Sad Truth About Happiness [Paperback]

Just where in the heck was the plot?

I finished it today. I want to know if Maggie achieved happiness? Did she die when the magazine quiz predicted she would? What happened to that part of the story? It's almost like someone at the book binding company took two unrelated books and bound them together to see if anyone would notice.

There are too many little tangents that don't go anywhere in this book. The scenes are described beautifully, but most of them could have been stripped away and it wouldn't have made a difference.

Happiness, motherhood, and the mysteries of life are the themes of The Sad Truth About Happiness, a delicately written novel that explores the nuances and simple choices of domestic life. The story centers on thirty-two-year-old Maggie, who is told by her roommate Rebecca - who devises questionnaires for women's magazines - that she will die in three months unless she finds happiness.

Maggie isn't exactly unhappy. She has a satisfying job working as a radiologist at a local breast cancer clinic, three different men are pursuing her, and she lives in a nice, expensive apartment with Rebecca, who kindly cooks for her.

Maggie also has a close relationship with her two turbulent sisters, Lucy and Janet, and she's on good terms with her left-of-center, slightly new agey parents. But is she really happy? It isn't until she takes one of Rebecca's questionnaires that she realizes she cannot truthfully answer: yes.

The Sad Truth About Happiness is all about Maggie's journey as she finds the meaning of true "happiness," and tries to "shuffle off this mortal coil." She takes up jogging, goes out with her three suitors - a divorcee, a lawyer, and an eloquent and wealthy plastic surgeon, she goes bush-walking with her best friend, and even seeks spiritual enlightenment by attending mass in a local church.

Maggie's life really takes a turn for the tumultuous when she gets involved in a kidnap plot. Her violently temperamental sister Lucy has just returned home to Vancouver from Rome. Pregnant to Gian Luigi, a wealthy Italian, Lucy loves Gian dearly, but just can't cope with the fact that he already has a wife and three children.

When the baby is finally born, Maggie finds herself helping her younger sister in a surprisingly impulsive and volatile way. Maggie admits she's the least spiritual person she knows; she has, "no religious or mystical impulses," however, the new Maggie is scarcely recognizable as the young woman who describes herself as "practical, sensible, reliable, a realist."

Maggie's philosophical quest to find happiness is somewhat sublimated to the baby snatching plot that makes up the last two thirds of the novel, and one wonders whether author Anne Giardini sells out her solid opening premise for a more action orientated plot, along with extended talks on the merits of breast feeding.

Still, in The Sad Truth About Happiness, Giardini has a firm grasp of her characters, particularly Maggie, with all her flaws, fears, and insecuties about her life and loves. She's a complex, multi-faceted character who is intent to use equal parts mind and heart to get at the answers.

Maggie's philosophical posterings are spot-on: she sees happiness as connected to love: "something to love, something to do, something to hope for, these are the essentials of happiness. For Maggie, happiness is more ephemeral than thought. It can be observed without changing its nature, its ingredients are subtle and there is no guarentee that a recipe for joy can by written out or passed on or repeated even once again.

This is a finely tuned novel, that captures the ordinary ebb and flow of life, with all the characters, including Maggie, forced to confront their pretensions, insecurities, and their motivations. Does happiness make all the difference? What is happiness, if it can have such an influence on the length of your life? Through her low-key and easy writing, Giardini attempts to get at these age-old questions, but like the notion of life itself, she doesn't provide us with any easy answers. Mike Leonard September 05.

The idea seemed interesting, but the book itself was difficult to stay focused on. The drawn out descriptions and filler writing was distracting. I read 1/3 of the book and finally gave up. For those that don't mind extremely detailed writing you may enjoy it, for those looking for a fulfilling weekend read ... this may not be your best choice.

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