UNEASY MONEY-PAPER

by Robin F. Brancato

When he wins two-and-a-half million dollars in the New Jersey lottery, eighteen-year-old Mike finds that great wealth brings unexpected problems as well as enormous fun.

Paperback

First published October 12, 1986

Reviews

[Swankivy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The protagonist of this book was an eighteen-year-old kid who won the lottery on his birthday. I seem to remember the book being mainly about newly rich Mike trying to figure out how to put his money in the right place and help the most people, but for some reason the memorable part of it for me was how people crawled out of the woodwork writing to him asking him to support their cause or buy them stuff they couldn't afford. (I remember one example disgusting both me and the main character--what kind of jerk writes to someone about how they can't afford an expensive bag and how they "need" this bag and cool clothes so people in school won't tease them? WHO DOES THAT?) Anyway, I think some of the decisions he had to make were over my head a little because I didn't know anything about what a real estate scam even was, but I sure did understand that I wouldn't be able to properly manage a couple million when I was a kid.

[Julie Decker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mike buys a lottery ticket on a lark on his eighteenth birthday and ends up winning. Not only does he then deal with people trying to talk him into supporting their causes and parting with his fortune; he also begins getting sucked into a scam that's threatening to bury him. He may be legally an adult, but Mike has no idea how to manage this.

The surprise windfall at the beginning got me interested, but after that I had trouble with the pacing. Some of the problems Mike was dealing with seemed canned, and he got led around a lot (not just because he was a kid, but because the plot needed him to, I think). I couldn't really connect, though I shared the protagonist's annoyance at all the money-grubbers who suddenly thought they could get money out of him.