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The Happiness Jar
Rachel Hudson succumbs to cystic fibrosis at age twenty-seven, intentionally leaving behind secrets that push each of her remaining family to question what it is they want from life, and from each other.
Her father Brian, a Vietnam veteran struggling with the long-term effects of the war, has been missing ever since he walked out on Beth and their two children in the dead of night twenty years ago. Matt dreams of one day finding his own path like his heroic father, as Beth’s religious fervour propagates a childhood of parental disappointment.
Rachel sets before her family one last request: a journey to the exotic and the unknown. Rachel, ever the free spirit, administers a dose of her notorious wanderlust.
The Happiness Jar is a story about how tightly you hold on to what you believe in; how one person’s beliefs can affect a family and tear at the already fragile folds where love hides. It’s about faith, and what can endure despite the burdens we place on ourselves and each other.
Set against the red dust of the Kimberley desert, and the smoky backdrop of the holy river Ganges in India, The Happiness Jar is a novel that reminds us that we continue to live in the memories we leave behind.
“The Happiness Jar will take the reader on a journey of discovery, of oneself and those whom we love, and others we may not love at all. I found this book to be a wonderful read from start to finish and was left pondering at the end, my own mortality, outlook and relationships. Samantha Tidy has penned a book that you may well want to read again and again.” Gary McKay, Author
Her father Brian, a Vietnam veteran struggling with the long-term effects of the war, has been missing ever since he walked out on Beth and their two children in the dead of night twenty years ago. Matt dreams of one day finding his own path like his heroic father, as Beth’s religious fervour propagates a childhood of parental disappointment.
Rachel sets before her family one last request: a journey to the exotic and the unknown. Rachel, ever the free spirit, administers a dose of her notorious wanderlust.
The Happiness Jar is a story about how tightly you hold on to what you believe in; how one person’s beliefs can affect a family and tear at the already fragile folds where love hides. It’s about faith, and what can endure despite the burdens we place on ourselves and each other.
Set against the red dust of the Kimberley desert, and the smoky backdrop of the holy river Ganges in India, The Happiness Jar is a novel that reminds us that we continue to live in the memories we leave behind.
“The Happiness Jar will take the reader on a journey of discovery, of oneself and those whom we love, and others we may not love at all. I found this book to be a wonderful read from start to finish and was left pondering at the end, my own mortality, outlook and relationships. Samantha Tidy has penned a book that you may well want to read again and again.” Gary McKay, Author
336 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2013
8 people are currently reading
152 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
March 17, 2014
I loved the concept and how the story progressed, and at times there were brilliant moments. The descriptions of the outback and of India were colourful. Overall though I felt the writing was at times clumsy, amateurish and as if written by someone who was struggling to find the right words. I think this story could have really soared in the hands of a more skilful writer. Readable but not great.
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March 1, 2020Loved it!
March 4, 2018
Bittersweet and beautiful. An interweaving of three journeys following a mutual tragedy. A journey over vastly different terrains and a mix of emotions and approaches but lovely. So lovely.
March 6, 2015
I really wanted to love this book, hard. The main idea of it really tickled my fancy. Rachel Hudson dies of cystic fibrosis at 27. What she leaves behind in her will, from the very small estate she accumulated over her small collection of working years, is money transferred into instructions for her mother, Beth, and her brother, Matthew. Rachel was a spirited type, the antithesis of her anxious mum, who uses her faith to hide from life, and her disconnected brother, who hasn't found his place.
Brian, the family's father and husband and the focus of the prologue, has disappeared years ago, the aftershocks from the Vietnam War untethering him from the ground that would have kept him in the place he wanted to be.
Each character was reasonably drawn. I got a feel for each one that they were real, whole people, except perhaps for Beth's faith, which seems to be somewhat of a caricature.
But it's the language and the grammar that broke this for me. I lose concentration when a sentence does not have an end enclosing comma separating a phrase. I lose concentration when those commas are then placed in other spots they're not meant to go. There was a repetitive use of the characters names that with a little work could have been smoothed.
Which is a shame, because this book could have been something special. I would love to have seen this book given extra airing time, laid aside for a few months until that last hard edit. There were glimpses of possibility here and there, in a turn of phrase ("She had called upon her faith to hold her. It was a rope she could latch on to. A thread. She could weave herself in to it, and settle in the twine") and a turn of plot, and in the drawings of the Pilbara, but these were overridden by clunky phrasing and a particularly implausible plot twist towards the end.
Not all novels have to be literary. (And I guess if I had to define what I read it's the stuff that verges closer to the literary than mainstream). Not everything has to be literary. But everything has to be as good as it can be.
