Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him    by Danielle Ganek Order:  USA  Can Plume, 2008 (2007) Hardcover, Softcover      Reviewed by Ricki Marking-Camuto Art is popular right now, however there are very few fiction novels about people in the art world. Sure, there are mystery and suspense novels about artwork and even artists, but there are few general fiction novels about the denizens of the art world. Danielle Ganek rectifies this in Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him. Mia McMurray started working as a gallery assistant right out of school, in hopes of one day finding someone to represent her paintings. Five years later she is still a gallery assistant and has yet to produce any paintings of worth. Her mundane life is about to be turned upside down with the installation of a particular painting by the emerging Jeffrey Finelli – a large work entitled Lulu Meets God and Doubt Him. Everyone is drawn to the painting, but when the artist dies on the night of the opening, all the art collectors clamor to own it. However, there is a slight hitch – Jeffery has told many people that he is 'giving Lulu the painting.' Since the galley owns the painting, no one is sure what this means, least of all his niece, Lulu, who was its inspiration. A Wall Street worker, Lulu gets drawn into the art world as she comes every day to stare at her painting. She and Mia become fast friends, and soon, Lulu is living out Mia's dream, leaving Mia feeling lost. Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him is about so much more than the art world – about friendship, love, and following (after finding) your dreams. Mia is a very down-to-earth, realistic character with whom many readers will immediately identify. The rest of the cast is great, too; each with very different personalities that leap off the page. Ganek has a talent for bringing these individuals to life. I found it funny that all the characters were talking about how Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him was a strange name for a painting. I think it is a perfect name for a book. I immediately picked it up because I was intrigued by the title, and, as I was reading it, my friends and family would look at the title and then ask me what it was about. A great title will pull readers into a book, and once they pick up Daniel Ganek's Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him, they will not want to put it down. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Contemporary books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews