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Are You Happy Now
DO YOU FEEL NOTHING? OR DO YOU FEEL EVERYTHING?
It all began at a wedding. A smile across the room. A moment of lust. A separation long overdue. Then a woman sat down . . . and never stood up again.
Suddenly hundreds, then thousands of people are sitting down. Is it a sickness - or are they simply giving up?
In the search for love, or happiness, or anything at all, is living a choice? Or is it just something that happens to us?
It all began at a wedding. A smile across the room. A moment of lust. A separation long overdue. Then a woman sat down . . . and never stood up again.
Suddenly hundreds, then thousands of people are sitting down. Is it a sickness - or are they simply giving up?
In the search for love, or happiness, or anything at all, is living a choice? Or is it just something that happens to us?
360 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 2, 2023
83 people are currently reading
2985 people want to read
About the author
Hanna Jameson
6 books444 followersHanna Jameson's fourth novel, part murder mystery and part post-apocalyptic thriller - THE LAST - is out early 2019, with Viking UK and Simon & Schuster - Atria Books US. The Last is the story of an American academic searching for the truth about a girl who has been murdered in his Swiss hotel in the aftermath of a nuclear war that has destroyed most of the Western world.
Jameson had written the first draft of her debut, award-nominated novel - SOMETHING YOU ARE - at just seventeen. Something You Are and two further novels in the series - GIRL SEVEN and ROAD KILL - are available now in the UK, Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands.
She lives in London currently, and is working on screenwriting projects. She likes whiskey, history, and emotionally taxing TV shows.
Jameson had written the first draft of her debut, award-nominated novel - SOMETHING YOU ARE - at just seventeen. Something You Are and two further novels in the series - GIRL SEVEN and ROAD KILL - are available now in the UK, Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands.
She lives in London currently, and is working on screenwriting projects. She likes whiskey, history, and emotionally taxing TV shows.
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March 11, 2023
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★ ★ ★ ★ ½ stars (rounded up)
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.
Even more so than in her previous novel, The Last, Jameson bypasses the usual apocalyptic storylines, as she grounds her quietly dystopic concept firmly into reality. There is a minimalism to Jameson’s alternate/what if reality that brought to mind the subdued yet ominous world-building of authors such Kazuo Ishiguro, Emily St. John Mandel, Ling Ma, whose works are often characterized by a faintly ominous atmosphere.
The novel opens at a wedding reception in NY, on a hot summer night. At first, we principally follow Yun, who is 29 and for years has been trying to make a living as a musician. He meets and is taken by Emory, a journalist who exudes wit and confidence. Their meet-cute comes to an abrupt halt when one of the s sits down and refuses to get back up. As the weeks go by, and Yun and Emory’s attraction blossoms solidify into something more solid, rumors of more and more cases reach Emory’s ears, and she decides to publish an article on the matter. This goes viral and she receives a lot of backlash. The lack of information on the whys and hows of “psychogenic catatonia” contribute to people’s growing panic and an avalanche of misinformation leads many to believe that psychogenic catatonia is either the beginning of the end or that it only affects ‘weak’ young people. Although Yun and Emory’s relationship eventually see them adopting the rhythms and routines of a couple, their dynamic shifts. Yun’s depression runs deep, casting everything around him with gloom. His self-doubt sees him pushing away those who care for him, such as Emory, his best-friend Andrew, and his own family. Perpetually dogged by his own sense of inadequacy, his growing self-absorption, even if of the miserable and negative variety, soon affects his empathy and well-being.
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.
We later return to the wedding scene, except that this time we follow two different guests, Andrew and Fin. Both are there with their soon-to-be exes. They properly meet later on, in a gallery. Despite his best efforts, Andrew, a 31-year-old professor who has recently gone through a fairly amicable separation from his wife, finds himself falling for Fin. Not only does Andrew slowly come to terms with the desires and knowledge that he had so long suppressed, but he is wary of falling for Fin, a 20-year-old ballet student hailing from London. Fin too is filled with doubt, and seems always braced for the worst-case scenario, of Andrew’s inevitably disinterest, of failing at what he loves, of not being good enough. Yet, despite their worries, the two have fallen fast and hard for each other. As their relationship becomes more serious, Andrew and Yun’s friendship seems to come undone.
As the characters contend with old and new hurts, hidden feelings, loneliness and longing, psychogenic catatonia continues to threaten their horizon. Jameson seamlessly switches points of view, often adopting a nonlinear narrative and or using foreshadowing to build and maintain tension. Her prose brought to mind Hanya Yanagihara, Donna Tartt, and Scott Spencer. Jameson’s prose effortlessly moves between registers: from presenting us with clear-cut and incisive descriptions (of the character’s feelings, thoughts, actions, and surroundings), to using her language to evoke with striking intimacy and poignancy the mood and nuances of a certain moment/scene. Jameson’s style maintains a balance between crisp yet opaque, at times eliciting in dazzling detail the state of mind of a character, at times allowing room for the ambiguous nature of her character’s fears and desires to shine. Her dialogues rang true to life, not only in their rhythms but in how they often revolved around or hinted at unspoken feelings. The setting, mostly ‘post’-covid NY, is brought to life. Jameson captures just how easy it is to feel lost and alone in such a city, while also incorporating discussions on current politics and on America’s healthcare service.
Jameson presents us with a painfully realistic portrayal of depression: not only the many ways in which it manifests in the person affected but on its eventual effects on the people who love them; rather than indicting Yun, Jameson makes us feel for him. We eventually may grow saddened by his inability and unwillingness to accept other people’s help and the way he weaponizes his own hurt and disappointment. Despite the melancholic tone permeating much of this novel, there are so many moments and scenes that will fill readers’ hearts with hope and love. I was 100% invested in Andrew and Fin’s relationship, and seeing them be vulnerable with one another really pulled at my heartstrings. Andrew and Yun’s relationship also gave me all sorts of feelings, and I found myself filled with sorrow on their behalf.
Jameson uses this ‘is the world ending?’ scenario as a backdrop to some profoundly poignant character studies and as a bouncing board to interrogate happiness, love, self-destruction, depression, suppressed and/or unrequited feelings and many more. I found Jameson’s examination of happiness thoroughly captivating. How some people set themselves up for failure and disappointment by never allowing themselves to be happy, always comparing what they have unfavourably with what they envisioned. Often, rather than wondering why they feel perpetual unhappy and dissatisfied, they blame others for not meeting their expectations. Or they hold others responsible for not making them ‘happy’. To cope with this constant sadness and satisfaction they make themselves believe that being with someone else or doing something else or being somewhere else is what will make them happy.
