Jacob M Appel’s The Biology of Luck is a wonderful novel, a love song to both New York and to beauty. It’s a comedy, a satirical look at human folly and desire, fame and fortune. The novel is two stories, one about Larry Bloom and his adventure to navigate the city of New York during a particularly tragic-comic day, trying to both find a letter from his publisher, and reach a date with Starshine, who is the heroine of Bloom’s manuscript The Biology of Luck. Bloom hopes he will become a published author and perhaps literary darling, and he hopes Starshine will fall in love with him. His book is about the day where she fell in love with him. Bloom hopes and yearns for Starshine in an earnest way reserved for the lucky or stupid. The manuscript is basically a pick up line, and by revealing his manuscript about Starshine to Starshine, he hopes to win her heart. The second story in Appel’s The Biology of Luck is excerpts from Bloom’s fictional manuscript where a fictional Starshine has her own adventure where she navigates New York on her way to deliver a fruit basket to her aging aunt. Along the way we navigate Starshine’s complicated heart. She loves everyone and no one. Bloom is a looming figure in her romantic landscape, and offers comfort, but perhaps not enough. The conclusion of the novel hinges on whether the real Starshine will meet with the real Bloom for a date, and fall in love with him.
Appel’s sharp prose, keen wit, and ear for dialogue make the dual narratives lock and flow easily, and the meta-ness of the premise melts away because the story is ultimately one and the same, a love story about youth and beauty, and our misconceptions of beauty, ugliness, and gender. Starshine is funny, endearing, annoying. She’s lusty and messy, and caring and selfish. The reader forgets that the Starshine we get to know is often Larry’s fictional Starshine. But it matters not, for the zany detail of both worlds hold hands together in Appel’s zippy read. You won’t care, as a reader you’ll be drawn into the food and travel porn of Appel’s writing. The city is a beaming character in the story, and Appel uses Larry Bloom’s tour guide job to plant the reader in the heart of the city that never sleeps.
Larry is funny, endearing, and frustrating, but Larry is ugly, and Starshine is beautiful. They are both getting along in the city, about in it, without having money or fame they are simply living in the city without glamor. Larry Bloom and his ugly mug, his constant moping about will he or won’t he be loved grows more comedic as he continues to find himself in the middle of social messes, from Rita Blatt’s clutches, to his schemes of his boss, all which threaten his relationship to Starshine.
And of course Starshine may not even like Larry Bloom in the same way she loves her men, the on lam rough Jack Boscomb, and the rich Colby Parker. But Larry is hoping she does not know that she in love with him. This hopes floats him through the hot city madness.
Appel nails love’s anxiety, and the city life as it parades through our senses. The city happens in Luck, and love happens with Luck, along the way Appel shows us a human existence that is longs for joy. Many of the characters here are ugly people, either physically or in following their own selfish compass. Storekeep philosophers, roommates, and Dutch tourists become voices of reason and of the heart, and Larry Bloom is given plenty to dissuade him from his quest. Larry is aware, heck he has even written about it, but remains hopeful. Strong almost. Starshine is the type of young woman whom men cross the street to proclaim their love for, and Larry Bloom knows he must bring a lot to the table to rise above her other suitors. His earnestness, his resolve, and his ability stop, drop, and roll make him a winning protagonist. Will Starshine feel the same? Appel handles the inevitable resolution masterfully.
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