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Happier at Home: Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon a Project, Read Samuel Johnson, and My Other Experiments in the Practice of Everyday LifeHardcover– September 4, 2012
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As other reviewers have said, I really wanted to like this book. I loved The Happiness Project, and found it life-changing--in fact, I re-read it at least once a year. I bought copies for family and friends, I recommend it constantly to students in my college writing classes. I love the author and her writing style, too--she is so refreshingly honest, with a wonderfully accessible style.
But this book, which I'd eagerly anticipated since I pre-ordered it earlier this summer, feels more like a diary or a The Life of Gretchen Rubin documentary than a self-help book. I love detail, normally, but so much of this book seemed to be "and then this happened to me, and then I did this." Hard to say how that differs from the first book, but it did--maybe it was the dearth of new insights, or the inclusion of the seemingly trivial (to me, at least). For example, I love scent, too, but the number of pages devoted to Rubin's exploration of smell, including creating a Shrine to Scent, just seemed like an awful lot of attention spent trying to elevate the incredibly mundane.
I do realize that paying attention to the details was a big part of Rubin's prescription for happiness in her very successful first book, and it's hard to put my finger on what made this one less enjoyable. I guess in the end it felt as though this one was rushed--that she put in the effort to record the details, but perhaps not the same effort towards making those details add up to something relevant and useful to the reader. Sort of a "This is what I did" rather than "Here's what to do"--more of a memoir of nine months than the instructional, follow-this-path tone of The Happiness Project. And I love a good memoir--but this wasn't a good memoir, either.Read more ›
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138 of 150 people found the following review helpful
I just finished both "The Happiness Project" and "Happier at Home," back to back. I am baffled at how different these books are, yet they appear on the surface to be in the same vein.
The Happiness Project not only gave me great insights and practical inspiration, it also caused me to reflect on my relationship with those around me. I found myself, for the first time in my life, appreciating quotations from great thinkers and contemplating them throughout the day. (I may have to pick up a copy of Walden thanks to Gretchen!) I enjoyed this book so much, as soon as I finished the last page, I turned back to the beginning to re-read and re-enjoy it once more!
However, I had a hard time with Rubin's second offering on the same theme.
1. Repetition. If you've read The Happiness Project, there's really not much new in "Happier at Home." In fact, it was drudgery getting through the first month of her experiment, seeing that she copied much verbatim (!!!) from the first book. I found that borderline insulting, and it almost hindered me from reaching the next chapter. I can't believe the editor didn't at least recommend adding new anecdotes - talk about déjà vu! Throughout the rest of the book, the same quotes and themes are hammered on again and again, despite the fact that The Happiness Project already fully explored them.
2. I couldn't relate. As I read The Happiness Project, I found myself thinking, "wow, I wish I knew the author personally! We would probably make great friends!" But, strangely, I couldn't relate to her at all in this book. I am a stay at home mom who, despite a college education, has chosen to stay home with my children. They are still quite young, so my life pretty much revolves around their needs.Read more ›
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377 of 423 people found the following review helpful
I loved The Happiness Project so much that I became a superfan, and wanted to read all I could about Gretchen Rubin. A NY Times article about her, "On Top of the Happiness Racket" revealed how much of her home life she'd kept from readers: husband Jamie is "a senior partner at BC Partners, a hedge fund." Her "father-in-law, known to readers as the sage, affable "Bob," is known to the world as Robert Rubin, the former Treasury secretary, who stepped down last year as an adviser to Citigroup." In Happier at Home, she mentions 'mortgage papers'; owning a triplex in the Upper East Side means you're a millionaire.
It matters that Ms. Rubin is so wealthy because most of the things that affect my daily happiness at home don't even register as a blip on her radar. Money is only mentioned when she mentions the expensive family portraits she ordered for the holidays. In many homes, you have to choose between sources of happiness: we can buy an iPad or go away for a long weekend, but not both; we can go out to eat tonight or I can go on a lavish scent shopping spree (which she does), but not both. In many households, a great source of tension is when spouses disagree about how to save and what to buy. She mentions that she's an under-buyer, but never has to deal with the stress of not being able to buy something, or having to choose between two things. The only restraint that Rubin encounters is not being able to fit in all of her Type-A helicopter mom activities into one afternoon.
It also seems that her family is fortunate enough to hire housekeeping help, since the only chores and home maintenance she mentions are activities like tidying up all of her books, organizing trinkets, making photo albums, and painting the home office.Read more ›
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This item: Happier at Home: Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon a Project, Read Samuel Johnson, and My Other Experiments in the Practice of Everyday Life
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