Jameson captures the current zeitgeist, as she articulates her characters’ very contemporary malaises: from daily anxieties and depicts their experiences with precarious jobs and housing, the ever-present FOMO, ennui, and their growing nihilism at the world they live in. Many of the characters in this novel feel simultaneously unmoored yet stuck, overcome by their own impotence in face of psychogenic catatonia and a world that, against all odds, keeps going on. Psychogenic catatonia plays a symbolic role in the story, as those affected seem to be giving up on participating in life; no longer bound by social norms, they lash out at anyone who attempts to interfere with them, refusing to get up, talk or eat. Whether their ‘sitting down is an act of resistance or surrender, is a question that underlies much of the narrative.
Throughout the novel, Jameson explores happiness, adulthood, loneliness, and connectedness. Her characters deal with failure, disappointment, and their own impotence, ‘smallness’, in the face of all that is going on in their world. I loved how many moments of vulnerability, kindness, and love we got. I also found myself relating very much with the many instances where characters are struggling to cope: with their own life, with their own unhappiness, and with taking accountability. Yun, Emory, Andrew, and Fin’s flaws and idiosyncrasies are what made them memorable and real. Although I am more of a Yun/Fin, Andrew had my heart. He was such a gem. His kindness, his alertness to other people's feelings, his selflessness…getting to know him was a delight.
The narrative’s self-awareness adds to the story. Not only does Jameson touch upon the notion of ‘main character syndrome’ but she reflects on the concept of a narrative arc, examining stories' tendency to provide some sort of closure for their characters. Jameson resists doing this, which will inevitably annoy readers and I have to say that the what-ifs scenarios presented by the ending were the only thing that I did not love about this novel.
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.
PS: not a fan of the cover...it really doesn't have anything to do with the book's vibe.
some quotes:
And she thought, Oh shit, I really like him. Oh shit, because it was never a good time to realize you really liked someone. Realizing you really liked someone meant knowing on some level it was going to hurt.
He was struck by the familiar feeling that someone else out there, or maybe several other people, were already living the life he was supposed to be living, were already living the life he was supposed to be living, because maybe he had been too slow or too unfocused, or just not good enough to attain it.
I wanted you to be happy. I didn’t care what you were doing. It just got too much, watching you do the same thing over and over, and I realized you were never going to stop trying to become this imaginary version of yourself where you’re happy because you’re rich or signed to a big label or something huge like that. Even when things did go well, you were never happy because it wasn’t like this ultimate fantasy you already made up in your head. […] It was really hard to be around, to be with someone who was just never happy.
He wondered if she had somehow felt it, felt him slipping away. But it wasn’t likely. She was just standing by him and searching for a way to help, like any normal person would. Like any good person.
That’s my problem. Everyone feels like the right person, I can’t even tell the difference any more. I ride the subway and see someone reading a book I was just reading and think, Wow, maybe it’s you. It happens all the time. Someone looks at me and it’s just them. You know what I mean?
Home is just a lie our brains tell us about permeance.
He couldn’t stand to be looked at like he mattered, when mattering to someone was dangerous.
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.
Not because of age. Being in your thirties meant nothing. But by then, people tended to have acquired things that gradually cut them off from all the places […] they imagined more exciting lives were taking place.
It was like he didn’t understand that relationships were all about power. They were about control, about who could endure the longest without visibly caring. Andrew was always giving his power away without a thought, like wasn’t ceding anything.
As far as she could tell, what Yun wanted from his parents was impossible. He wanted them to have made him happy.
Time will give you the illusion that you've put some distance between you and trauma, that you can stand up and walk away. But that time is elastic. The further you try to pull away, the harder it will snap you back.
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.
Andrew waited at the bottom of the steps, wondering whether friendships burned out in the same way epidemics, hysterias and protestors do, then went up.
You couldn’t actually tell people you just didn’t want to be with them any more. There had to be a better, more socially acceptable reason.
By a force of habit, going back to childhood, he asked himself what part of the movie this was. The movie of his life.
The main problem with his life-as-a-movie theory was that it wasn’t easy to apply to other people who weren’t the protagonists of his reality. What happened to everyone else?
He wanted something too large and all-encompassing to articulate, and even if he had known what he wanted, he didn’t know how to ask. How do you ask someone if you can go back? Asking if you could both go back was too much to ask of anybody, certainly too much to ask of someone who was moving forward. He could ask for anything but more time, to go back and right that misstep.
★ ★ ★ ★ ½ stars (rounded up)
“That this was the trade-off. The price of happiness. In order to feel happy he had to feel everything.”
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.
“He didn’t want to die, he just wanted to stop, to cease, sit down. Maybe just sleep, for a year or maybe forever.”
Even more so than in her previous novel, The Last, Jameson bypasses the usual apocalyptic storylines, as she grounds her quietly dystopic concept firmly into reality. There is a minimalism to Jameson’s alternate/what if reality that brought to mind the subdued yet ominous world-building of authors such Kazuo Ishiguro, Emily St. John Mandel, Ling Ma, whose works are often characterized by a faintly ominous atmosphere.
“Boy meets girl at a wedding and the world ends. The classic meetcute.”
The novel opens at a wedding reception in NY, on a hot summer night. At first, we principally follow Yun, who is 29 and for years has been trying to make a living as a musician. He meets and is taken by Emory, a journalist who exudes wit and confidence. Their meet-cute comes to an abrupt halt when one of the s sits down and refuses to get back up. As the weeks go by, and Yun and Emory’s attraction blossoms solidify into something more solid, rumors of more and more cases reach Emory’s ears, and she decides to publish an article on the matter. This goes viral and she receives a lot of backlash. The lack of information on the whys and hows of “psychogenic catatonia” contribute to people’s growing panic and an avalanche of misinformation leads many to believe that psychogenic catatonia is either the beginning of the end or that it only affects ‘weak’ young people. Although Yun and Emory’s relationship eventually see them adopting the rhythms and routines of a couple, their dynamic shifts. Yun’s depression runs deep, casting everything around him with gloom. His self-doubt sees him pushing away those who care for him, such as Emory, his best-friend Andrew, and his own family. Perpetually dogged by his own sense of inadequacy, his growing self-absorption, even if of the miserable and negative variety, soon affects his empathy and well-being.
“He wondered why he always seemed destined to be slightly too far ahead or too far behind his own life.”
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.
“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.”
We later return to the wedding scene, except that this time we follow two different guests, Andrew and Fin. Both are there with their soon-to-be exes. They properly meet later on, in a gallery. Despite his best efforts, Andrew, a 31-year-old professor who has recently gone through a fairly amicable separation from his wife, finds himself falling for Fin. Not only does Andrew slowly come to terms with the desires and knowledge that he had so long suppressed, but he is wary of falling for Fin, a 20-year-old ballet student hailing from London. Fin too is filled with doubt, and seems always braced for the worst-case scenario, of Andrew’s inevitably disinterest, of failing at what he loves, of not being good enough. Yet, despite their worries, the two have fallen fast and hard for each other. As their relationship becomes more serious, Andrew and Yun’s friendship seems to come undone.