Despite her disease, Rachel had not resisted the travel bug; instead she had packed her illness into her luggage like a bulky and inappropriate souvenir bought too early in one's journey. Her medication and her portable vaporiser packed deep into her backpack, she had set off to Europe, Asia. The postcards that had accumulated on the fridge, Beth had, upon their arrival, placed carefully in a shoebox under her bed. Beth had wondered if this shoebox might one day be some tangible object that she might need to caress, in the absence of her wild daughter, found dead and raped in some horrendous city on the other side of the world.
Brian, the family's father and husband and the focus of the prologue, has disappeared years ago, the aftershocks from the Vietnam War untethering him from the ground that would have kept him in the place he wanted to be.
Each character was reasonably drawn. I got a feel for each one that they were real, whole people, except perhaps for Beth's faith, which seems to be somewhat of a caricature.
But it's the language and the grammar that broke this for me. I lose concentration when a sentence does not have an end enclosing comma separating a phrase. I lose concentration when those commas are then placed in other spots they're not meant to go. There was a repetitive use of the characters names that with a little work could have been smoothed.
Which is a shame, because this book could have been something special. I would love to have seen this book given extra airing time, laid aside for a few months until that last hard edit. There were glimpses of possibility here and there, in a turn of phrase ("She had called upon her faith to hold her. It was a rope she could latch on to. A thread. She could weave herself in to it, and settle in the twine") and a turn of plot, and in the drawings of the Pilbara, but these were overridden by clunky phrasing and a particularly implausible plot twist towards the end.
Not all novels have to be literary. (And I guess if I had to define what I read it's the stuff that verges closer to the literary than mainstream). Not everything has to be literary. But everything has to be as good as it can be.
April 1, 2015
This book really took my breath away. It was written with a swift and careful handling of powerful human emotions, and at times, I found myself wiping a tear - particular at the end. The characters seemed to lift off the page - they were real, complex and very Australian - but not cliched, just realistic. There are a few themes that the novel touches on, and for want of not ruining the story for anyone (that would be a spoiler!) the novel makes a powerful statement on some of the issues that Australia seems to sweep under the rug. This is a must read for both male and female readers, who like powerful, contemporary and original Australian writing. I believe that this novel speaks to those with some life experience and a grasp of what real life looks and feels like. I can imagine that someone with limited life experience might not get the full power of the story. I found this to be very well written. I'll be seeking out other books by this writer.
February 23, 2014
This novel skims over the "dying from illness" premise and therein lies its draw card. It focuses on the life of Rachel Hudson and the legacy left behind for her mother Beth and brother Matt. The story is good; the most compelling parts for me were the descriptions of Broome and the Indigenous people. I feel this book suffers from sweet promises and occasional deliveries. It flowed and then sputtered like starting an old car engine. Sometimes the writer had subtly and then it was carelessly abandoned. One paragraph the reader was being 'shown' effortlessly; the next paragraph you were drowning under the weight of exposition, particularly towards the end where the resolutions became a little too neat, a little contrived. The story had potential to be much more. I wanted it to be great but it stalled at good. I recommend it for a read but it will miss out on book club worthiness.
December 6, 2016
This book had moments of genius, moments when it succumbed to 'clunky' writing and other moments when it flowed nicely. I loved the idea of leaving a legacy like Rachael did but my major criticism came from the ending and the handling of Brian's story. It was too abrupt as if the writer had run out of exam time.
November 17, 2013
A lovely truthful story about real people. Life isn't easy but it can be measured with happiness one moment at a time. It had me in tears on more than one occasion and I will surely be recommending it. Thank you Samantha Tidy.
July 13, 2017
I Didn't like it much. Some if it was like a travel blog of WA. Put me off India for good and was very trite and a bit self serving. She covered nearly all icons in Australia. I wondered when Uluru and the Sydney Opera house were going to get a mention.
February 12, 2023
It's always nice to find local authors (Perth, Western Australia), but I am yet to find one that I truly like. Still looking...
While there were some clever, accurate and vivid descriptions of the Australian landscape, I found the writing style mechanical, detached and lacked a distinctive quality. I felt no empathy for the characters (all of whom I found incredibly irritating and detestable). Occasionally, I needed to re-read a sentence due to some strange syntax: here's an example:
"He'd actually nodded off for the last hour of the journey, despite the sun biting through his shirt and the lack of suspension in the rusty Holden to weather the bumps of the untended bitumen."
But the storyline was so promising! I like stories about complex characters and travel and how the death of loved one can alter your life... but this one really flopped. It requires you to suspend your sense of reality and believe that life-long character traits can be dissolved with little effort.
