The Rich Part of Life: A Novel

by Jim Kokoris

Overview

After Teddy loses his mother to a car accident, he and his young brother are left with their eccentric Civil War professor father, who is more able to discuss Confederate footwear than his sons' day at school. But Teddy's father plays the lottery with his wife's old numbers, and wins $190 million, immediately transforming their lives forever. For the first time, the family must learn what "the rich part of life" really is. Creating the perfect balance of humor and pathos, Jim Kokoris takes us on an unforgettable journey through the ups and downs of this revelation of unexpected wealth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312300708
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/16/2002
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

JIM KOKORIS is the author of the novels The Rich Part of Life, which has been published in fifteen languages and for which he won a Friends of American Writers Award for Best First Novel, Sister North, and The Pursuit of Other Interests. A graduate of the University of Illinois, Jim lives in the Chicago area with his family.

Reading Group Guide

After Teddy loses his mother to a car accident, he and his young brother are left with their eccentric Civil War professor father, who is more able to discuss Confederate footwear than his sons' day at school. But Teddy's father plays the lottery with his wife's old numbers, and wins $190 million, immediately transforming their lives forever. For the first time, the family must learn what "the rich part of life" really is. Creating the perfect balance of humor and pathos, Jim Kokoris takes us on an unforgettable journey through the ups and downs of this revelation of unexpected wealth.

1. Theo can be a reclusive and emotionally cut-off person. Discuss whether you think that he has doubts about keeping Teddy; remember he is being asked to raise the child of a woman who is going to divorce him.
2. Do you think Bobby Lee really wants Teddy, or is the money his sole motivation?
3. There are many reasons for Theo's attraction to Gloria Wilcott. Do you think he would have continued the relationship if the scene at the country club had not taken place?
4. How are the themes of the random nature of life and luck explored in this novel?
5. At the end of the story, how do you think Theo and Teddy feel about having won the lottery?
6. Do you think the winning of the lottery helps Theo to acknowledge his love for Teddy?
7. How and why do Theo, Teddy, Maurice, Carl the Bear, and Dr. Spiral behave as heroes in this novel? Who do you think is the true hero of the book?
8. Some readers feel that Bobby Lee is more confused than evil. Would you have liked to see him more sympathetically portrayed, or do you think the book needs a "bad guy"?

Editorial Reviews

Mr. Kokoris's talent is evident on every page. He is in touch with the human spirit and offers, in this post-modern world, a refreshing hope for redemption.” —Howard Bahr, author of The Black Flower and The Year of Jubilo

“In The Rich Part of Life, Jim Kokoris has created the rarest of literary gems— a narrator who is pure of heart yet entirely authentic. He writes through the eyes of Teddy Pappas with both clarity and innocence. This debut novelist is one of tremendous promise, and I look forward to all of his future books.” —T. Greenwood, author of Nearer than the Sky and Breathing Water

“A hilarious gem. Kokoris has a David Sedaris-like ear for the lyrical quirks and idiosyncrasies of his ridiculous yet endearing family of characters. A wonderful comic novel on a par with Richard Russo, at once madcap and absurd, with a plot that is always engaging, compelling, and yes, heartwarming.” —Richard Rushfield, author of On Spec

From the Publisher

A lottery fantasy comes with strings attached for a reclusive history professor in Kokoris's quirky, engaging debut, which begins when widowed academic Theo Pappas hits the jackpot to the tune of $190 million by playing his late wife's favorite numbers. But a quiet life of studying the Civil War in the Chicago suburbs and caring for two young sons has hardly prepared him for instant wealth, and after banking the cash he finds himself fending off an army of scam artists who want a piece of his newfound prosperity. Some of those with a vested interest are family members most notably Theo's cheesy younger brother, Frank, an erstwhile filmmaker who shows up looking for cash after his latest B-movie fails. Frank is followed by one of his shadier charges, an aging actor named Sylvanius who played a vampire in a daytime soap opera, and family life gets a bit complicated when Sylvanius takes a romantic interest in Theo's aging Aunt Bess, who has made the journey down from Milwaukee. But the biggest shock is the arrival of Theo's wife's first husband, a redneck named Bobby Lee Anderson, who claims to be the biological father of the professor's older son, Teddy, the precocious 12-year-old who narrates the story. The custody battle that follows generates most of the drama in this novel of character, and Kokoris gets considerable mileage from the extensive foibles of his bizarre cast. A subtle sense of humor as sweet as it is wicked and winning dialogue keep up the momentum, and Kokoris smartly steers clear of the obvious clich s of newfound wealth inherent in his plot. The result is a winning tale that bodes well for this writer's future. Author tour. (May) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Winsomeness and whimsy are laid on with a trowel in this nevertheless quite likable debut about a suburban Illinois family transformed by outrageous misfortune, and even more outrageous good fortune. While Theo Pappas, a 60-ish university history prof (and Civil War specialist) and his two sons are grieving the loss of the boys' mother, Theo wins $190 million in a state lottery. Twelve-year-old Teddy (who narrates) begins mentally spending the money his father can't seem to deal with, and younger brother Tommy begins exhibiting increasingly deranged behavior, while the world beats a path to the Pappases' door, begging contributions for innumerable causes and crackpot schemes. Unmarried Aunt Bess (a wonderful comic character) joins the family, followed by seedy-looking Uncle Frank, a fast-talking producer of "genre" movies (which feature "vampire cheerleaders" and "Celebrity Shewolves"), hoping to elude the loan sharks on his trail. It isn't all as amusing as it should be, because too many scenes are unshaped and unfunny, and Kokoris doesn't know when to modulate the appearances of such initially promising figures as rapacious Gloria Wilcott, the bosomy neighbor who aims to capture Theo, or the campy leech known as Sylvanius ("the vampire who starred in . . . Uncle Frank's movies")-a cross between Quentin Crisp and Ed Wood, Jr. The novel also flounders in an overextended account of a cheesy reenactment of the Battle of Bull Run (in which Theo is persuaded to impersonate "Stonewall" Jackson), and in the subplot involving Bobby Lee Anderson, the redneck stalker whose real relationship to the Pappases will not surprise any reader past adolescence. For all that, Teddy andespeciallyfive-year-old Tommy are vivid, engaging characters, and the story comes to life whenever Kokoris indulges his flair for farcical malapropism and misstatement ("This all reminds me of a Norman Rockwell movie," etc.). And it has one immortal moment: Uncle Frank's sullen declaration that "By nature, Greeks are depressed people . . . . We're not all Zorba." Now that's funny.

Kirkus Reviews