“He wondered if a love not properly expressed mutated into something jagged and unwieldy like metal, something that could kill you.”
As the characters contend with old and new hurts, hidden feelings, loneliness and longing, psychogenic catatonia continues to threaten their horizon. Jameson seamlessly switches points of view, often adopting a nonlinear narrative and or using foreshadowing to build and maintain tension. Her prose brought to mind Hanya Yanagihara, Donna Tartt, and Scott Spencer. Jameson’s prose effortlessly moves between registers: from presenting us with clear-cut and incisive descriptions (of the character’s feelings, thoughts, actions, and surroundings), to using her language to evoke with striking intimacy and poignancy the mood and nuances of a certain moment/scene. Jameson’s style maintains a balance between crisp yet opaque, at times eliciting in dazzling detail the state of mind of a character, at times allowing room for the ambiguous nature of her character’s fears and desires to shine. Her dialogues rang true to life, not only in their rhythms but in how they often revolved around or hinted at unspoken feelings. The setting, mostly ‘post’-covid NY, is brought to life. Jameson captures just how easy it is to feel lost and alone in such a city, while also incorporating discussions on current politics and on America’s healthcare service.
Jameson presents us with a painfully realistic portrayal of depression: not only the many ways in which it manifests in the person affected but on its eventual effects on the people who love them; rather than indicting Yun, Jameson makes us feel for him. We eventually may grow saddened by his inability and unwillingness to accept other people’s help and the way he weaponizes his own hurt and disappointment. Despite the melancholic tone permeating much of this novel, there are so many moments and scenes that will fill readers’ hearts with hope and love. I was 100% invested in Andrew and Fin’s relationship, and seeing them be vulnerable with one another really pulled at my heartstrings. Andrew and Yun’s relationship also gave me all sorts of feelings, and I found myself filled with sorrow on their behalf.
Jameson uses this ‘is the world ending?’ scenario as a backdrop to some profoundly poignant character studies and as a bouncing board to interrogate happiness, love, self-destruction, depression, suppressed and/or unrequited feelings and many more. I found Jameson’s examination of happiness thoroughly captivating. How some people set themselves up for failure and disappointment by never allowing themselves to be happy, always comparing what they have unfavourably with what they envisioned. Often, rather than wondering why they feel perpetual unhappy and dissatisfied, they blame others for not meeting their expectations. Or they hold others responsible for not making them ‘happy’. To cope with this constant sadness and satisfaction they make themselves believe that being with someone else or doing something else or being somewhere else is what will make them happy.
Jameson captures the current zeitgeist, as she articulates her characters’ very contemporary malaises: from daily anxieties and depicts their experiences with precarious jobs and housing, the ever-present FOMO, ennui, and their growing nihilism at the world they live in. Many of the characters in this novel feel simultaneously unmoored yet stuck, overcome by their own impotence in face of psychogenic catatonia and a world that, against all odds, keeps going on. Psychogenic catatonia plays a symbolic role in the story, as those affected seem to be giving up on participating in life; no longer bound by social norms, they lash out at anyone who attempts to interfere with them, refusing to get up, talk or eat. Whether their ‘sitting down is an act of resistance or surrender, is a question that underlies much of the narrative.
Throughout the novel, Jameson explores happiness, adulthood, loneliness, and connectedness. Her characters deal with failure, disappointment, and their own impotence, ‘smallness’, in the face of all that is going on in their world. I loved how many moments of vulnerability, kindness, and love we got. I also found myself relating very much with the many instances where characters are struggling to cope: with their own life, with their own unhappiness, and with taking accountability. Yun, Emory, Andrew, and Fin’s flaws and idiosyncrasies are what made them memorable and real. Although I am more of a Yun/Fin, Andrew had my heart. He was such a gem. His kindness, his alertness to other people's feelings, his selflessness…getting to know him was a delight.
The narrative’s self-awareness adds to the story. Not only does Jameson touch upon the notion of ‘main character syndrome’ but she reflects on the concept of a narrative arc, examining stories' tendency to provide some sort of closure for their characters. Jameson resists doing this, which will inevitably annoy readers and I have to say that the what-ifs scenarios presented by the ending were the only thing that I did not love about this novel.
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.
PS: not a fan of the cover...it really doesn't have anything to do with the book's vibe.
some quotes:
And she thought, Oh shit, I really like him. Oh shit, because it was never a good time to realize you really liked someone. Realizing you really liked someone meant knowing on some level it was going to hurt.
He was struck by the familiar feeling that someone else out there, or maybe several other people, were already living the life he was supposed to be living, were already living the life he was supposed to be living, because maybe he had been too slow or too unfocused, or just not good enough to attain it.
I wanted you to be happy. I didn’t care what you were doing. It just got too much, watching you do the same thing over and over, and I realized you were never going to stop trying to become this imaginary version of yourself where you’re happy because you’re rich or signed to a big label or something huge like that. Even when things did go well, you were never happy because it wasn’t like this ultimate fantasy you already made up in your head. […] It was really hard to be around, to be with someone who was just never happy.
He wondered if she had somehow felt it, felt him slipping away. But it wasn’t likely. She was just standing by him and searching for a way to help, like any normal person would. Like any good person.
That’s my problem. Everyone feels like the right person, I can’t even tell the difference any more. I ride the subway and see someone reading a book I was just reading and think, Wow, maybe it’s you. It happens all the time. Someone looks at me and it’s just them. You know what I mean?
Home is just a lie our brains tell us about permeance.
He couldn’t stand to be looked at like he mattered, when mattering to someone was dangerous.
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.
Not because of age. Being in your thirties meant nothing. But by then, people tended to have acquired things that gradually cut them off from all the places […] they imagined more exciting lives were taking place.
It was like he didn’t understand that relationships were all about power. They were about control, about who could endure the longest without visibly caring. Andrew was always giving his power away without a thought, like wasn’t ceding anything.
As far as she could tell, what Yun wanted from his parents was impossible. He wanted them to have made him happy.
Time will give you the illusion that you've put some distance between you and trauma, that you can stand up and walk away. But that time is elastic. The further you try to pull away, the harder it will snap you back.
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.
Andrew waited at the bottom of the steps, wondering whether friendships burned out in the same way epidemics, hysterias and protestors do, then went up.
You couldn’t actually tell people you just didn’t want to be with them any more. There had to be a better, more socially acceptable reason.
By a force of habit, going back to childhood, he asked himself what part of the movie this was. The movie of his life.