A middle-class Australian family of four, each with deep personal problems, is ripped apart emotionally and physically. The middle-aged father (Brian) has PTSD from the Vietnam War and deserts his family; the mother (Beth) is insecure and anxious so seeks refuge in Jesus; the son (Matt) is a stereotypical young Australian male who likes beer and girls but is purpose-less and cannot communicate his emotions; and the daughter (Rachel), around whom the story circles, has died of cystic fibrosis at age 27. It is Rachel who sends them on a collision course destined as an ultimate family reunion via her last testament and will. Beth and Matt are each given half the ashes of Rachel and vague instructions to leave Melbourne for Varanasi (India) and Broome (Western Australia) respectively.
In Broome, Matt conveniently meets people who knew his sister. They take him to a (fictional) Aboriginal community in the desert where his sister worked (?) Somehow, Brian lives nearby in a derelict caravan, surviving by selling alcohol to the dry community. Really? How did Rachel find him there, in the WHOLE vastness of Australia? And she's arranged for father and son to meet. Of course these Aussie males can't talk to each other. The urn containing Rachel's ashes are released in fury to the desert. Probably not what she'd pictured. But there, done. Wipe, wipe.
Now let's look at Beth. She's 52 but acts 72. I couldn't stand this woman. She was so unsure of herself, timid and nervous of life. Yet she decides to go to India as instructed. Stupid woman does no homework. She doesn't know the significance of the Ganges even though she is travelling there with her daughter's ashes. Either she is really thick or the author expects us to believe a person could actually be that stupid. And it gets worse. Beth is conveniently helped out by a business man who travels regularly to India and gives her the lowdown. During a brief and solo excursion to a random temple one day, she is swept up in a crowd where a holy man touches her. She is revulsed and feels defiled. Later, during a meal with Mr Businessman, she is overcome with heat, delirium and panic. Not food poisoning according to Mr Businessman, no, she is having some kind of spiritual cleansing - a "dark night of the soul". He knows, he's seen this before and so he deposits her in her hotel room and leaves her there to sweat it out all alone. A bit later she is miraculously healed from her demons and walks to the Ganges and (get ready) enters the water, kneels down and releases her daughter's ashes. This after recoiling and feeling confronted by the sacred Hindu (not Christian!) rituals. That is one hell of a conversion!
Meanwhile, back in Australia, Brian figures it's about time he faced reality and goes to Broome to restart his life. And hey, he sees his son there! What a coincidence (eye roll)....
Then we fast forward to an ANZAC Day parade in Melbourne. Brian has sought help for his PTSD and can face his past. Matt and Beth are there watching and supporting him in the crowd, he glances over and his heart is filled with pride and love. And they all lived happily ever after.
What can I say, this was a Tidy ending for a Tidy story.
While there were some clever, accurate and vivid descriptions of the Australian landscape, I found the writing style mechanical, detached and lacked a distinctive quality. I felt no empathy for the characters (all of whom I found incredibly irritating and detestable). Occasionally, I needed to re-read a sentence due to some strange syntax: here's an example:
"He'd actually nodded off for the last hour of the journey, despite the sun biting through his shirt and the lack of suspension in the rusty Holden to weather the bumps of the untended bitumen."
But the storyline was so promising! I like stories about complex characters and travel and how the death of loved one can alter your life... but this one really flopped. It requires you to suspend your sense of reality and believe that life-long character traits can be dissolved with little effort.
A middle-class Australian family of four, each with deep personal problems, is ripped apart emotionally and physically. The middle-aged father (Brian) has PTSD from the Vietnam War and deserts his family; the mother (Beth) is insecure and anxious so seeks refuge in Jesus; the son (Matt) is a stereotypical young Australian male who likes beer and girls but is purpose-less and cannot communicate his emotions; and the daughter (Rachel), around whom the story circles, has died of cystic fibrosis at age 27. It is Rachel who sends them on a collision course destined as an ultimate family reunion via her last testament and will. Beth and Matt are each given half the ashes of Rachel and vague instructions to leave Melbourne for Varanasi (India) and Broome (Western Australia) respectively.
In Broome, Matt conveniently meets people who knew his sister. They take him to a (fictional) Aboriginal community in the desert where his sister worked (?) Somehow, Brian lives nearby in a derelict caravan, surviving by selling alcohol to the dry community. Really? How did Rachel find him there, in the WHOLE vastness of Australia? And she's arranged for father and son to meet. Of course these Aussie males can't talk to each other. The urn containing Rachel's ashes are released in fury to the desert. Probably not what she'd pictured. But there, done. Wipe, wipe.
