Five Times Lucky Paperback – December 1, 2020

The new novel ``Five Times Lucky'' by David Temple is a ``heavy'' comedy tracing the lives of a cast of characters involved in the entertainment business, over a period of weeks. I use the word ``heavy'' because it appears ``light'' on the face of it. But it is not a light read if you want to extract from Five Times Lucky what the book really offers. The author David Temple started out studying Philosophy at the University of Michigan, one of the top Philosophy departments in the country. After graduating, he then embarked on a career in the film and entertainment business. While building sets for commercials in New York City, and including a bout directing photography for entertainers in Big Time Wresting, Temple developed an intimate connection with people in these industries--but he never stopping trying to cast the lives of the people pursuing fame in the modern world of commercialism, into the context of his academic training in philosophy at the University.In its most interesting take, Five Times Lucky is a difficult to forget application of the principles of academic (mostly western) Philosophy to the lives of a collection of people swept up into trying to achieve fame, and make a life, in the entertainment businesses of Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and Big Time Wrestling.The connection between Entertainment and Philosophy begins when a naive young actress named Bunny Lee picks up the study of philosophy in a deliberate attempt to distance herself from her own unrequited wants and needs, and embarks on an attempt to read back into her life the authenticity she perceived she had lost in the business of commercials. Unexpectedly thrown back into the business, Bunny Lee then interjects her newly found knowledge into the lives of a group of older entertainers and friends she meets accidentally, some of whom had already achieved fame in movies and the celebrity of Big Time Wrestling. The book takes off at about page 130 when a party of ``entertainers'' sets out for the Mariposa County Fair, all in a pursuit of authenticity, love and meaning, most of it within the context of Bunny Lee's new found understandings.Temple's attempt to juxtapose the academic principles culled by great philosophers from serious lives deeply examined, to the lives of a cast of characters with un-examined lives consumed by a pursuit of fame in the entertainment business, results in comedic absurdities, self-serving rationalizations that make you laugh out loud, and surprising new applications of these principles--which oddly seem to give new meaning difficult not to take seriously.It is not entirely clear whether Temple is laughing at the ridiculousness of presuming academic Philosophy can give any real meaning to these modern lives, or whether it seems to turn out that academic Philosophy is actually a bizarre unintended kind of savior.The novel Five Times Lucky, written much like a screenplay, gives the impression of being a light-hearted romp. But actually, it is anything but that.

My book club in New York had the pleasure of reading and discussing David Temple’s Five Times Lucky. Where the book would seem to be a light and easy romp through the excesses of Hollywood and its hills beyond, there is plenty to engage the reader in deep discussions about philosophy and character motivations.Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, Temple’s main character, Bunny Lee, is on a life-defining adventure accompanied by her little dog Puddles. And along the way, she meets characters not dissimilar to those confronted by Dorothy, representing Head, Hand and Heart. Bunny, like Dorothy , has at book’s beginning, endured and survived a tumultuous ride in the air, which has taken her to the modern-day Oz, Hollywood, where she meets a cowardly lion with an ill-fitting toupee, a witch of the North with bleached—well, read the book! And sundry other characters who are themselves seeking one thing. All are looking for Fame. Recognition by Oz the great and powerful. And who isn’t, these days of Facebook and social media?By book’s end, we see ourselves in these characters and question the validity of our own desires, when in fact, our needs can only be satisfied from within.Temple’s Five Times Lucky has all the ingredients of a classic story, but told so uniquely, with such fun, humor and sense of adventure and the absurd. With philosophical quandaries thrown in to boot!Fun For Adults of All Ages!Highly recommended for Book Clubs!

I thoroughly enjoyed this lively, very funny novel with its wacky details of show biz life in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The off-beat (or are they really?) characters are weirdly endearing, in spite of themselves, and will stay with me a long time, as will the madcap challenges in which they find themselves enmeshed. So many scenes will make you laugh or gasp out loud, or do both at the same time. The question of what’s real and what’s show biz hype—what’s reality and what’s instead the crafted or accidental appearance of reality—threads throughout, a question we can all relate to these days. I won’t be the first to say that not only is FIVE TIMES LUCKY an entertaining and well-crafted novel with a range of beautiful writing, but it would make a fantastic movie.

P. David Temple weaves a philosophical undercurrent in his book Five Times Lucky with a slice of life from the lives of his main characters who are larger than life, stereotypical, or just desperately seeking their next move, sometimes all of the above. He skillfully portrays his characters with two seemingly opposing methods, humor and a search for meaning.

This book wasn’t a good read. However, Kermit the frog and Puddles the dog are the protagonists.

Five Times Lucky is a delight. Throughout this romp (actually more of a romp+), David Temple is able to take a poke at everything from Existential Angst to the trap of Fame but always with a tender regard for his characters. I loved them all. His humor, and he is very funny, has an amazing range – he can easily glide from very dry humor, to tongue in cheek, to satire, to hilarious physical humor. He lets his quirky characters be true to themselves as he puts them in situations that can’t help but make you smile if not laugh out loud. Want a light-hearted read with surprising gems of depth and insight? – get this book.

With some clever twists and humor, Five Times Lucky makes for a light summer read. Add it to your beach read list (now that we can FINALLY travel!).

This book offers a warm, brilliantly funny and continually surprising journey through contemporary Californian society with a lovable cast of characters. Beyond the high and low comedy there is the accelerating pace of an evolving plot and the writer’s fascination with the worlds of Hollywood, pro wrestling, dog shows, muscle cars, and Mariposa, “the Mother of Counties.” Read it, have fun, and learn something.

Loved it. Can’t wait for Temple’s next novel.

I laughed out loud several times-If you like Carl Hiaasen, you’ll like 5 Times Lucky!

Couldn't put it down.