The main problem with his life-as-a-movie theory was that it wasn’t easy to apply to other people who weren’t the protagonists of his reality. What happened to everyone else?
He wanted something too large and all-encompassing to articulate, and even if he had known what he wanted, he didn’t know how to ask. How do you ask someone if you can go back? Asking if you could both go back was too much to ask of anybody, certainly too much to ask of someone who was moving forward. He could ask for anything but more time, to go back and right that misstep.
July 5, 2024
A hard book to categorise and, to some extent, also a hard book to read. We’re introduced to four people attending a wedding in New York: Yun a musician and DJ, Andrew an associate professor, Emory an aspiring news reporter and Fin – the youngest at just twenty years old – a ballet student. At some point during the celebrations, a girl making her way to the bar suddenly sits on the floor. She doesn’t get up, she’s uncommunicative, and all efforts to lift her are met with a snarling, snapping response. In the following weeks, a number of similar cases come to light. Nobody is sure if this is seemingly irreversible behaviour is caused by some kind of virus or disease, or whether it’s something else.
The surprise here is that with this tale, we don’t take the path well trodden when it comes to such beginnings. Instead, the broader events sit in the background whilst in the foreground we’re invited ever deeper into the lives of the people we’ve met and a small number of fringe characters. New relationships blossom whilst existing links are sometimes threatened, career opportunities are opened for some, but revenue streams are closed down for others; in short, life goes on. The element I wasn’t expecting, given the focus here, is predominantly focused on the Millennial generation, is the pervading sense of disenchantment that seems to haunt this demographic. It’s as if many have concluded that there aren’t now and there won’t in future be any real opportunities for them, that this isn’t a world worth living in any more. Consequently, a general mood of disengagement with the people that surround them and even from life itself seems almost to be the norm.
The cause of this malaise isn’t explicitly explained, but there are hints that the lack of positive action taken by previous generations regarding environmental issues added to the fact that the cost of essentials such as health care and housing have spiralled to unmanageable heights are contributory factors. Could it be that some people are actually giving up on life either as a result of being driven to severe depression or even as an act of rebellion? In truth, I found it all rather hard to decipher. And yet I was increasingly becoming fascinated by and invested in the lives of the key players, particularly with regard to their relationships with those closest to them. This I could understand, and I wanted them to succeed, I wanted them to find happiness.
The unsettlingly dark mood of this book caused me to struggle through the early chapters, but the quality of the writing, the deft character development and also the way in which the story slowly evolved gradually grew on me and finally trapped me. By the end, I was burning the candle at both ends, desperate to see how it all played out. This writer is very adept at stringing interesting sentences together and creating scenarios and structures that challenge and tease. Hannah’s last novel The Last was one of my top reads of 2019 and though this one lacks the instant punch of that book I did grow to appreciate it, even if I’m still trying to unravel elements of its message.
My thanks to the publishers for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The surprise here is that with this tale, we don’t take the path well trodden when it comes to such beginnings. Instead, the broader events sit in the background whilst in the foreground we’re invited ever deeper into the lives of the people we’ve met and a small number of fringe characters. New relationships blossom whilst existing links are sometimes threatened, career opportunities are opened for some, but revenue streams are closed down for others; in short, life goes on. The element I wasn’t expecting, given the focus here, is predominantly focused on the Millennial generation, is the pervading sense of disenchantment that seems to haunt this demographic. It’s as if many have concluded that there aren’t now and there won’t in future be any real opportunities for them, that this isn’t a world worth living in any more. Consequently, a general mood of disengagement with the people that surround them and even from life itself seems almost to be the norm.
The cause of this malaise isn’t explicitly explained, but there are hints that the lack of positive action taken by previous generations regarding environmental issues added to the fact that the cost of essentials such as health care and housing have spiralled to unmanageable heights are contributory factors. Could it be that some people are actually giving up on life either as a result of being driven to severe depression or even as an act of rebellion? In truth, I found it all rather hard to decipher. And yet I was increasingly becoming fascinated by and invested in the lives of the key players, particularly with regard to their relationships with those closest to them. This I could understand, and I wanted them to succeed, I wanted them to find happiness.
The unsettlingly dark mood of this book caused me to struggle through the early chapters, but the quality of the writing, the deft character development and also the way in which the story slowly evolved gradually grew on me and finally trapped me. By the end, I was burning the candle at both ends, desperate to see how it all played out. This writer is very adept at stringing interesting sentences together and creating scenarios and structures that challenge and tease. Hannah’s last novel The Last was one of my top reads of 2019 and though this one lacks the instant punch of that book I did grow to appreciate it, even if I’m still trying to unravel elements of its message.
My thanks to the publishers for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
March 18, 2023
Much like The Last by this author, I was hooked pretty much immediately. It's a really interesting premise, and one that — despite reading many dystopian / pandemic-themed books over the years — felt unique.
However, also like with The Last, I'm left wanting more. I'm all for things being left open-ended, but having the main mystery of the book left like that feels a little unsatisfactory. The characters themselves were also left in an open-ended way, however that was far more satisfying.
This really could have been a 5* read, if only the ending landed better and tied up the threads that needed tying.
3.5 stars, rounded up.
However, also like with The Last, I'm left wanting more. I'm all for things being left open-ended, but having the main mystery of the book left like that feels a little unsatisfactory. The characters themselves were also left in an open-ended way, however that was far more satisfying.
This really could have been a 5* read, if only the ending landed better and tied up the threads that needed tying.
3.5 stars, rounded up.
January 14, 2023
Billed as appealing to fans of Emily St John Mandel and Kazuo Ishiguro, Are You Happy Now is dystopian fiction based around a mental health pandemic.
The story focuses on four characters, only one of whom I found interesting (Emory). Emory is an up-and-coming, ambitious journalist attempting to get to the bottom of what appears to be a psychogenic catatonia taking hold across the world and affecting mainly young people under 40.
Unfortunately this book didn't work for me. The pacing was off, the characters were not terribly interesting or well-developed and the storyline was lacklustre and vague. This is one that may appeal to a younger readership.
Many thanks to the author and publisher for the advance digital copy of the book.
The story focuses on four characters, only one of whom I found interesting (Emory). Emory is an up-and-coming, ambitious journalist attempting to get to the bottom of what appears to be a psychogenic catatonia taking hold across the world and affecting mainly young people under 40.
Unfortunately this book didn't work for me. The pacing was off, the characters were not terribly interesting or well-developed and the storyline was lacklustre and vague. This is one that may appeal to a younger readership.
Many thanks to the author and publisher for the advance digital copy of the book.
