Are You Happy Now: 'One of the best novels of 2023' Sara Collins

Product Information

Have people finally given up? Are they choosing to die? After a wedding in New York when a woman sits down in the middle of the dance floor and refuses to move, all over the country people start doing the same. Soon it’s a pandemic, with “catatonic events” happening worldwide. The book focuses on four ‘millennials’ who are all linked to each other through new relationships. This is the generation like myself who feel pressured to be achieving everything in life. The expectations to have the best career, be settled down with a partner, have a mortgage and children and have enough money to lead a comfortable life. If you don’t achieve all this, you feel lost. That is exactly how these characters feel, trying to find the meaning to their lives as well as surviving a new health crisis. 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.

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. 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, seemingly irreversible, behaviour is caused by some kind of virus or disease, or whether it’s something else.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. PDF / EPUB File Name: Are_You_Happy_Now_-_Hanna_Jameson.pdf, Are_You_Happy_Now_-_Hanna_Jameson.epub

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. 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. 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. 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.This novel touched on the downfalls of living in a capitalist society where individualism and competition is encourage. I enjoyed how Jameson used the different personalities to witness how people responded to the unknown pandemic and succumbed to the dystopian reality. Whilst reading, it reminded me so much of the initial response to covid and with the reference of coming out of a previous pandemic, it hinted at a far more sinister alternative. I really like how through all the mystery and paranoia, the book asked very philosophical questions about death. The question over why this disease has happened is never cleared up which only adds to the uncertainty and unease. Whilst this was not an easy read, this psychological pandemic had me very intrigued and is something that I would recommend. Hanna Jameson’s Are You Happy Now follows two overlapping and imperfect love stories, both of which begin at the same time and place as a frightening worldwide phenomenon. The novel’s four protagonists – Yun, Emory, Andrew, and Fin – are present at a New York City wedding when one of the guests collapses without explanation. She is alive but unresponsive, appearing to have suddenly just ‘given up’ on living. Soon this mysterious ‘disease’ begins to spread, and we follow Jameson’s protagonists as they grapple with building new relationships whilst the world seemingly collapses around them. Dystopian Fiction Books Everyone Should Read: Explore The Darker Side of Possible Worlds and Alternative Futures 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. The reader views the world collapsing around 4 main characters (Yun, Emory, Andrew and Fin) that are each trying to navigate this new normal. The dialogue and narrative is deeply personal, in some ways introspective and made me think a lot about what happiness means, and what defines it. Is there such a thing as feeling too much? What if you don’t feel anything?