- Hardcover: 496 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd (2 Aug 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0684840162
- ISBN-13: 978-0684840161
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.2 x 4.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 944,466 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Movie pundit Kim Newman's first novel was the cinematic SF thriller The Night Mayor (1989). Life's Lottery is a tour-de-force construct, built like a "choose your own adventure" gamebook, whose 300 numbered sections explore many possible lives of protagonist Keith Marion--born, like Newman, in 1959. You, the reader, must make Marion's decision at each split in this garden of forking paths. Seemingly meaningless choices have unexpected consequences. The first branch-point is a school-playground question about the TV show The Man From UNCLE: "If you like Napoleon Solo, go to 3. If you like Illya Kuryakin, go to 4". Long life and happiness lurk along some paths; others end early with the death-sentence "Go to 0", or the flat epitaph "And so on", when life's choices have run out and nothing new awaits. Schoolmates reappear in new roles in different strands, often to ironic effect when alternate stories are compared. Occasional SF timeslip opportunities let you switch stories or rethink old decisions. Some lives are touched by spidery horror, featuring Newman's diabolical newspaper mogul Derek Leech ... see especially The Quorum, 1994. Others encounter magic, madness, cancer, violence or prison. It's a lottery--except that you can always turn back, perhaps noticing the scenes not reachable by any official route, and try again. Inventive, frustrating, compulsive. --David Langford
Product Description
An adult role-playing novel where the reader can choose different narrative options, resulting in very different plot resolutions.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I tell you what makes this book unique. In a normal novel, you get to know characters as you make your way through the story. But in Life's Lottery, you only really get to know the characters when you've read through every possible branch of the decision tree and can see all the different ways they would develop if different things happened in their lives.
It means that this isn't really a book to dip into occasionally while on the loo - you'd be missing out on so much that way. After a few reads through to different endings you come to the conclusion that you need to follow through every possible thread, however sad that sounds.
It also makes me wonder how well I know my friends. I've only seen them live the one life in this universe. I haven't seen what they would make of their lives had things turned out differently.
Format:Paperback
I stumbled upon Life's Lottery while trying to track down a 'choose your own adventure' book, and this seemed like an interesting one.
The stories are quite varied, and through your decisions (even ones that seem inconspicuous) you decide where your character will go, how he will act and treat others. The more you read, the more invested you become in the characters. Because you can explore multiple storylines, different aspects of characters manifest every time. The side character whose name you can barely remember can be the most important person to you the next time you read.
Although Keith Marion ends up in many situations that excessive or a bit violent, the different paces afforded by different storylines means that there's always something for the reader to enjoy, whether they're picking the choices they themselves would pick, trying out things they wouldn't do in real life, or reading everything to learn as much about the story as possible.
The stories are quite varied, and through your decisions (even ones that seem inconspicuous) you decide where your character will go, how he will act and treat others. The more you read, the more invested you become in the characters. Because you can explore multiple storylines, different aspects of characters manifest every time. The side character whose name you can barely remember can be the most important person to you the next time you read.
Although Keith Marion ends up in many situations that excessive or a bit violent, the different paces afforded by different storylines means that there's always something for the reader to enjoy, whether they're picking the choices they themselves would pick, trying out things they wouldn't do in real life, or reading everything to learn as much about the story as possible.
Format:Hardcover
it's always gratifying when you see a book by an author as compelling as kim - who nonetheless remains a cultish figure - for sale dirt cheap at one of your ten a penny, one in every feckin shopping centre bookstores. so much so that i was compelled to buy my girlfriend a copy, which she has since lent to a friend of hers. even more gratifying is that they really enjoy it and have had conversations about what's happened to them. at the same time though it can be somewhat disconcerting; try walking into someone's house to see them telling other people what disturbing event has just happened to them when you've no idea before if they're talking about fantasy, or reality.
anyway being a fan of mr newman's work and a devotee of roleplaying books (fighting fantasy, lone wolf) in my formative years i knew more or less what to expect. you, the reader, are keith marion. you make choices for him and live (or, more often than not, die) accordingly. a small incident can have a dramatic effect while something in theory more life altering proves to be anything but. such is life i guess. since this is kim newman a mundane existance is in most cases off teh cards (though the phrase 'and so on' means your life follows a certain pattern indicated by what's just been described, be it happy or otherwise). instead incest, murder, rape, shadowy business practices, lust and revenge loom large. not only this but several characters from other newman novels or short stories make brief (or otherwise) appearances, the most obvious being shadowy business/ media mogul/ entity derek leech and rob 'monster' hackwill. all superbly written of course
maybe it's because i'm used to wondering where the road not travels leads but assuming i get to heaven (and assuming too it exists) something i want to do is see what would have happened in my life if i'd done different. or maybe i'll be so happy the path not chosen won't matter. or maybe it's only a novel and it hasn't had any effect on me...
anyway being a fan of mr newman's work and a devotee of roleplaying books (fighting fantasy, lone wolf) in my formative years i knew more or less what to expect. you, the reader, are keith marion. you make choices for him and live (or, more often than not, die) accordingly. a small incident can have a dramatic effect while something in theory more life altering proves to be anything but. such is life i guess. since this is kim newman a mundane existance is in most cases off teh cards (though the phrase 'and so on' means your life follows a certain pattern indicated by what's just been described, be it happy or otherwise). instead incest, murder, rape, shadowy business practices, lust and revenge loom large. not only this but several characters from other newman novels or short stories make brief (or otherwise) appearances, the most obvious being shadowy business/ media mogul/ entity derek leech and rob 'monster' hackwill. all superbly written of course
maybe it's because i'm used to wondering where the road not travels leads but assuming i get to heaven (and assuming too it exists) something i want to do is see what would have happened in my life if i'd done different. or maybe i'll be so happy the path not chosen won't matter. or maybe it's only a novel and it hasn't had any effect on me...
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The most electrifying book of 1999
A fantastically exciting book/concept, as soon as you think you know what it is Life's Lottery shows another side. Read more
Published on 4 July 2003 by Owen Gard
Be Wary
This book depressed and frightened me like no other, I felt it was judging my own life, and the judgement was not good. Read more
Published on 17 May 2002
A great book for several reasons
You are Keith Marion as life starts. Every few pages you must make a choice. At this point the story splits as you're referred to new chapters depending on which you've chosen. Read more
Published on 25 Oct 2001 by Mike C
Incredibly Moving
I found this book incredibly moving, but perhaps that's because I'm from Bridgwater - the town which inspired the Sedgwater of the book - and so every page had a special resonance... Read more
Published on 10 Dec 2000 by Mr. Raymond A. Newman
innovative
You always sense that Kim Newman is having a ball when he's writing, whether he's inventing a vampire-populated alternative world in Anno Dracula or in this latest fiendish web of... Read more
Published on 24 Sep 2000
If you don't play, you can't win
This is actually a perceptive, compassionate, and truly intelligent insight into what it means to be human, described as one of the most entertaining books of the year. Read more
Published on 18 Sep 2000
Enjoyable and involving
Life's Lottery is certainly an interesting book, and there's not much chance that you'll find it boring, because you're constantly involved in making choices, and you get used to... Read more
Published on 8 Jan 2000 by aidan@obscurity.freeserve.co.uk
First time sharing a book is more fun than reading it alone
Compulsively written - I took this book on holiday with 8 friends - we all read it and each of us in the role of the character made different life choices - dated different... Read more
Published on 14 Sep 1999
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