State of Happiness

by Stella Duffy

Jack and Cindy are immediately attracted to one another from the moment they meet at a friend's party, and in time this first infatuation develops into a passionate and enduring love affair. A celebrated cartographer, Cindy maps the contours of their developing relationship as they explore its depth and test its boundaries." Five years later, Jack and Cindy believe that they have navigated every obstacle when a sudden crisis threatens their blissful state. Cindy falls dangerously ill, and as she battles her body's betrayal, the couple must also confront their diverging paths and uncharted future.

Genres: Fiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 15, 2004

About the author

Stella Duffy was born in London and grew up in New Zealand. She has lived and worked in London since the mid-1980s. She has written seventeen novels, over seventy short stories, and devised and/or written fourteen plays. The Room of Lost Things and State of Happiness were both longlisted for the Orange Prize, and she has twice won Stonewall Writer of the Year. She has twice won the CWA Short Story Dagger. Stella is the co-founder of the Fun Palaces campaign for cultural democracy. Her latest novel is Lullaby Beach (Virago).
She is also a yoga teacher, teaching workshops in yoga for writing, and a trainee Existential Psychotherapist, her ongoing doctoral research is in the embodied experience of being postmenopausal.

Reviews

[Salha_h_240509 · Rating 3 out of 5]

State of happiness is one of those book that attract me by the title. It's by Stella Duffy and it's really wonderful book. This book talk about Jack and Cindy. In general there are two parts, the first part talks about how did Cindy and Jack met and about their relation. How ever, the second part, talks about Cindy's ill and how did both of them face problems and overcome it. In the book you will feel the anger, fear, pain and other feelings. The most thing that i like about this book is that the writer was meaningful when she describe feelings, no one could really understand these feelings.

[Rosie Humphreys · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the beginning of this book but when I realised that it was the ups and downs of dying of cancer, I lost interest. I didn't really find it very helpful to know every stage of dying of cancer. So I flipped through the last third.

[Felicity · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this book. They meet, they move, she gets ill, she dies. I was attracted by the mapping theme, but it is woefully underplayed. I had great hopes of the cafe in the hills where she found out about the children's maps, but then ... nothing. She got ill, she died. Some of the bit players were interesting - Rebekka with her scoop, her Dad with his barbies... but they were completely underdeveloped. This one is off to the charity shop.

[Fiona Thompson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't enjoy this at all. I didn't like the writing style or the map references, and unfortunately couldn't find it in myself to care about Cindy.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect from State of Happiness, but I was fairly sure it wouldn't be much fun, given that it tells the tale of Cindy in the immediate "before" and subsequent "after" of her diagnosis with an unmentioned disease (though it is quite obviously cancer, I'd venture).

Latest figures in the news a few days ago (June 2013) suggested that "by 2020, almost one in two people will get cancer in their lifetime", and we all seem to know someone who has had cancer these days, often people within our own circle of family and friends. So, it should come as no shock that I read this book with constant mental reference to a dearly departed, my mum, even though the story itself explores the relationship between a couple.

Despite the undoubted impact of such projecting, the book stands on its own merits, of course. It is a simple tale but is wholly involving, especially the closer you get to the end. And to The End. It's testament to the writing that such a stark, no-frills structure can carry such weight.

Heart-rending. Lovely.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this author's name on a list with my library ticket. I've no idea now who recommended it to me. Naturally the title on my list wasn't on the library shelf so I picked this one because it was a nice shape! It's not the ideal book to have been reading while my dad has been waiting for his biopsy result but it was beautifully written and dealt well with a difficult subject. I found myself drawn into the characters' lives. I'll keep looking for her other books.

[M. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry for the harsh comment but this book was really boring. Three main things happened throughout the novel. They moved, she were sick and passed away. Furthermore, I really did not get the mapping obsession of the main character. The grammatical structure was problematic as well. There were too many ordered-and-separated-by-dashes type of adjectives which make the novel totally unreadable.

[Shari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jack and Cindy have been together for 5 years when Cindy becomes fatally ill. The book is very honestly written – not overly sentimental or manipulative but I found the fact that it was written in the 3rd person with no actual dialogue between the main characters a bit off-putting.

[Penelope Naomi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sad. Difficult to get through at times.

[Sara]

04 long list-orange prize

[Jo Harvey · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite books. Beautifully written and incredibly sad.