Francisco and driving herself to Reno.
A novel about divorce, marriage, and everything that comes in between (money, class, ambition, and opportunity), Better Luck Next Time is a hilarious yet poignant examination of the ways friendship can save us, love can destroy us, and the family we create can be stronger than the family we come from.
"Doesn't a romantic comedy set on a 1930s Nevada dude ranch teeming with about-to-be-divorced women owe a certain debt to the era's big-screen classics? Then again, it's hard to believe a cinematic version could be any more fun." —New York Times Book Review - reviews
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"Doesn't a romantic comedy set on a 1930s Nevada dude ranch teeming with about-to-be-divorced women owe a certain debt to the era's big-screen classics? Then again, it's hard to believe a cinematic version could be any more fun." — New York Times Book Review
"Johnson's rollicking comedy sizzles, thanks to the immensely appealing voice of its aging narrator...brims with the clever banter and farcical situations of a classic Capra film." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Do you want to read something funny? Let's say, a novel set at a divorce ranch in Reno in the 1930s? A book with memorably eccentric characters, sparkling dialogue, a satisfying plot twist, and some romance and sex? A feel-good literary comedy/western? Here it is, then, the book you've been looking for: Julia Claiborne Johnson's Better Luck Next Time." — Julie Schumacher, author of Dear Committee Members and The Shakespeare Requirement
"Rollicking, nostalgic, wistful and wise, Better Luck Next Time is another gem from Julia Claiborne Johnson. Like a modern-day Anita Loos (but with more heart), Johnson spins an irresistible yarn that captures Depression-era disappointments, hopes, and determination, and paints a touching story of how even a life gone wrong can be a life well lived." — Karen Dukess, author of The Last Book Party
"Hilarious and clever." — New York Post
"Julia Claiborne Johnson's real skill is a literary sleight of hand: creating humorous characters with big hearts, then using them to deliver a story with a surprising emotional wallop. There were tears from heartbreak and joy! My face still hurts from smiling." — Steven Rowley, author of Lily and the Octopus and The Editor
"Invites comparisons to Shakespeare's madcap comedies...Like Shakespeare with his fairies, Johnson uses her own brand of magic to bring these characters to life and to remind us that love often requires a second chance." — Chattanooga Free Press
"Channels Frank Capra's screwball comedies...There is a delightful sense of closure in the way Johnson wraps up this shiny package, which arrives just after New Year's like a late holiday gift." — Christian Science Monitor
"An engrossing portrait of 1930s Reno...witty and charming." — Booklist
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Starred review from November 9, 2020
Johnson’s rollicking comedy (after Be Frank With Me) sizzles, thanks to the immensely appealing voice of its aging narrator. Ward Bennett, a retired doctor now in a nursing home in 1988 Tennessee, describes himself as seen in a photo taken of him at 24, wearing cowboy garb and surrounded by ladies, as a “Cary Grant in cowboy boots.” During the Depression, Ward took a job at the Flying Leap Dude Ranch near Reno, Nev. He was there to chauffeur, guide the women guests on trails, and dance with them. (Anything more was strictly forbidden.) Ward reminisces about two of the women: tiny, cautious, gravel-voiced Emily and a brash, six-foot blonde aviatrix named Nina, who takes Emily’s teenage daughter, Portia, under her wing after Portia shows up unexpectedly. After Ward learns both his parents have died in a fire, and the ranch owners fire Ward for sleeping with Emily, he serves in WWII and finishes college on the GI Bill, then becomes a successful doctor. He realizes looking back that he could never have made a life with Emily (she assumes he’s an ignorant “rube,” despite his being educated and from a wealthy family), but he has no shortage of lively stories, such as the time he, Nina, and Emily get drunk on schnapps and steal costumes from a local Shakespeare production for a masquerade ball. This brims with the clever banter and farcical situations of a classic Capra film, and is deepened by dramatic scenes and portrayals of the hardworking ranchers. Johnson’s novel soars.
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November 1, 2020
Johnson's (Be Frank with Me, 2016) second novel paints an engrossing portrait of 1930s Reno, pulling in larger-than-life characters inspired by historical records. For all the ease of getting married in Las Vegas, it was only slightly less simple to get divorced in Reno. Women could establish residency after staying for six weeks and then petition a local judge for a no-fuss divorce. With plenty of well-heeled women needing a place to cool their heels as temporary residents, Reno's divorce ranches were born. Between social events, adorable local fauna, and more than few handsome cowboys, the ranches had plenty to keep their residents occupied. Yale dropout Howard ""Ward"" Stovall Bennett III isn't a typical dude rancher, his cowboy boots belying his silver spoon upbringing. It was perhaps inevitable that Ward would fall for one of the soon-to-be-divorc�es. Enter Emily Sommer, who turns his life upside down and sends shockwaves through his life for far longer than six weeks. Fans of Naomi Wood, Laura Madeleine, and Nicole Meier will adore this witty and charming slice of life.COPYRIGHT(2020) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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It's 1938, and women seeking a quick, no-questions split from their husbands head to the "divorce capital of the world," Reno, Nevada. There's one catch: they have to wait six-weeks to become "residents." Many of these wealthy, soon-to-be divorcees flock to the Flying Leap, a dude ranch that caters to their every need.
Twenty-four-year-old Ward spent one year at Yale before his family lost everything in the Great Depression; now he's earning an honest living as a ranch hand at the Flying Leap. Admired for his dashing good looks—"Cary Grant in cowboy boots"—Ward thinks he's got the Flying Leap's clients all figured out. But two new guests are about to upend everything he thinks he knows: Nina, a St. Louis heiress and amateur pilot back for her third divorce, and Emily, whose bravest moment in life was... - sortTitle
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