There Is Happiness: New and Selected Stories

by Brad Watson, Joy Williams (Introduction)

A posthumous collection of beloved and never-before-read stories from a titan of contemporary Southern fiction. Darkly comedic, lyrically mighty, and unabashedly vulnerable, There Is Happiness brings together Brad Watson’s most celebrated pieces alongside new, unpublished works. Watson’s characters―often boys and brothers, fathers and sons―are shaped by oddities of nature, while nature itself communicates loudly. In these pages, dogs most certainly have their day, a one-eyed woman swims the breaststroke, and Dolly Parton holds the key to a convict’s salvation. Spouses grow apart while bitter landlords bang on the ceiling to quiet the creaking bedframe upstairs. Grotesque twins exercise in tandem, and two men drink to forget their dead wives (though “dead” is a relative term). Roller-coastering from the mournful to the hilarious (sometimes in the same paragraph) and steeped in both the Southern gothic tradition and a universal literature of the tragic, the beautiful, and the absurd, Watson’s stories waltz masterfully with surprising, lovely, and strange melancholy, infused with wit and bound by authenticity.

Genres: Short Stories, Literary Fiction, Fiction, Southern

304 pages, Hardcover

First published July 16, 2024

Reviews

[Knut André Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brad Watson was different. I mean, truly different. His singularity adds to the tragedy of his premature passing. Where could he have gone after the towering "Miss Jane"? We'll never know. But at least we can bask in the light of this volume, which is brimming with everything that made him one of the most unique fiction writers of his time.

[Leah Tyler]

See full review in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

"There is something enchanting about being immersed in Brad Watson’s stories, and it isn’t just the compelling use of magical realism he uses to soften life’s melancholy. After the Mississippi native’s unexpected death in 2020, his editor of 26 years, Alane Salierno Mason, penned a tribute on the website Lit Hub that summed up Watson’s ability to crawl inside the human experience: “He wrote like a composer, every note held for just the right amount of time to make it music.”

In Watson’s posthumously published collection of unconnected stories “There Is Happiness,” his archetype of the aching and empty middle-aged man filled with regret didn’t entirely get to finish telling his story. And the end result sings..."

https://www.ajc.com/things-to-do/ther...

[Yoel Isaac Diaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before Dec 28:

Dying for Dolly: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Eykelboom
The Zookeeper and the Leopard: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (a new all-time favorite short-story for me)
Seeing eye
Crazy horse
Ludovico taking his bath

Dec 28:
Binary eclipse
Are you Mr Lonelee?

Jan 5
Agnes of Bob: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Jan 25
Terrible argument ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Feb 1
Noon ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ What a beautifully written and amazing story! Why is Brad Watson not mentioned when lists of great shorty writers are offered?

Feb 8
Visitation ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Feb 15
Bill ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Uncle Willem ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Feb 22
Las days of the Dog-men ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Feb 28
Apology

March 1
Aliens in the prime of their time ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
There is happiness ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Michael Hays · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you very much to the publisher and to Goodreads, I am very grateful for the copy that I won.

I entered the giveaway because this looked like a book that I would probably enjoy and the reviews made it sound really good. Unfortunately I was disappointed and will simply say that I did not find the stories nearly as enjoyable as a lot of others obviously did. It may simply be a reflection of who I am as a reader, but I lost interest pretty quickly.

[Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

So sad to have lost such a good writer four years ago and this collection is supposed to be along the lines of a tribute, a memorial to the past and present of his work. It's a bit of a disappointment, starting with the off-kilter and somewhat egocentric prologue from Joy Williams of all people. Nice selection of past stories and some unpublished ones that stood tall in spite of the inevitable need for polishing. Too many pages given over to the actual SS "Aliens In The Prime Of Their Lives", but, still, worth reading this last work from the best American short story writer of his time.