January 2, 2023
This book had all the hallmarks of being a good read unfortunately it was not. After the pandemic was over people are dropping down dead and this is happening all over the world. It was entertaining until the last 25% of this book. When it became so surreal and darn right unbelievable and so confusing. I am sure other readers will enjoy it more just not for me.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
February 5, 2023
3.5 stars
Headlines:
A different kind of pandemic
Relationship reactions to impending risk
Melancholy, sometimes sad and definitely not happy
Firstly, I just want to say that I do not read pandemic books, it's too early for me but this isn't like anything we experienced in recent years, apart from how humans behave. Most people will feel safe reading this in my opinion. I'm not going to spoil the events this book is built around, but suffice it to say, it's a clever concept.
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.
This book's strengths lie in the telling of human reaction to fear, risk and the sometimes resulting resilience. It's fascinating how life rolls on and how relationships form and crash along the way. Societal reactions to what happened were very in the background and I thought that was missing a bit from the narrative.
I'm aware this review is somewhat vague but I think this is a read best served without prior knowledge.
Thank you to Viking Books for the review copy.
Find this review at A Take From Two Cities Blog.
Headlines:
A different kind of pandemic
Relationship reactions to impending risk
Melancholy, sometimes sad and definitely not happy
Firstly, I just want to say that I do not read pandemic books, it's too early for me but this isn't like anything we experienced in recent years, apart from how humans behave. Most people will feel safe reading this in my opinion. I'm not going to spoil the events this book is built around, but suffice it to say, it's a clever concept.
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.
This book's strengths lie in the telling of human reaction to fear, risk and the sometimes resulting resilience. It's fascinating how life rolls on and how relationships form and crash along the way. Societal reactions to what happened were very in the background and I thought that was missing a bit from the narrative.
I'm aware this review is somewhat vague but I think this is a read best served without prior knowledge.
Thank you to Viking Books for the review copy.
Find this review at A Take From Two Cities Blog.
August 19, 2023
The title of this book should just be “Gen Z Cry Baby Shit”
May 30, 2025
At the beginning, I thought this could be an interesting speculative/contemporary fiction mashup, but the speculative side peters out into nothing and the contemporary side ended up as a mundane melodrama. Even so, it’s an easy read and has its moments.
February 19, 2023
This book was a good read for me as I like reading end of the world books of any kind, and although this is one, its more about how us humans behave and react to life and the risks they face while dealing with this end of the world event. Life is hard enough to navigate, but add in an event of this magnitude and living becomes so much more difficult.
This is a book that really makes you think, and question, a lot of things in the world. I think this one will definitely stay in my mind for a long time. Some of the quotes in this book really spoke to my soul, it’s like I was reading thoughts that I couldn’t seem to articulate for myself.
Thank you Viking for sending me a proof of this one and having me on the blog tour.
This is a book that really makes you think, and question, a lot of things in the world. I think this one will definitely stay in my mind for a long time. Some of the quotes in this book really spoke to my soul, it’s like I was reading thoughts that I couldn’t seem to articulate for myself.
Thank you Viking for sending me a proof of this one and having me on the blog tour.
January 26, 2025
3.5 ish
This started out so well and raised so many existential questions for me.
This started out so well and raised so many existential questions for me.
March 13, 2024
Didn't connect to any of the characters
August 8, 2023
it's good! i've been meaning to read this for so long and i was not disappointed, even if it was not what i had expected at all.
i've no proper review for this. but i will say: what i love most about this novel are the conversations the characters have, mostly involving my two favorite characters Andrew and Fin— Sunday afternoon sorting custody of plants with Nicola (“i don't think you're having a nervous breakdown. i think you're experiencing some normal human emotions for the first time” had me cackling), stories not limited by truth dialogue (“deep down, people know just how unlikely their happiness is. the only thing we can at least be honest about is we want things to work out, and that's what these stories are really about. it's not about the lie, it's about the fact there is value in wanting to be happy”), Guy Debord discussion (“our relationship to media makes our ability to intervene in our own lives harder”), entire Giselle monologue (yes, the ballet!), Yun's “i didn't expect him to fuck someone ten years younger than him with obvious daddy issues” gagged me. i love Andrew so much and i love Fin too (he is just like me fr) but this novel is so much more than all that; i just can't put all my thoughts into coherent words.
i've no proper review for this. but i will say: what i love most about this novel are the conversations the characters have, mostly involving my two favorite characters Andrew and Fin— Sunday afternoon sorting custody of plants with Nicola (“i don't think you're having a nervous breakdown. i think you're experiencing some normal human emotions for the first time” had me cackling), stories not limited by truth dialogue (“deep down, people know just how unlikely their happiness is. the only thing we can at least be honest about is we want things to work out, and that's what these stories are really about. it's not about the lie, it's about the fact there is value in wanting to be happy”), Guy Debord discussion (“our relationship to media makes our ability to intervene in our own lives harder”), entire Giselle monologue (yes, the ballet!), Yun's “i didn't expect him to fuck someone ten years younger than him with obvious daddy issues” gagged me. i love Andrew so much and i love Fin too (he is just like me fr) but this novel is so much more than all that; i just can't put all my thoughts into coherent words.
February 4, 2023
Are You Happy Now starts at a wedding, a guest sits down and refuses to stand up. She’ll turn out to be the first out of many people around the world. We then follow four guests at this wedding witnessing the world changing and their lives changing too. It was a really captivating book to read, dealing with mental health and the younger generations living through a worldwide disease that aims people randomly. The writing was great and most characters were really interesting to follow. Definitely a book I’ll recommend at my bookstore!
A huge thank you to the publishers for providing me with a copy of the book on Netgalley in exchange of an honest review!
A huge thank you to the publishers for providing me with a copy of the book on Netgalley in exchange of an honest review!
November 17, 2022
This was so bizarre I couldn't stop reading. The main focus of the story was a strange dystopian, pandemic / end of the world event. Which ran throughout but didn't overpower the characters stories.
To say it was dystopian the characterization was very much true to form and I think readers like me will see themselves in one or two of these characters at some point in their own lives. Which I found really interesting. The main characters form friendships, relationships, have work problems and lifestyle changes just like you and me would but they do all this whilst trying to understand this world ending event.
I did feel at times I was waiting for answers or dramatic turn of events which never really came however thay didn't stop this being a good read.
I've been sat pondering the content for a good while now and I think this book will stay in my thoughts for a long time to come.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishers for the opportunity to review this book.
To say it was dystopian the characterization was very much true to form and I think readers like me will see themselves in one or two of these characters at some point in their own lives. Which I found really interesting. The main characters form friendships, relationships, have work problems and lifestyle changes just like you and me would but they do all this whilst trying to understand this world ending event.
I did feel at times I was waiting for answers or dramatic turn of events which never really came however thay didn't stop this being a good read.
I've been sat pondering the content for a good while now and I think this book will stay in my thoughts for a long time to come.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishers for the opportunity to review this book.
