Better Luck Next Time by Julia Claiborne JohnsonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
What a fun historical novel. The book is set primarily in the 1930s in Reno at The Flying Leap ranch, catering to rich women staying to get residency and their quickie divorce. This is something Reno is known for in the past, back when if you stayed in the state for six weeks you could establish residency and apply for a divorce that would be settled fast.
The story is told through the lens of one of the ranch hands Ward, looking back 50 or so years later. He is talking to someone who found a photograph with a group of ladies that stayed at the ranch one summer. Ward retells that summer’s adventures, which were many, and turns out to be momentous for him. You do have to suspend disbelief that someone could remember with such details all that happened and conversation and everything such a long while ago.
The book has a campy sort of feel, at least at first, with the antics and colorful language. I enjoyed the sentences and phrasing, a way of putting things in a unique style. I did say this book was fun, but that campy fun part did diminish as the book went along, with the tone and all being more serious. Feels a little uneven with it starting out being light-hearted and laughing along the way.
Thanks to HarperCollins Publishers/Custom House and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.
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