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    Happiness
    Happiness
    Happiness
    Audiobook13 hours

    Happiness

    Written by Aminatta Forna

    Narrated by Robin Miles

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    From award-winning writer Aminatta Forna, a stunning novel bringing an American scientist and a Ghanaian psychologist together in London in a hunt for a missing boy-and an expansive, subtle tale of loss, hope, love, compassion, culture, and the true meaning of happiness. "Not since Remains of the Day has an author so skillfully revealed the way history's layers are often invisible to all but its participants . . . Gorgeous."-John Freeman, Boston Globe on The Hired Man. London. A fox makes its way across Waterloo Bridge. The distraction causes two pedestrians to collide-Jean, an American studying the habits of urban foxes, and Attila, a Ghanaian psychiatrist there to deliver a keynote speech. From this chance encounter, Aminatta Forna's unerring powers of observation show how in the midst of the rush of a great city lie numerous moments of connection. Attila has arrived in London with two tasks: to deliver a keynote speech on trauma, as he has done many times before; and to contact the daughter of friends, his "niece" who hasn't called home in a while. Ama has been swept up in an immigration crackdown, and now her young son Tano is missing. When, by chance, Attila runs into Jean again, she mobilizes the network of rubbish men she uses as volunteer fox spotters. Security guards, hotel doormen, traffic wardens-mainly West African immigrants who work the myriad streets of London-come together to help. As the search for Tano continues, a deepening friendship between Attila and Jean unfolds. Meanwhile a consulting case causes Attila to question the impact of his own ideas on trauma, the values of the society he finds himself in, and a grief of his own. In this delicate tale of love and loss, of cruelty and kindness, Forna asks us to consider the interconnectedness of lives, our co-existence with one another and all living creatures, and the true nature of happiness.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateMar 6, 2018
    ISBN9781501992018
    Author

    Aminatta Forna

    Aminatta Forna is a former BBC reporter and has presented on various political and current affair programmes. She is a contributor to several newspapers including the Independent and The Sunday Times. 'The Devil that Danced on Water' was a runner-up for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2003 and she has acted as judge for various awards including the MacMillan African Writer's Prize and the Samuel Johnson Prize. Her most recent novel is 'Ancestor Stones'.