March 13, 2023
I AM BLOODY REELING
THIS WAS ONE HELL OF A BOOK HOT DAMN
AND THAT ENDING???? WOW OKAY WOW
HOLD ON AS I PROCESS THIS BOOK BEFORE I WRITE A COHERENT REVIEW
THIS WAS ONE HELL OF A BOOK HOT DAMN
AND THAT ENDING???? WOW OKAY WOW
HOLD ON AS I PROCESS THIS BOOK BEFORE I WRITE A COHERENT REVIEW
February 21, 2023
Llegué a esta novela porque la anterior novela de Jameson, ‘Los últimos’, me pareció una interesante propuesta dentro del trillado género detectivesco, aunque la ejecución fuera finalmente fallida. Desgraciadamente, leyendo esta nueva obra de la autora me encuentro con una situación similar.
En ‘Are you happy now’ seguimos la historia de cuatro personajes principales (junto a un buen puñado de secundarios) que se enfrentan a un mundo donde se origina una pandemia. Parece la historia típica que podría surgir de estos últimos años. La pandemia consiste en personas que de un momento para otro se sientan y no hacen nada hasta que pasadas un par de semanas mueren.
Jameson utiliza esta pandemia como reflexión de la vida de estrés y las presiones que todos ponemos a otros y a nosotros mismos por tener que hacer ciertas cosas vitales como parte fundamental de nuestra vida.
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.
Una novela prescindible.
En ‘Are you happy now’ seguimos la historia de cuatro personajes principales (junto a un buen puñado de secundarios) que se enfrentan a un mundo donde se origina una pandemia. Parece la historia típica que podría surgir de estos últimos años. La pandemia consiste en personas que de un momento para otro se sientan y no hacen nada hasta que pasadas un par de semanas mueren.
Jameson utiliza esta pandemia como reflexión de la vida de estrés y las presiones que todos ponemos a otros y a nosotros mismos por tener que hacer ciertas cosas vitales como parte fundamental de nuestra vida.
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.
Una novela prescindible.
July 1, 2025
"Whatever this was, this had never made it into daylight. He wondered if a love not properly expressed mutated into something jagged and unwieldy like metal, something that could kill you. He wondered whether that was why his par- ents had lived as if confined to different cages and died in separate rooms."
"'Deep down, people know just how unlikely their happiness is. The only thing we can at least be honest about is we want things to work out, and that's what these stories are really about. It's not about the lie, it's about the fact there is value in wanting to be happy."
I really did not expect to like this book so much, but I actually thought the concept was really interesting, the characters were pretty well done and the writing was actually good.
it's a solid 3.5☆
"'Deep down, people know just how unlikely their happiness is. The only thing we can at least be honest about is we want things to work out, and that's what these stories are really about. It's not about the lie, it's about the fact there is value in wanting to be happy."
I really did not expect to like this book so much, but I actually thought the concept was really interesting, the characters were pretty well done and the writing was actually good.
it's a solid 3.5☆
June 14, 2025
I’ve been captivated by this book. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it really blew my expectations away. Read if you want to question a lot of shit
June 10, 2024
"He looked at the girl in the back of the car and wished he could feel genuine concern, but all he felt was dehydrated. Being driven through New York at night always made him melancholy."
Are You Happy Now is one of those quiet yet devastating kind of novels. It's at once both insightful and hazy, almost with a disconnected kind of air about it. In fact, it reads much like a crash course in melancholy, a lighter version of the novels I'd typically read yet still all too captivating and addictive. It's a really rather difficult book to read and to review, Are You Happy Now presents us with a shockingly vivid portrayal of depression cast against an almost numb end of the world, dystopic hellscape. Unease and dread creep so slowly into this text that at first, it's almost unnoticeable, by the end, however, it's impossible to ignore.
Ironically, reading Are You Happy Now feels much like giving up under the exhausting and crushing weight of all that surrounds us. It's a very melodramatic novel in a hyper-specific way, the characters are absolutely ridiculous that the text borders on satirical while also somehow managing to be endearing. It produces a strange feeling, all this melodrama with the detachment found in the story, nothing overwrought yet everything kind of absurd. Once it's all said and done, it's a novel of vagueness and uncertainty, there's never a real answer. Are we witnessing the end of the world or, simply, lives coming to a close? To the credit of the novel, this sort of open-ended, ambiguity only enhances the story further.
Overall, it was a delightful experience to explore a story so bleak and crushing but, that doesn't come with the intention of melting your brain away. It's a beautiful story, and a beautiful book, one that's wildly fascinating and boldly brutal. Nothing is particularly shocking and yet it still manages to hit like a speeding Mack truck. It raises more questions than it answers, it's existential dread in print form.
"He tasted blood but still couldn't feel any pain. He couldn't feel anything. He thought about Kevin and how he should not tell him about this, about how dying really did feel like nothing. Then he was gone."
Are You Happy Now is one of those quiet yet devastating kind of novels. It's at once both insightful and hazy, almost with a disconnected kind of air about it. In fact, it reads much like a crash course in melancholy, a lighter version of the novels I'd typically read yet still all too captivating and addictive. It's a really rather difficult book to read and to review, Are You Happy Now presents us with a shockingly vivid portrayal of depression cast against an almost numb end of the world, dystopic hellscape. Unease and dread creep so slowly into this text that at first, it's almost unnoticeable, by the end, however, it's impossible to ignore.
Ironically, reading Are You Happy Now feels much like giving up under the exhausting and crushing weight of all that surrounds us. It's a very melodramatic novel in a hyper-specific way, the characters are absolutely ridiculous that the text borders on satirical while also somehow managing to be endearing. It produces a strange feeling, all this melodrama with the detachment found in the story, nothing overwrought yet everything kind of absurd. Once it's all said and done, it's a novel of vagueness and uncertainty, there's never a real answer. Are we witnessing the end of the world or, simply, lives coming to a close? To the credit of the novel, this sort of open-ended, ambiguity only enhances the story further.
"You know, the last time someone on our floor killed themselves he just threw himself in front of the L train. Why couldn't she just do something like that? Like everyone else? She couldn't just die, she had to cause this much drama. You must have to really hate everyone, to decide you're going to die like that."
Overall, it was a delightful experience to explore a story so bleak and crushing but, that doesn't come with the intention of melting your brain away. It's a beautiful story, and a beautiful book, one that's wildly fascinating and boldly brutal. Nothing is particularly shocking and yet it still manages to hit like a speeding Mack truck. It raises more questions than it answers, it's existential dread in print form.
"He tasted blood but still couldn't feel any pain. He couldn't feel anything. He thought about Kevin and how he should not tell him about this, about how dying really did feel like nothing. Then he was gone."
