Are You Happy Now: 'One of the best novels of 2023' Sara Collins

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In Chapter 1 Accept What Is the author writes “ Just think how you would feel if you didn’t resist what is, just for a few minutes. “ I had never really pondered upon this before. What if I did not resist what is, and allowed it to be, how would I feel? What if I simply accepted how things were. Barbara then writes, “If we could just for a moment allow things to be exactly the way they are, without fighting them. If you play around with this idea or mind shift, you will discover that it can be quite liberating”. So I played around with it, I found a sort of silence and peace and acceptance that I found interesting, enlightening and refreshing. To an extent it felt like freedom. What a thought to just allow things to be as they are! Another section of chapter one I really loved speaks about the nature of pain. Barbara tells us “ I found that when I think about pain I am mostly resisting the pain, and that when I resist pain it definitely gets worse . “ How true is that! It goes along with the whole vantage point of what we resist often persists. Or when we focus on something in resistance, which is giving our attention to it and amplifying it, generally it does get worse and become bigger. In this section the author explains that pain can often be amplified or lessened in its degree. She writes “ I try to be with the sensation in the present moment and allow it, without going into a panic. When I am able to do this, I find the nature of the discomfort changes.” I think the concept presented here is a very relevant one, for where we focus our mind and how we feel are huge components to living a happy life. I sincerely wished I’d enjoyed this more. If there was a subliminal message within, then unfortunately I didn’t receive it. With an unknown disease, neither viral or bacterial, mass hysteria occurs when millions of people start shutting down. With no scientific reason and the government leaving them to come up with their own conclusion that "it wasn’t a virus. It was no longer a simple case of mass hysteria, it was now just a narrative, that too many people had accepted.” People are forced to carry on with their lives with the fear of the catatonia that seemed to be “something so vast it couldn’t be perceived with the eyes. It could only be felt, like an ache soul- deep.” Comparisons to Emily St. John Mandel should be ignored, imvho, but otherwise it's a solid dystopian take on the anger and sense of injustice that permeates throughout contemporary twentysomething culture.

Are You Happy Now makes for a deeply moving novel exploring the sadness and happiness of its main characters as they grapple with ordinary and extraordinary situations. While I was reading I felt many things: apprehension, joy, sadness, and tenderness. Are You Happy Now is a striking novel that for all the heartache it causes me, I look forward to revisiting again. What a difficult book to categorize, rate, and review! Nothing feels straightforward with this read, including the plot, the character dynamics, and the characters themselves. I finished the read feeling thoroughly bewildered.

I am done. Is it wrong that when he was on the plane, I was really hoping that the story was going to be that he finally got what he wanted all his life and then the plane crashed! Or that when he was trying to 'break in' to Amy's apartment, that someone would see him and call the police or shoot him?! Fin wanted with all the wide-eyed grasping of someone who’d never had, and no matter how viciously he polished the surface everyone could see it. The reader views the world collapsing around 4 main characters (Yun, Emory, Andrew and Fin) that are each trying to navigate this new normal. The dialogue and narrative is deeply personal, in some ways introspective and made me think a lot about what happiness means, and what defines it. Is there such a thing as feeling too much? What if you don’t feel anything? Este, para mi gusto, buen punto de partida se sume en el más absoluto aburrimiento durante la novela. Ni los cuatro protagonistas son interesantes ni su desarrollo atractivo. Sus idas y venidas no son más que un slice of life que, aunque por momentos parece despegar, termina siempre dejando una sensación agridulce. Para añadir más problemas, el ritmo de la historia es sumamente lento. Y, aunque sea un ligero spoiler, el final de la trama “pandémica” es totalmente decepcionante.