[William Ghosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the best books I've read for years. The things blurbs say about books was true about this one: it is miraculous in the effects it creates and the way the stories make you feel; it did feel like a snapshot of a lifetime's work; I did read the last stories more slowly because I didn't want it to end.

Brad Watson's life isn't particularly well-documented. From what we can glean, he was born in Meridian, MS; married young, had a child, and attempted to move away. He came home prematurely, after his brother was killed in a traffic accident and took over the management of his declining father's bar.

The skeleton of this forms the plot of "Crazy Horse," one of two pieces in the collection that were unfinished at his death (he died suddenly of a heart attack in his mid sixties). "Crazy Horse" is one of the relatively few stories in the collection that doesn't quite organise or transcend its subject matter. Perhaps it was slightly too close to the heart. But it establishes a background and a world.

Joy Williams wrote the foreward to my edition. I imagine she knew Watson when he was teaching at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. They share an obsessive, almost mystical interest in dogs. And "Noon" takes place in the wake of a child's death, as so many of Williams's stories do. In other ways, Watson's world is closer to Larry Brown. This is particularly true of the marvellous opener, "Dying for Dolly" which could be a Larry Brown story until the last pages.

The three best stories in the collection are "Aliens in the Prime of their Lives," "Agnes of Bob," and "Last Days of the Dog Men." I read each of them in a kind of rapture. They have an atmosphere and a sense of pacing -- life at once dull and flying by -- that is wholly their own. His best stories are about the fine margin between interior and exterior life. This can blur into a subtle surrealism - some of his stories are a bit like Chagal paintings.

Not everything is perfect. Aside from "Crazy Horse", the other unfinished piece "The Zookeeper and the Leopard" doesn't quite work either -- the backstory feels rushed and two-dimensional. Nor does "Ludovico Taking a Bath." It's a shame these are gathered towards the beginning of the collection, because I worry that people might lose momentum before getting to the great stories toward the middle and end. They will be glad if they don't. These are some of the best short stories I've ever read.

NB: I'm a literature professor and would love to find out more about Watson. If anyone reading this knew him, or has written anything on him, please do drop me a message or leave a note in the comments.

[Ivi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author mostly writes about people who have trouble accessing their emotions. Not usually what I go for in books so this was a nice change.
I enjoyed the writing style but some stories were disturbing, especially the last one. That said I don't think I'm the author's target audience.

Thanks to W. W. Norton & Company for this advance reader copy.

[Johnny Wimmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes it's funny when you come across a group of collected stories that keep you interested. Brad Watson has a unique way of telling a short story with just the right amount of artistry. This book was well written with an easy to understand tone behind the characters l. Well recommended to the whole family.

[Robert Morgan Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full-disclosure, Brad was a friend. That said, these are excellent stories, well-worth your time. I enjoyed revisiting the one's I'd read and was astonished at the new ones I hadn't read. If you're partial to Grit Lit, you'll love this book and if you've never heard of Brad Watson, you'll wonder why he was hidden from you.

[Steven Ridgely · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great story.

[Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Dying For Dolly” was so good, and bonus (bias) points for multiple Mobile mentions throughout the collexion.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.2

[Bebo Baxter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everybody dies. Aliens in the prime of thier lives was a really fun read.

[Patrick Strickland · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the fans, really. There are several of his greats in here, and then a few unfinished stories. Big RIP, though. He was a great and underappreciated writer.

[Seung · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I'm on the fourth story but I haven't listened to a book like this since Rick Bass's For a Little While. Yup, it's still great.

One of the only books I'm reading on 1.0X speed. I just finished Visitation and WOW. This is beautiful. I guess I'm American; because these short Americana short stories really hit me deep down.

Hmm I just finished this book over a course of many months. Some were short and some were long. I actually don't know how to rate this book. Each story does contain elements of loneliness, "rural" america, and surrealism. Some have shock value and others have dry humor. Been debating on either 4 or 5 stars for this but I'm going to still go with 5 because the stories are interesting and creative like a story told from the Leopard's POV.