>>Lucy Crocker 2. 0

by Caroline Preston

Caroline Preston's debut novel, Jackie by Josie, a 1996 New York Times Notable Book of the Year, was published to stellar reviews. Critics and readers echoed the words of The Cleveland Plain Dealer, which proclaimed that "Caroline Preston has written something 'a woman's book' that smart women can pick up without embarrassment. Jackie by Josie establishes Preston as an American Joanna Trollope." The good news is that Preston's eagerly awaited second novel finds her back in top form. Nobody -- not her kids, not her MIT math-genius husband -- could have predicted that Lucy Crocker, former children's librarian and unabashed computer ignoramus, would be the one to save the family's software company. Nevertheless, that's exactly what happens when she has an unexpected brainstorm to create a fantasy computer game called Maiden's Quest. Suddenly, Lucy, of all people, is a cyber-guru. But now trouble is brewing in the Crocker family. First, Lucy is creatively blocked on producing the Maiden's Quest sequel in time for the crucial Christmas season. Then she discovers that her husband Ed is receiving erotic Tantric massages from their publicity director and her kids are ogling smut on the Internet. Lucy decides it's time to flee the corruption of the modern world, so she packs herself and her sons off to the north woods of Wisconsin, leaving Ed home alone to deal with the glitches at Crocker Software. Lucy Crocker 2.0 is the amusing story of how Lucy weans her pasty-faced boys from their computer addictions, restores order to her marriage, and comes up with a sequel to Maiden's Quest in the process. All the qualities that made Jackie by Josie so admired -- wit, insight, and a light touch -- are on full display in this novel about the comic and not-so-comic effects of technology on life and love at the dawn of the millennium.

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit

Hardcover

Published May 5, 2000

About the author

As a girl growing up in Lake Forest, Illinois, Caroline Preston used to pore through her grandmother’s and mother’s scrapbooks and started collecting antique scrapbooks when she was in high school. She attended Dartmouth College and received a master’s in American Civilization from Brown University. Inspired by her interest in manuscripts and ephemera, she worked as an archivist at the Peabody/Essex Museum and Harvard’s Houghton Library.

Preston is the author of three previous novels. Jackie by Josie, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, was drawn from her (brief) researching stint for a Jackie O. biography. Gatsby’s Girl chronicles F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first girlfriend who was the model for Daisy Buchanan.

In The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt, she has drawn from her own collection of vintage ephemera to create a novel in the unique form of a 1920’s scrapbook.

She lives with her husband, the writer Christopher Tilghman, in Charlottesville, Virginia and has three mostly grown-up sons.

Reviews

[Kris (My Novelesque Life) · Rating 3 out of 5]

RATING: 3 STARS
(Review Not on Blog)

I enjoyed Preston's writing -her humour is always great - but I found this to be an okay novel. I think it was just the story and characters that weren't my cup of tea.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lucy Crocker's life is falling apart. She is having trouble designing a follow-up to her best-selling video game, Maiden Quest (a game she developed with her husband, Ed, that saved his software company). As if designer's block wasn't enough, she discovers that her husband is dallying with Crocker Software's PR director (a hot young thing named Ingrid) AND she catches her twin sons surfing porn sites on the Internet. This perfect storm of events causes Lucy to question the choices she made over thirteen years ago--when she chose to stay in Boston and not follow her outdoorsy/environmental activitist boyfriend, Sam, out west. Lucy heads to northern Wisconsin to the family cabin she has not been to since the summer she first met and fell in love with Sam. The resulting story is very Elinor Lipman (though not nearly so well written)--less chick lit and more wry comedy of manners. The author shifts through three different points of view--Lucy, Ed, and Phil (one of Lucy's twin sons)--and that helps us sympathize as well as clearly see the blindnesses of all involved. A light and enjoyable read but one that made me realize how quickly technology is changing; a book published in 2000 about video game technology already feels "old-fashioned."

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this from the $1 bin at half priced books and wasn't expecting much when I started it. It was surprisingly good. It is about 2 people who get married and each end up as a person they don't like. They end up doing things without regard for others and little remorse. I expected it from the teenagers in the book but not the adults. In the end, life lessons are learned and they come full circle while having all grown in the process. The characters in this book made me think about how often all of us forget to think about how our actions will effect others. I also think it glossed over the whole "forgiveness" aspect of life. Maybe the lesson is supposed to be to forgive more easily but I found it a little too easy for the people in this book. Overall, I think this was an engaging book and would reccomend it.

[Suzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a fun, interesting look at a 15 year marriage that has gone down the tubes. Both partners cheat on each other. One because he is bored and unhappy. The other because he did and she is stressed and unhappy.

There are some thoughtful insights into marriage and people. There are two crazy fourteen year old boys. There’s the blond tantric masseuse. The liar lumberjack, stealer of minks. It’s a good read.

Caveat: I do not think sex with anyone other than your spouse is right. I do not think that just because one partner cheated the other partner should cheat. The book is not good because the two partners’ cheated but despite that.

[Mia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of the very few soft cover paperbacks that I shipped overseas when I moved to Germany. I have read it a bunch of times, and still enjoy reading it. Perhaps one of the reasons I really like it, is because I sort of identify with the heroine. She is artistic, loves computer games, dresses in flowy dresses and super casual clothes and is, well, a cool person.

The story is believable, and to me, it is a good mix of family dynamics and relationship drama. Well developed characters. Have read it many times (it sort of lives in one of our bathrooms so I can read it when my ebook is not handy).

[Maurean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good. A new to me author with a tale that captivated me from the beginning. I was a little disheartened that both partners infidelities were dismissed so lightly, and that the moral seemed to be that two wrongs DO somehow make a right, but other than that, I was impressed with the realism of the tale. Great character development, and very ingaging in its telling. I will certainly look for more of Preston works in the future.

[Jen • Just One More Page · Rating 1 out of 5]

Instead of this being about a female game designer, like I'd hoped, it ended up being about a woman who had no interest in game design at all, did it in the first place entirely by accident, spends all her time wallowing in nostalgia and avoiding her responsibilities in the manner of a 10-year-old, and wishing that her computer loving sons would go outside more and love computers less.

Yeah, no.

[Deidre · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it well enough. Mostly I relate to the main character that my kids spend too much time online and I am weary of the computer obsession in my home. I wish I could banish them to camp and hide out in a lakeside cabin carrying on an illicit affair with my hot ex.

[Wanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute. light read involving a woman game developer in business w/hubby and their nerdy 13yr old twin boys. Infidelity, canoing adventure, redemption for all!

[JoAnn · Rating 3 out of 5]

just okay, rather improbable, not particularly well written, but it passed the time.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book, but funny to read about the "advanced technology" back in 2000. Very dated. A quick read with quirky characters and a good plot.

[Katherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Moral: The grass is not as green on the other-side as you think. Who/what you have may be best.

[Jerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read, will watch for her other books.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved it all the way through, great characters

[Linda Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this as a friend was at Ragdale when Preston was finishing the novel. It's a fast, fun read.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great concept for a novel