Read
December 10, 2022DNF at 20%. This one didn't grab me in the same way Jameson's "The Last" did I'm afraid.
It may be I've just overdosed on these "end of the world pandemic" type books in recent times, but I just wasn't engaged enough to keep going with this one.
It may be I've just overdosed on these "end of the world pandemic" type books in recent times, but I just wasn't engaged enough to keep going with this one.
April 4, 2024
Totally disappointed. I usually never write reviews because I don’t feel entitled to judge (“ or reduce to amount of stars”) someone’s work. Nonetheless, I’ll make an exception for this one. I was expecting a compelling story around a pandemic. If you are reading this, most probably you’ve been through one so… how is it possible that the pandemic makes No sense, has no explanation and only affects people to certain extent?!?……what did the writer expect? … that we wouldn’t notice that a big part of going through a Pandemic is that we all need to know more about the pandemic!? Anyways… apart from that the characters fell short, I like the way the writer expresses feelings and I read this book quite quick. But I was hoping that in the end there would be some sort of justification for all. I don’t know… maybe that was the purpose of the book that sometimes there is no real reason for the things that happen (good or bad).
Anyways, the idea of the books is great I think what I didn’t like was the execution.
Anyways, the idea of the books is great I think what I didn’t like was the execution.
June 12, 2024
3.5
A story set during a pandemic but where the characters and their behaviour and emotions are the main focus. The beginning was nice enough, but towards the end I disliked basically everyone.
0.5 extra for the ending
A story set during a pandemic but where the characters and their behaviour and emotions are the main focus. The beginning was nice enough, but towards the end I disliked basically everyone.
0.5 extra for the ending
April 22, 2024
Really disappointed by this book, found it difficult to connect to any of the characters. Difficult to read and keep track of who was speaking. It just felt a bit pointless :(!
September 26, 2023
A quiet novel that introduces a pandemic where the infected sit down and never get back up, a 100% death rate, and a world blanketed in malaise.
January 24, 2023
— 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 —
𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Are You Happy Now
𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: N/A
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫(𝐬): Hanna Jameson
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Sci fi/Dystopian/Contemporary/Mystery
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝: 2nd February 2023
𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬/𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬: Mental Health, Pandemic
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 2.75/5
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.
It really is one of those reads that completely bases its entertainment level on the readers interpretation of the novel. For me, this was a searing account of mental health, pointing out the prejudice and injustices of American ideologies and systems, which are also reflected across Western Europe. Perhaps I’m too conventional with enjoying traditionally formulaic novels, with story climax’s and equilibriums, or at the very least some decent character development. Unfortunately, I felt that this book didn’t offer me any of that.
To be honest, no character development in a character developed novel frustrates me no end. Especially when one of the characters were so detestable I really wish he’d been struck down by this mysterious illness 😅. Yun was so self centered, it was constant and it ruined his dynamics between him and everyone, but especially him and Emory. I was really disappointed with this because the beginning of the story felt so promising. All he cared about was what Emory thought of him and his self perceived failures, and all I could think was if he truly liked her he would be focusing on how he feels about her. Overall, Yun was a soul sucking, emotional and financial leech.
Andrew is much more conventional, almost eye-rollingly so, handsome, financially comfortable, described as perfect multiple times by those around him, admittedly biased characters, but still. I liked him because whilst he was oblivious to peoples attention of him, he was also always so considerate towards others.
My favourite character was Emory, but even that felt like a distant enjoyment of her role in the story. She was so much more complex and insightful, wondering if she’s responsible for the narrative and consequent public response to the mysterious illness in the story. She had a good role in the story but I wish it was explored more.
But anyway, as mentioned earlier, I found this book hard to decipher. There was subtle dystopia present and yet it didn’t feel world-ending. I interpreted it as a commentary on how people’s mental health was affected by the pandemic and in that regard, it was cleverly written.
But the characters weren’t fully fleshed out, the story felt like it had been picked up and dropped in exchange for a different focus and the time jumps literally fried my brain. But it did feel slightly cathartic after the last couple of years with the covid pandemic. I could see how it would make people feel seen because sometimes, even a persons smallest problem needs large support.
I sincerely wished I’d enjoyed this more. If there was a subliminal message within, then unfortunately I didn’t receive it.
🧚🏻♀️
♡ my bookstagram • my twitter ♡
↑ follow my socials for more bookish content. ↑
𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Are You Happy Now
𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: N/A
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫(𝐬): Hanna Jameson
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Sci fi/Dystopian/Contemporary/Mystery
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝: 2nd February 2023
𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬/𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬: Mental Health, Pandemic
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 2.75/5
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.
It really is one of those reads that completely bases its entertainment level on the readers interpretation of the novel. For me, this was a searing account of mental health, pointing out the prejudice and injustices of American ideologies and systems, which are also reflected across Western Europe. Perhaps I’m too conventional with enjoying traditionally formulaic novels, with story climax’s and equilibriums, or at the very least some decent character development. Unfortunately, I felt that this book didn’t offer me any of that.
To be honest, no character development in a character developed novel frustrates me no end. Especially when one of the characters were so detestable I really wish he’d been struck down by this mysterious illness 😅. Yun was so self centered, it was constant and it ruined his dynamics between him and everyone, but especially him and Emory. I was really disappointed with this because the beginning of the story felt so promising. All he cared about was what Emory thought of him and his self perceived failures, and all I could think was if he truly liked her he would be focusing on how he feels about her. Overall, Yun was a soul sucking, emotional and financial leech.
Andrew is much more conventional, almost eye-rollingly so, handsome, financially comfortable, described as perfect multiple times by those around him, admittedly biased characters, but still. I liked him because whilst he was oblivious to peoples attention of him, he was also always so considerate towards others.
My favourite character was Emory, but even that felt like a distant enjoyment of her role in the story. She was so much more complex and insightful, wondering if she’s responsible for the narrative and consequent public response to the mysterious illness in the story. She had a good role in the story but I wish it was explored more.
But anyway, as mentioned earlier, I found this book hard to decipher. There was subtle dystopia present and yet it didn’t feel world-ending. I interpreted it as a commentary on how people’s mental health was affected by the pandemic and in that regard, it was cleverly written.
But the characters weren’t fully fleshed out, the story felt like it had been picked up and dropped in exchange for a different focus and the time jumps literally fried my brain. But it did feel slightly cathartic after the last couple of years with the covid pandemic. I could see how it would make people feel seen because sometimes, even a persons smallest problem needs large support.
I sincerely wished I’d enjoyed this more. If there was a subliminal message within, then unfortunately I didn’t receive it.
🧚🏻♀️
♡ my bookstagram • my twitter ♡
↑ follow my socials for more bookish content. ↑
January 21, 2023
“That this was the trade off. The price of happiness. In order to feel happy he had to feel everything.”
In 2023, I’d imagine that most of us are sick (and getting sicker) of stories about pandemics. Mass illness has been all encompassing for three years now, and we’re still in the midst of it. We’re still getting sick, but we’re living our lives as best we can.
And so comes Hanna Jameson’s novel Are You Happy Now. Yet another story about illness, about how we continue to live despite, and in spite of, the world being on fire. Only this one’s different. Because people are simply sitting down in the middle of the street as if the wind has left their sails, stopped pushing them forward into an inevitable future. Imagine if sitting down became the next thing to be afraid of. Is your friend sitting down just because she’s tired, or is she sitting down because she has to, becoming entirely unresponsive except to lash out violently when encouraged to eat or practice any form of self care? Is it the type of sitting down from which she won’t ever get back up again? This is the premise of Jameson’s novel, but if you’re looking for an apocalyptic story in which the world is ending, you’ve come to the wrong place.
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.
This is a novel about relationships, romantic and platonic. It’s a novel about loneliness, about illness, about fear, about unmatched expectations. It’s about art, music, society and philosophy. It’s a novel about our daily interactions, about how we interact with and care for the people around us, be they strangers or loved ones.
We follow four main characters. First Yun and Andrew, old friends, followed by journalist Emory and dancer Fin. If I’ve unlearned anything about ingesting stories over the past number of years, it’s that I don’t have to love a character to love their story. Which was a necessary perspective when it came to this novel, because our first protagonist is Yun, a jaded musician who is just almost likeable, but somehow never quite made it there for me. His relationship with Emory is interesting, in that it’s imperfect, and sometimes bland and often confusing, and reflects how sometimes we feel most lonely beside the person we’re supposed to be closest to.
I found Andrew and Fin’s relationship to be more interesting. Although their dynamic is in some ways more straightforward (but not entirely), I found myself wanting to delve more into their interactions than any others.
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.
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.
That said, it’s certainly not unenjoyable and I’m glad to have had the opportunity to experience it for myself.
In 2023, I’d imagine that most of us are sick (and getting sicker) of stories about pandemics. Mass illness has been all encompassing for three years now, and we’re still in the midst of it. We’re still getting sick, but we’re living our lives as best we can.
And so comes Hanna Jameson’s novel Are You Happy Now. Yet another story about illness, about how we continue to live despite, and in spite of, the world being on fire. Only this one’s different. Because people are simply sitting down in the middle of the street as if the wind has left their sails, stopped pushing them forward into an inevitable future. Imagine if sitting down became the next thing to be afraid of. Is your friend sitting down just because she’s tired, or is she sitting down because she has to, becoming entirely unresponsive except to lash out violently when encouraged to eat or practice any form of self care? Is it the type of sitting down from which she won’t ever get back up again? This is the premise of Jameson’s novel, but if you’re looking for an apocalyptic story in which the world is ending, you’ve come to the wrong place.
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.
This is a novel about relationships, romantic and platonic. It’s a novel about loneliness, about illness, about fear, about unmatched expectations. It’s about art, music, society and philosophy. It’s a novel about our daily interactions, about how we interact with and care for the people around us, be they strangers or loved ones.
We follow four main characters. First Yun and Andrew, old friends, followed by journalist Emory and dancer Fin. If I’ve unlearned anything about ingesting stories over the past number of years, it’s that I don’t have to love a character to love their story. Which was a necessary perspective when it came to this novel, because our first protagonist is Yun, a jaded musician who is just almost likeable, but somehow never quite made it there for me. His relationship with Emory is interesting, in that it’s imperfect, and sometimes bland and often confusing, and reflects how sometimes we feel most lonely beside the person we’re supposed to be closest to.
I found Andrew and Fin’s relationship to be more interesting. Although their dynamic is in some ways more straightforward (but not entirely), I found myself wanting to delve more into their interactions than any others.
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.
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.
That said, it’s certainly not unenjoyable and I’m glad to have had the opportunity to experience it for myself.
June 2, 2023
3,5 stars
This was a really weird book to rate. I was expecting more speculative elements or a focus on the dystopian aspects of the story (which I don’t really gravitate towards), but it quickly became all about the four main characters and their relationships and issues (which I do like to read about), so that was a plus for me.
The writing is very easy to get into. It flowed nicely and wasn’t too high-brow. It still had some beautiful nuggets of prose, but it still read really well and kept me hooked throughout.
Fin is probably the character I like the most, but damn, this book made me deal with some flawed (and in some cases unlikeable) characters. Which I don’t mind, but there was just not enough about Yun to let me like him or feel very sorry for him. And I feel like that should have been the case?
I also felt like this book tried to say something about the generation of twenty and thirty somethings and the shit that they have to deal with, with for example, climate anxiety and other shit that precious generations have fucked up, basically. It talked about the hopelessness of these gen zs and their futures that might be nonexistent? But the point wasn’t made fully. So, I’m not sure what exactly the author tried to say. I feel like she could have touched on that more.
All-in-all: pleasantly surprised about this book and the writing. I feel like the ending fit the book too, even with how frustratingly kind of open it still was.
This was a really weird book to rate. I was expecting more speculative elements or a focus on the dystopian aspects of the story (which I don’t really gravitate towards), but it quickly became all about the four main characters and their relationships and issues (which I do like to read about), so that was a plus for me.
The writing is very easy to get into. It flowed nicely and wasn’t too high-brow. It still had some beautiful nuggets of prose, but it still read really well and kept me hooked throughout.
Fin is probably the character I like the most, but damn, this book made me deal with some flawed (and in some cases unlikeable) characters. Which I don’t mind, but there was just not enough about Yun to let me like him or feel very sorry for him. And I feel like that should have been the case?
I also felt like this book tried to say something about the generation of twenty and thirty somethings and the shit that they have to deal with, with for example, climate anxiety and other shit that precious generations have fucked up, basically. It talked about the hopelessness of these gen zs and their futures that might be nonexistent? But the point wasn’t made fully. So, I’m not sure what exactly the author tried to say. I feel like she could have touched on that more.
All-in-all: pleasantly surprised about this book and the writing. I feel like the ending fit the book too, even with how frustratingly kind of open it still was.
December 18, 2022
Four characters that are just not connecting with each other or with the reader. The pandemic story starts off in an interesting way, but then nothing happens. We never find out what it was, it never connects with the characters and so the most interesting part of the book serves no purpose. Such a shame because the idea was good
October 14, 2023
Interesting concept. Not really my cup of tea. I couldn't really connect with the demographic of this novel. All in all it was quite depressing
July 5, 2024
“Are You Happy Now was soundtracked by Stray Kids and Taylor Swift” yeah… we can tell!!
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