- Paperback: 368 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Canada (Sep 9 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0143016393
- ISBN-13: 978-0143016397
- Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 14 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 318 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #602,071 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
"The Age of Nice is at hand, and there's nothing we can do about it." But the protagonist of Will Ferguson's Happiness, terminally luckless book editor Edwin de Valu, does want to do something. In fact, he feels obliged to put a stop to the Age of Nice, because it's all his fault. Desperate to save a flagging career in the world of self-help publishing, Edwin has staked everything on a dubious, thousand-page manuscript bearing the motto "Live! Love! Learn!" Promising its readers endless wealth, effortless weight loss, and everlasting happiness, the book has become a runaway success. And that's where Edwin's problems really begin. There's the murderous cartel of drug and tobacco barons who want Edwin's head on a plate, as well as the fact that misery, cynicism, irrational hatred, draught beer--all the things that once made Edwin's life as an underdog bearable--have become outlawed. It's down to one man to save the globe from the tyranny of the group hug! But can Edwin do it before the world economy melts down and a bestselling serial killer called Dr. Ethics enacts his own deadly revenge?
It has been said--possibly by the sort of homily-peddling guru that Ferguson attacks so masterfully in his debut novel--that there are many routes to happiness. The general effect of reading this razor-sharp satire on the self-help industry is to understand that these routes lead us nowhere, except perhaps to a cul-de-sac called Hell. This would be depressing to realize, except that Happiness clubs its readers into submission with the sort of zany, almost otherworldly wit that makes us profoundly glad to be alive. --Matthew Baylis, Amazon.co.uk
From Publishers Weekly
Though it might seem redundant to satirize the self-help industry, Canadian writer Ferguson (Hokkaido Highway Blues) makes a heroic effort in his first novel, combining sitcom-like gags about the publishing industry with the truism that if a self-help book ever actually succeeded in its goals, it would wipe out its own market. The massive and horrible What I Learned on the Mountain, by Rajee Tupak Soiree, arrives in Edwin de Valu's slush pile and is promptly tossed in the garbage by the hapless editor. However, Mr. Mead, owner of Panderic Books, needs a self-help book to fill a hole in the fall catalogue. Edwin volunteers Tupak's magnum opus, then sets out to retrieve it from the waste system and edit it, a process that proves to be unsettling. Edwin's editorial ordeals are mitigated by his immediate boss, May Weatherhill, with whom he is carrying on an intermittent affair, although he is married to the insufferable Jenni. Eventually, the book comes out and becomes a sleeper hit: soon all of America is quitting smoking, drinking, drugging and even reading (except for Tupak's oeuvre). Edwin and Mr. Mead are so horrified by the new world they have helped create that, accompanied by Mr. Ethics, a former Panderic self-help author who is on the lam from prison, they resolve to find and kill Tupak. This is a richly imagined and at times darkly humorous book, but Ferguson's felicities are undermined by the clunky obviousness of his biggest jokes.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Inside This Book
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Most enjoyable read of 2001, best satire I've ever read,
By Alex Cruise (Vancouver, BC Canada) - See all my reviews Having been introduced to Will by my sister, who pestered me for years to read "Why I Hate Canadians," I became a rapid fan of Will's non-fiction and bought this as soon as I saw it on the shelf. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which although it might leave a little to be desired as a novel, succeeds wildly as a satire.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
New Age Shnew Age,
By A Customer
We all yearn to be happy. We want to glow with self-confidence and calm, taking all the niggles of life in our stride.Imagine you are floating away from your worries, going to a place where you feel relaxed. Can you describe that place? ...often this magical state of happiness looks like the end of the rainbow - we can see it, but we can't get to it. And maybe we just should leave it that way? Or should we "pop a magic pill" and be happy ever after? The question is: do You want to BE happy?
3.0 out of 5 stars
meh,
By Carrie (Ontario) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Happiness: or Generica (Paperback)
The book was ok. Easy to read, great concept and fairly entertaining. For sure it offers food for thought, no doubt there. Loved the inside view of the book publishing world as well. But I found the book became a bit stale mid-way through, I never really cared too much about the characters and after a while, I felt that the main character was trying to convince me to accept the main premise. I don't want to feel like I'm actively being convinced when I read... I prefer that the book says what it has to say and it is up to me to decide how I feel and think. Maybe in sum I feel like the author tried a little too hard...?
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