Happiness [Hardcover]

Will Ferguson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2002

From the author of the critically acclaimed Hokkaido Highway Blues comes this hysterically funny debut novel, a searing and compulsive satire on the concept of self-help and contemporary America. When an enormous self-help manuscript arrives on the desk of Edwin de Valu, a stressed-out, overworked, and underpaid editor at New York's Panderic Press, its fate seems destined for the bin. Edwin's cynicism about self-help books, coupled with his filthy mood that morning, results in his dismissing Tupak Soiree's What I Learned on the Mountain in the most ignominious fashion: he doesn't even bother to reply. However, during an editorial meeting Edwin is confronted by a questioning publisher, one desperate for the next big thing. Without thinking, and in need of something to report, Edwin begins to extol the virtues of What I Learned on the Mountain, and the excitement around the table is palpable. With every reason. Tupak Soiree's doorstopper becomes a very unique thing: a self-help book that actually works, and it launches a chain of events that will have enormous consequences not just on Edwin's life but for the world at large. Ferguson's first novel is a masterpiece of comic fiction, a must for anyone who has choked on Chicken Soup for the Soul or ever wanted to kill Dr. Phil. "Mean, wonderful, hilarious, both a poisonously funny satire and dead-on indictment. The nature of True Evil exposed." -- Anthony Bourdain "A must-read, in short, for people ... who still remember how to laugh without turning off their brains." -- Jonathan Coe, author of The Winshaw Legacy or What a Carve Up! "Hilarious ... Ferguson serves up his true thematic feast." -- The Globe and Mail "Mr. Ferguson is a very gifted writer." -- Bill Bryson "If Douglas Adams and P.J. O'Rourke ever had an extraterrestrial Satanic love child, it would probably write like Will Ferguson." -- L.A. Times

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"The Age of Nice is at hand, and there's nothing we can do about it." But the protagonist of Will Ferguson's Happiness, 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. There's the murderous cartel of drug and tobacco barons who want Edwin's head on a plate, as well as 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 realize, except that Happiness clubs its readers into submission with the sort of zany, almost otherworldly wit that makes us profoundly glad to be alive. --Matthew Baylis, Amazon.co.uk

From Publishers Weekly

Though it might seem redundant to satirize the self-help industry, Canadian writer Ferguson (Hokkaido Highway Blues) makes a heroic effort in his first novel, combining sitcom-like gags about the publishing industry with the truism that if a self-help book ever actually succeeded in its goals, it would wipe out its own market. The massive and horrible What I Learned on the Mountain, by Rajee Tupak Soiree, arrives in Edwin de Valu's slush pile and is promptly tossed in the garbage by the hapless editor. However, Mr. Mead, owner of Panderic Books, needs a self-help book to fill a hole in the fall catalogue. Edwin volunteers Tupak's magnum opus, then sets out to retrieve it from the waste system and edit it, a process that proves to be unsettling. Edwin's editorial ordeals are mitigated by his immediate boss, May Weatherhill, with whom he is carrying on an intermittent affair, although he is married to the insufferable Jenni. Eventually, the book comes out and becomes a sleeper hit: soon all of America is quitting smoking, drinking, drugging and even reading (except for Tupak's oeuvre). Edwin and Mr. Mead are so horrified by the new world they have helped create that, accompanied by Mr. Ethics, a former Panderic self-help author who is on the lam from prison, they resolve to find and kill Tupak. This is a richly imagined and at times darkly humorous book, but Ferguson's felicities are undermined by the clunky obviousness of his biggest jokes.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Canongate Books; First edition. edition (June 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841952753
• ISBN-13: 978-1841952758
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,397,921 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent rather than clever, April 13, 2003

By 

Vincent Poirier (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Happiness (Hardcover)

A good first novel from Ferguson, who offers intelligent comments on life and people. We follow Edwin de Valu, mediocre editor, through the ordeal of finding and publishing the ultimate self-help book: the one that works!

And here we already have the best things about Happiness(TM)--its title and premise. The rest of it is good, but not as good. Ferguson comments intelligently but not cleverly. Some of the supporting characters are colorful, in general they are well developed, and the plot is consistent. Everything is good, polished, well presented, and so on and so forth. But the novel feels contrived, it doesn't have the wit of Ferguson's non-fiction books.

On the minus side, Ferguson is a little preachy. He gives his own recipe for happiness, a seize-the-moment philosophy of life. Ferguson probably didn't intend this ironical twist, but his attack on self-help literature can be read as the author's advice to the world on how people can be happy, i.e. get away from self-help schemes. Sounds like self-help to me.

I so wanted to love this novel! I've been a Ferguson junkie ever since I picked "Bastards and Boneheads" as a quick travel read; he showed me the light and I am a born-again Canadian because of him. So maybe I expected too much. As it is, I moderately liked it. Three stars.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Humorous, Satirical, Thoughtful, Happiness (tm), March 19, 2003

By 

S.Morgan (Cleveland, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Happiness (Hardcover)

The simple premise of this deeper-the-expected book is summed up in the prolog, "If anyone wrote a self-help book that actually worked, we'd all be in trouble." The way this plays out is the main draw of the book. I could not anticipate what would happen next, and at the end, was not all that sure if I had got what I expected.

The writing style of the book is a mish mash - it flips back and forth between tenses and at times has the narrator talking to the reader. I learned quickly not to trust the author - his description of a publishing company's slush pile is undermined by the fact that Will Ferguson's first three books were plucked from the slush pile. I also learned not to expect much from the flawed main characters, wishy-washy Edwin and predictable May, but read on to see how the story would progress and ultimately end.

I was most struck by the burst of insight that did sneak in. For instance, "...ethics isn't about choosing between right and wrong;" a character in part three says, "it's about choosing between gray and gray."

Happiness (tm) was a good weekend book. The humor, at times reminiscent of a Simpsons eppisode or Matt Groening's "Life in Hell" series, does jab at the right targets. It doesn't hit them all the time, but is good entertainment none the less.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What I learned on a Ant Hill., June 17, 2002

By 

Michael McCreadie (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Happiness (Hardcover)

Happiness (Generica as I know it) by Canadian Author Will Ferguson was the book responsible for ending a long drought of unsatisfacory reading for myself. A definite GEM!
One of the only books to bring me to a loud laugh in public.
His characters are both very human and very funny. A sad but what I believe to be true scenario about how our industries pray and profit from human vices and weaknesses.
A must read!
A much better self help book than a self help book!