- Hardcover: 309 pages
- Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd (28 Feb 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1841952338
- ISBN-13: 978-1841952338
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 16.6 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 789,087 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Amazon.co.uk Review
"The Age of Nice is at hand, and there's nothing we can do about it." But the main protagonist of Will Ferguson's Happinesss terminally luckless book editor Edwin de Valu does want to do something. In fact, he feels obliged to put a stop to the Age of Nice, because it's all his fault. Desperate to save a flagging career in the world of self-help publishing, Edwin has staked everything on a dubious, thousand-page manuscript bearing the motto "Live! Love! Learn!" Promising its readers endless wealth, effortless weight loss and everlasting happiness, the book has become a runaway success. And that's where Edwin's problems really begin. Not just the murderous cartel of drug and tobacco barons who want Edwin's head on a plate. Also the fact that misery, cynicism, irrational hatred, draught beer--all the things that once made Edwin's life as an underdog bearable--have become outlawed. It's down to one man to save the globe from the tyranny of the Group Hug. But can Edwin do it, before the world economy melts down and a bestselling serial killer called Dr Ethics enacts his own deadly revenge?
It has been said--possibly by the sort of homily-peddling guru that Ferguson attacks so masterfully in his debut novel--that there are many routes to happiness. The general effect of reading this razor-sharp satire on the self-help industry is to understand that these routes lead us nowhere, except perhaps to a cul-de-sac called Hell. This would be depressing to realise, except that Happiness clubs its readers into submission with the sort of zany, almost other-worldly wit that makes us profoundly glad to be alive. --Matthew Baylis
Review
In this hilarious satire, acclaimed writer Will Ferguson describes what might happen if a "cure-all" self-help book actually worked.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not quite as promising,
By mrs_chefe "mrs_chefe" (London) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Happiness TM (Paperback)
Although it starts off well, Will Ferguson's book loses momentum along the way. This biting satire into the self-help world starts to get lost in too much repetition and becomes more laboured. The characters aren't developed beyond stereotypes and after a point, you cease caring what atually becomes of them. That said, it is an entertaining read and it's good to see a writer taking a shot at some of the self-help dross that gets served up today!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Self-help book with money-back guarantee,
This review is from: Happiness TM (Paperback)
Edwin de Valu is your typical American Gen-X anti-hero. Each day he stumbles out into the roar of a city he hates, to a job he hates, with a baby-boomer boss he hates. He lives beyond his means in a trendy rehabbed neighbourhood with a wife he, well, doesn't like very much. It's the contemporary, urban, American dream! As editor of the non-fiction division of Panderic Books, Edwin is put on the spot during a meeting. He has been promising an idea to fill the gap in Panderic's up-coming catalogue - 'What I Learned on the Mountain', by Tupak Soiree, is a typewritten manuscript covered with stick-on daisies and a hand written note on the bottom of the title page, which reads, "Live, Love, and Learn". Hardly the kind of sentiment Edwin is likely to applaud, but it's too late, he's pitched it and his boss loves it.This turns out to be a self-help book actually works. Its readers become fabulously rich, quit smoking, and have enhanced sexual prowess. Unfortunately, it turns out that a society full of enriched, happy people has dire consequences. Oprah and the founders of buddhism and New Age would think again, if they read this book. The humour in Happiness TM is needless to embrace - from Canada to Denmark via England, Ferguson's laissez-faire satire proves itself universally insightful. Now, for the idea of this anti-hero being the Satre of 21st century... perhaps. He enlights the issues of instant gratifaction/gloricifation and concludes that our vices make us the protagonists we are - not by mocking the people who try and fail, but the people who succeed. For people like me who hate the way the world's turning - this is a must-read.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very entertaining read,
By A. T. Cook (Eastham, Wirral England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Happiness TM (Paperback)
I normally read one book a year, but this book took me all of three days. I couldn't put it down. I bought it because my wife is very much into the self help culture. I recognised her and her friends on every page.
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