Now let's look at Beth. She's 52 but acts 72. I couldn't stand this woman. She was so unsure of herself, timid and nervous of life. Yet she decides to go to India as instructed. Stupid woman does no homework. She doesn't know the significance of the Ganges even though she is travelling there with her daughter's ashes. Either she is really thick or the author expects us to believe a person could actually be that stupid. And it gets worse. Beth is conveniently helped out by a business man who travels regularly to India and gives her the lowdown. During a brief and solo excursion to a random temple one day, she is swept up in a crowd where a holy man touches her. She is revulsed and feels defiled. Later, during a meal with Mr Businessman, she is overcome with heat, delirium and panic. Not food poisoning according to Mr Businessman, no, she is having some kind of spiritual cleansing - a "dark night of the soul". He knows, he's seen this before and so he deposits her in her hotel room and leaves her there to sweat it out all alone. A bit later she is miraculously healed from her demons and walks to the Ganges and (get ready) enters the water, kneels down and releases her daughter's ashes. This after recoiling and feeling confronted by the sacred Hindu (not Christian!) rituals. That is one hell of a conversion!
Meanwhile, back in Australia, Brian figures it's about time he faced reality and goes to Broome to restart his life. And hey, he sees his son there! What a coincidence (eye roll)....
Then we fast forward to an ANZAC Day parade in Melbourne. Brian has sought help for his PTSD and can face his past. Matt and Beth are there watching and supporting him in the crowd, he glances over and his heart is filled with pride and love. And they all lived happily ever after.
What can I say, this was a Tidy ending for a Tidy story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 21, 2025
I give this book a reading of three stars, because it was such a slow burn.
A story about how an Australian family survived after the death of a close family member.
A great story, but not terribly exciting.... not that it needed to be, in the end.
When I occasionally put the book down, it took a lot to pick it back up. My favourite type of book is one I simply cannot put down.
I finally finished it several weeks after starting, and did enjoy it, but it won't go in my "will read again" pile...it'll go back to the I shop from whence it came.
A story about how an Australian family survived after the death of a close family member.
A great story, but not terribly exciting.... not that it needed to be, in the end.
When I occasionally put the book down, it took a lot to pick it back up. My favourite type of book is one I simply cannot put down.
I finally finished it several weeks after starting, and did enjoy it, but it won't go in my "will read again" pile...it'll go back to the I shop from whence it came.
November 25, 2017
LIght read. Interesting way of leaving a legacy
September 5, 2018
brilliant
February 6, 2020
Wonderful story, wonderfully written, love this book. Just read it!
July 23, 2023
3.5 stars. Picked this off the display at the library. Didn’t know anything about it, so was nicely surprised by it.
January 22, 2024
Three stories interwoven together around the death of the protagonist. Moving.
May 26, 2024
This was an okay read. I thought the premise was quite good, but it was a bit twee how everything seemed to work out in the end. Didn't really warm to the main characters.
July 14, 2025
An easy read with some good moments
October 3, 2013
This book had me from page one. Beautifully written and very thought provoking... From exotic, colorful and dirty India to the harsh yet inspiring outback of our wonderful country, this book had me captured... Loved, loved, loved it!!!!
October 25, 2013
The way it was written was beautiful and very descriptive. I loved reading about the Aboriginal people and their way of life. I could relate in many ways to the families lives that changed forever after the Father came back from Vietnam.
July 19, 2015
FABULOUS read. I really enjoyed curling up with this one. Took me to beautifully described faraway places, and my heart also traveled through so many emotions. Can't want for the author to write another.
September 10, 2016
What a beautiful novel, just a lovely, bitter-sweet story.
Written to draw you in, draw you out and question the now.
Intriguing and delightful.
Written to draw you in, draw you out and question the now.
Intriguing and delightful.
May 9, 2014
Aw this book brought back so many memories of being in Melbourne!
August 26, 2014
This is such a beautiful book.... I won't say much more other than it made me want to make my own Happiness Jar!!
Excellent book, beautifully written story :) Love it!!
Excellent book, beautifully written story :) Love it!!
August 5, 2014
It's an inspiring and moving tale of bringing family back to life and love through the insight of a terminally ill young woman. I will create my own happiness jar for sure
September 12, 2015
I loved this book. A very easy read.
November 12, 2015
Predictable but charming and an easy, feel good-about-the-world read.
June 29, 2016
Parts really work in this book. Amazingly so. Others not. Clunky and cliched. It's a thoughtful read though.
October 12, 2016
3.5 Was really getting into the complexity of family relationships and heading for a 4, then suddenly it ended in a nice, but too tidy, way.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews