Jackpot: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: accomplished and oddly gripping novel
Review: From The Critics
Publisher's Weekly

A Bahamian vacation turns into a nightmarish dreamworld in Tsipi Keller's smart, sly Jackpot. Maggie has long been cowed by her beautiful friend Robin, so when Robin leaves Paradise Island for a spur-of-the-moment sailing trip, Maggie has a chance to shine. Instead, she descends into wild gambling and even wilder sex, though she somehow retains her innocence. Keller expertly charts Maggie's transformation in this accomplished and oddly gripping novel. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Rating:
Summary: very original work - nothing like it
Review: i just finished reading jackpot and feel as though i've been away in some exotic land and have come back, enriched and wiser, and more sober. jackopt is honest and brutal in ways i like a book to be honest and brutal.

Rating:
Summary: mighty interesting
Review: Maggie, the heroine of Tsipi Keller's novel JACKPOT, is so well observed that I enjoyed the book a lot despite Maggie's shallowness which I found hard to identify with. Her preoccupation with things such as living in the 'right' neighborhood, wearing the 'right' clothes, etc. would be laughable, if it wasn't also indicative of a whole range of social responses in so many people we all know--which renders this syndrome sad as well as laughable. One of the things I liked about Maggie were her flashes of sincerity, her ability to see through her own (attempts at) phoniness. Her fragility is palpable. This book is about what happens when somebody is stuck in real life with only the tools of high school to rely on.

Rating:
Summary: mighty interesting
Review: Maggie, the heroine of Tsipi Keller's novel JACKPOT, is so well observed that I enjoyed the book a lot despite Maggie's shallowness which I found hard to identify with. Her preoccupation with things such as living in the 'right' neighborhood, wearing the 'right' clothes, etc. would be laughable, if it wasn't also indicative of a whole range of social responses in so many people we all know--which renders this syndrome sad as well as laughable. One of the things I liked about Maggie were her flashes of sincerity, her ability to see through her own (attempts at) phoniness. Her fragility is palpable. This book is about what happens when somebody is stuck in real life with only the tools of high school to rely on.

Rating:
Summary: This One's a Winner
Review: Tsipi Keller has written a spell-binding portrait of one woman's gambling addiction. Innocent and alert, Maggie is a plain Jane who flowers among "les fleurs du mal" and casino life of Paradise Island in the Bahamas where she nearly loses herself. It's the reader's job to figure out what complex needs the jackpot fulfills and fails to assauge. The gambler's primary goal is to win money, but Keller suggests that Maggie's longing for her lost mother and ironic emulation of her glamorous friend Robin are at the poles of Maggie's desperation.

Rating:
Summary: accomplished and oddly gripping novel
Review: Tsipi Keller tells such an honest tale of the human condition in Jackpot. Although I was sorry to see the book end, its magnificent concluding image excited my imagination about what comes next. The author's sultry island beach setting lavishly contrasts with her raw and insightful landscapes of the protagonist's psyche, behaviorally depicted.
If you've ever fantasized about trying on a new life far far away from the beaten path, let Jackpot first give you a sneak peek. Then consider carefully before packing your bags for the excitement of casino life; you can bet the waters are deep.

Rating:
Summary: Can't Get Enough
Review: Tsipi Keller tells such an honest tale of the human condition in Jackpot. Although I was sorry to see the book end, its magnificent concluding image excited my imagination about what comes next. The author's sultry island beach setting lavishly contrasts with her raw and insightful landscapes of the protagonist's psyche, behaviorally depicted.
If you've ever fantasized about trying on a new life far far away from the beaten path, let Jackpot first give you a sneak peek. Then consider carefully before packing your bags for the excitement of casino life; you can bet the waters are deep.