“‘The Lucky Ones’ is in many ways reminiscent of The Shore by Sara Taylor – another collection of interlinked short stories which was coincidentally shortlisted for the same literary prize two years ago – both of which draw on the evocative settings of the authors’ childhoods and are helped rather than hindered by unconventional and non-linear structures. Pachico’s writing exhibits a surreal power and I’m looking forward to reading what she writes next.” – Clare Rowland, A Little Blog of Books
“Pachico has a broad range, and The Lucky Ones reads almost as though it was designed to show that off: there are stories in first, third, and the elusive second person. We see through the eyes of maids, warlords, waiters, children. Throughout the collection, the sense of something being off-kilter competes with an evocation of place and atmosphere so strong that the book practically creates its own weather. ” – Eleanor Franzen, Elle Thinks
“It wasn’t until I read on that I realised that the stories were linked by more than their location and time-frames. We will meet the same characters again before and after, we’ll see how they came to be where they are and what happens to them later. A subsidiary character in one story will take the lead in another, the linking is very cleverly done. Motifs recur – like Mariela sucking her long black braid, and the whole is infused with coca leaves. Of course, there are a couple that work less well than others, and conversely others, like Junkie Rabbit, will leave you literally reeling. ” Annabel Gaskell, Annabookbel
“Marketed as a novel in America but as a short story collection here in the UK, The Lucky Ones is really somewhere in between: it’s a linked story collection in which the 11 chapters could stand alone but are so much richer together. Each generally adds a layer of meaning to the others by filling in the background or following a certain character a decade or more into the future. The book keeps creeping backward and leaping forward to show how terror endured in one’s past never really goes away.” – Rebecca Foster, Bookish Beck
“Pachico’s writing is stunning, and just the way she strings sentences together was a joy to behold. Flicking in at random, I get: “They cast their bluish-white searchlights over the campsite, slowly illuminating one item at a time; the wooden picnic table, the hammocks, the tin cups, the black rubber boots with yellow bottoms, the packets of Frruitino strawberry juice powder, the Saltine cracker wrappers, the enormous blocks of unrefined panela sugar in plastic bags.” There’s just something about her writing style that I loved. Overall, it was fun and ethereal, and I’ve since compared it to watching someone else’s dreamsand said it reminded me in some vague way of William Burroughs.” – Dane Cobain, Social Bookshelves