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    Reviews for Happiness

    3.5/5

    231 ratings16 reviews

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    • 4/5
      3.5 starsWhat would happen if everyone in the world was happy? In this book, Edwin is an editor for a mid-sized publisher. Although he initially rejects and throws out the giant manuscript for a self-help book, “What I Learned on the Mountain” by Tupak Soiree, when put on the spot, he suggests they publish it. The book is an instant bestseller, and in time, almost everyone is happy. But, Edwin feels things just aren't right... I liked it. It was amusing, with a few laugh-out-loud moments. There was actually an alternate ending added in (at least to my edition). I liked the end of the book, but I believe the alternate ending would have been the one if some of the other stuff hadn't been cut from the book. That alternate ending had some of the best laugh-out-loud moments, I thought, but that's probably because they were all Quebec/Canada jokes.
    • 4/5
      I had a good time reading this story of the creation of a self-help book that actually works. the characters are well drawn, and the pace is firm. I look forward to another book by the same author.
    • 5/5
      Wry and funny and quite frankly just bloody marvelous. Perfect for anyone involved in any way in the creating, marketing and selling of books. And bang on commentary on the self help book market! It is absolute perfection.Thoroughly enjoyed the Caveat Emptor, the alternate ending (which quite frankly will be truly appreciated by most Canadians - well except for maybe those from Quebec). Ok and got a kick about the line with Stephen King in Bett's Bookstore (which I have been to)Favorite Quotes"Join the club," said Mr. Mead. "That's the way it always goes. At some point, you outgrow your generation. Or it outgrows you.""I know. You wouldn't think killing a tax auditor would be a felony. A misdemeanor, maybe, but not a felony.""Two million years of human evolution, 500,000 years of language, 450 years of modern English. The rich heritage of Shakespeare and Wordsworth at his beck and call, and all that Edwin could come up with was "shit".Thanks Chelsea for the recommendation
    • 3/5
      Started off very snarky and funny, loved the satire on writers and publishers, but fell off toward the end when it was all plot.
    • 3/5
      Parts did make me laugh, but I found I really skimmed this book.
    • 3/5
      Full of irony and dry humour. In portraying what would happen if a truly successful self-help book was ever published, Ferguson points out many of the idiosyncrasies of books, publishing, consumerism, and life in general. The story is set in the US, but the humour is very Canadian. Tongue in cheek yet truthful all the way. Some good philosophy, too (and some not so good philosophy). A beach read.
    • 3/5
      "If anyone wrote a self-help book that actually worked, we'd all be in trouble". This comment by a book publicist allegedly prompted Will Ferguson to write Happiness™, a satire of the self-help industry and of publishing in general. Happiness™ is the story of such a book, one that works so well that it instantly makes all its readers happy... and thus brings the whole Western economy to screeching halt, said economy being notoriously entirely dependent on a constant supply of unsatiated desires. The result is a thoroughly enjoyable read, full of dark humor and inconvenient truths about the publishing industry, and a testament to what makes life enjoyable: guilty pleasures, unhealthy food and unrequited yearning.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this read about an editor who accidentally publishes a book that almost brings about the end of the world. Edwin de Valu is a mid-level editor working on the self-help desk. When confronted by his boss looking to replace their in jail best selling author he decides to use a book from the slush pile. It's a self-help book that reads like it has been written by computer, a book that basically boils down all the self-help books into one, easy to read, mass. A book that takes hold of the nation, makes Pangeric Press (where Edwin works) very wealthy and works.Yes a self-help book that actually works for almost everyone, one of the people it doesn't work for is Edwin himself, so he finds himself trying to bring the ordinary world back. Hunting down the author is a start.It has some serious swipes at the publishing industry and at self-help books, there are occasions where it falters but it had me giggling regularly throughout.
    • 3/5
      Happiness TM is like taking Coupland's social commentary & apocalyptic ideas, mixing it with Adam's brand of 'oh look at me taking the piss out of my self importance', factor in Vonnegut's optimistic negativity & mix with a double shot of Thank You For Smoking, only replace a tobacco insider with an editor.... I can go on forever like this but all this requires a frame of reference. The idea is brilliant, I cannot think of a better apocalypse for a satire than mass-happiness. Cynical yet uplifting, corny yet unexpected, having the sort of narrative causality that will slaughter common sense & with a good dose of bite-sized pop wisdom that begs to be quoted. Consider: "The two most important phrases in the human language are "If only" and "Maybe someday". Our past mistakes and our unrequited longings. The things we regret and the things we yearn for. That's what makes us who we are." There is much to be enjoyed in this book if you don't let that sometimes ingratiating tone get to you. Oh. Also not recommended if you are any of these categories : hippies, capitalists, Buddhists, people who are in love with the concept of Heaven. Sorry.
    • 4/5
      I got this book not knowing what to expect. I was just looking for something new to read. I hadn't heard of the book or the novelist before. I was pleasantly surprised. "Happiness" is a funny parody of the publishing industry--more specifically self help industry. While I didn't laugh out loud while reading this book, I did find myself feeling amused much of the time.
    • 4/5
      Funny and fantastic, the author imagines a world without any need for self-improvement because one book has worked for everyone. Instead of peace and prosperity, the world turns into a realm of blissful robots living in communes. Makes thought-provoking arguments about bliss vs. happiness, how life is inherently short on joy, and why our constant yearnings are actually good for the world.
    • 4/5
      Protagonist: Edwin de Valu, low-level editor for Panderic PressSetting: present-day, an unnamed city that's the publishing center of the USFiction/StandaloneFirst Line: Grand Avenue cuts through the very heart of the city, from 71st Street all the way to the harbourfront, and although it is eight lanes wide, with a treed boulevarde running down the middle, the Avenue feels claustrophobic and narrow.Edwin de Valu, a low-level editor for Panderic Press, is usually stuck editing the self help books for the publishing house's catalog. He's also responsible for slogging through his fair share of the slush pile--all the unsolicited manuscripts that come to Panderic daily. Just before a meeting with the chief editor, Edwin takes a look at a gargantuan thousand-page typewritten manuscript. Not finding a self-addressed, stamped envelope in which to put the form letter turndown, he simply dumps the manuscript in the trash. At the meeting, he's told that the very foundation stone of their self-help catalogue, "Mr. Ethics" himself, has been arrested for income tax evasion (and for burying IRS agents in his backyard). Edwin is given the task of finding a self-help book to replace Mr. E's, and the only thing he can come up with is the monster he threw in the wastebasket. After all, there may be a way he can prune it down to 300 pages. He has no idea what he's about to unleash upon the country.Canadian Will Ferguson credits a book publicist with the idea for his first novel. The publicist said, "I'll tell you one thing. If anyone ever wrote a self-help book that actually worked, we'd all be in trouble." I have to admit that I read the entire book with one particular friend in mind: one who openly expresses a loathing for self-help books. (It's not a favorite of mine either.) By page 27, I knew I was hooked: Panderic publishes the "Chicken Broth" series of books, and book #217 is titled Chicken Broth for Your Fallen Arches. The chief editor of Panderic gathers awed looks and hushed whispers: he spent six years as a fact-checker for Tom Clancy.Ferguson's thoughts on how a country could collapse if given a self-help book that actually works are funny and also very thought-provoking when carried through to the idea of what happiness really means. Although it bogged down a bit after the book was published and became a runaway success, I still found it a hilarious satire on the world of publishing and the human condition.
    • 5/5
      This book was given to me before a trip that I was taking, and I got a little emabarrassed because I kept laughing at the book while on the filght. The humor is very black, but it makes you question what being happy really means.
    • 3/5
      Interesting take on self-help books, the overall plot is...well, different.
    • 4/5
      Explores what would happen if a self help book really worked and we all became happy. Very funny with a great plot and characters, who make it one of the most enjoyable books to read again and again.
    • 4/5
      I loved this book! Very, very funny. It's all about an editor who discovers a self-help book in the slush pile and ends up publishing it. Only, it's not just any self-help book, it's the self-help book, and it makes 99.7% of the world perfectly happy. And what a horrible place the world turns out to be when everyone's happy. This is black humor at its very best.