Emory couldn’t imagine what it felt like to inhabit space you truly owned. Cities were hostile to anyone who couldn’t count on the split rent and utilities of partnership. Being one person was more expensive than she had been taught to anticipate.” Some of the story at times almost feels too clean, as though some plot points are at times too convenient, and it’s certainly an imperfect novel. Does he regret it? Does he change is man-whore ways? Or does he continue on with Briella? How is Jake, Cassidy's brother, handling her departure? How about her mom and cheating father? How is she? One thing that I especially like about this novel is the characters never fall into a stereotype; the plot, too, takes detours just when you think it might take the predictable road. As John Lennon said, Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. And it’s the other things that happen which may end up making you happy, not what you thought (or planned).A quietly crushing yet devastatingly tender work scintillating with insight and emotional intelligence. With acuity and empathy Hanna Jameson presents her readers with a captivating narrative chronicling four people’s attempts at happiness despite a looming health crisis: more and more people are literally sitting down and seemingly giving up on life. It has been a few months since Damen, Evangeline, and I's little vacation as a family. It went really well and it was the most fun I've had in years! My mate made sure that every day was filled with excitement for Evangeline and I, and that every night was filled with the passion we both missed out on for too long. So needless to say, we are finally fully mated, and I love every moment of it. There is nothing that compares to the complete and warm feeling that a mate gives, and there isn't a way to express the feeling of love that consumes you entirely when they are near. Emory on the other hand attempts to help him but as the world around her becomes more and more weighed by bad news, she also struggles to make sense of everything that is going on and the gnawing guilt she feels towards her article. For all her attempts to make things work and his longing to be happy, content even, their relationship continues to fray. The author asks us to question, if death is dangerous and if life is dangerous, in the last chapter. She wants us to examine these concepts for what they are. Is there proof death is dangerous? Could we liberate ourselves from fear of life if we did not fear death? A very valid point and one which is intrinsically examined here with preciseness and reasoning. The book ends with a Happy Life worksheet based on each chapter, where key points are presented and you are encouraged to write down and investigate the various parts of your life and examine for yourself things that are working and things that are not. This helps you see struggles more clearly and find the true path to your own unique happiness. “Are You Happy Now?” delivers fully with great depth, insight and invigoration. There is an tremendous amount of knowledge and information presented in this book. The language and concepts fit together with fluidity, efficiency and relevance. This book can not only help enhance your life and open your mind to seeing far beneath the surface – it can change your life as well! Phenomenal writing Barbara Berger! You have written a book of value, exploration and taken the concept of Happiness and fully helped people to understand what it is and how to be happy! After reading this book you WILL be asking yourself “ Are You Happy Now?”

Jameson’s writing is so easily digestible. Some of her prose delivers a punch directly to the gut, a left hook swinging from out of nowhere. The writing is impeccable and the book maintained a steady pace and there was angst in all the right places. I personally loved the dialogue between him and a certain poet that came to his life unexpectedly...it was actually quite poignant how these two became friends...and yes..there is a little romance that develops that will play a big role in John's decision to do what he has to do to find his "being happy"... Then, what will happen when Cassidy is forced to return home after disaster strikes? What will she face? This book was full of quirk and weirdness while being rather engrossing. The characters were completely eclectic and apart from Andrew who I liked, the rest I just observed with popcorn. Yun who I initally liked, didn't cope with what the world was offering and that ending was strangely surprising. Emory I liked more early on but her characterisation lost a bit of shading as it went on. Fin was an interesting addition later on. He couldn’t forgive them, for being human, for not getting parenthood right the first time, for not raising him better able to deal with this.

Customer reviews

I know, it sounds depressing as all hell, and it is to a degree, but it's also sharp and well written. The notion of a mental health crisis as a literal epidemic is nothing new, but the execution is fresh. What a question! Are you happy now? We want to put a nice face on ... smile ... and say yes. But so many times that is a mask that we put on to cover the fact that we are not happy … that we are perhaps even unhappy. “Are You Happy Now?” is a book of wisdom to be worked with, to be placed in our lives, to be made part of ourselves. Each of the ten ways is part of the path to a happy life. The premise is interesting, but this is entirely a novel which is centred around its characters. It’s a coming of age story in many ways, as much as a story about twenty and thirty somethings can be a coming of age story.