Guido and Vincent are childhood best friends—third cousins, really—living in Cambridge and dreaming about their futures. Guido plans to write poetry while Vincent feels confident he will win a Nobel prize for physics. When Guido spots Holly while exiting a museum, he can immediately sense that she will difficult, quirky, and hard to live with. He loves her on sight. Vincent, open-minded and cheerful, meets Misty at work. Though she is a bored and misanthropic brunette, he finds himself desperate to know her. Through courtship, jealousy, estrangement, and other perils, Happy All the Time follows four sane, intelligent, and good-intentioned people who manage to find love in spite of themselves.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“A wise, bighearted book by a wise, bighearted writer. A deft and funny one, too.” —The Washington Post
“A luminous telling of two modern romances, a book that lingers sweetly and hilariously in the memory.” —Dallas Morning News
“Abounds in good lines, aphorisms, advice to both the loved and the lovelorn.” —The New York Times
“An elegant, fresh, funny tale of four people in love…. There’s electricity here... pure delight.” —Village Voice
“A pleasure…. Endless surprises and ultimately boundless joy…. It would be difficult not to enjoy it all!” —The New Yorker
“Colwin’s view of the world is comic with a subtle sense of sadness, and her love for even her most intractable characters does not keep her from laughing at their expense.” —The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
“[Laurie Colwin] handles feeling as cunningly as Ann Beattie and Frederick Barthelme handle numbness.” —Los Angeles Times
“If Laurie Colwin were an artist instead of a writer, she would be a maker of those small, delicious drawings dropped into the text of The New Yorker. . . . She is a master of lovely incidentals—the curve of the belly of a pitcher, the color of a blue Staffordshire plate, the comfort of ‘nursery’ food on cold days.” —Christian Science Monitor
“Colwin is ingenious, comedic, and spirited.” —The Boston Globe
“[Colwin’s] novels . . . have great charm—a charm that comes from a calm, witty and observant world view and her engaging writing style. She describes normal life with normal people; she writes about love, relationships and families. She illuminates modern urban romance. She looks at the way husbands and wives, brothers and sisters—and, almost inevitably in a Colwin novel, extramarital lovers—deal with each other. It might be boring if not for the acuteness of her insight.” —Buffalo News
“A truly wonderful writer.” —The Orlando Sentinel
“Colwin writes with such sunny skill, and such tireless enthusiasm.” —Joyce Carol Oates, The New York Times Book Review
“The successor to Dorothy Parker and Dawn Powell.” —Roger Friedman
“A writer of originality and vision.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“A luminous telling of two modern romances, a book that lingers sweetly and hilariously in the memory.” —Dallas Morning News
“Abounds in good lines, aphorisms, advice to both the loved and the lovelorn.” —The New York Times
“An elegant, fresh, funny tale of four people in love…. There’s electricity here... pure delight.” —Village Voice
“A pleasure…. Endless surprises and ultimately boundless joy…. It would be difficult not to enjoy it all!” —The New Yorker
“Colwin’s view of the world is comic with a subtle sense of sadness, and her love for even her most intractable characters does not keep her from laughing at their expense.” —The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
“[Laurie Colwin] handles feeling as cunningly as Ann Beattie and Frederick Barthelme handle numbness.” —Los Angeles Times
“If Laurie Colwin were an artist instead of a writer, she would be a maker of those small, delicious drawings dropped into the text of The New Yorker. . . . She is a master of lovely incidentals—the curve of the belly of a pitcher, the color of a blue Staffordshire plate, the comfort of ‘nursery’ food on cold days.” —Christian Science Monitor
“Colwin is ingenious, comedic, and spirited.” —The Boston Globe
“[Colwin’s] novels . . . have great charm—a charm that comes from a calm, witty and observant world view and her engaging writing style. She describes normal life with normal people; she writes about love, relationships and families. She illuminates modern urban romance. She looks at the way husbands and wives, brothers and sisters—and, almost inevitably in a Colwin novel, extramarital lovers—deal with each other. It might be boring if not for the acuteness of her insight.” —Buffalo News
“A truly wonderful writer.” —The Orlando Sentinel
“Colwin writes with such sunny skill, and such tireless enthusiasm.” —Joyce Carol Oates, The New York Times Book Review
“The successor to Dorothy Parker and Dawn Powell.” —Roger Friedman
“A writer of originality and vision.” —San Francisco Chronicle
About the Author
Laurie Colwin is the author of five novels—Happy All the Time; Family Happiness; Goodbye Without Leaving; A Big Storm Knocked It Over; and Shine On, Bright and Dangerous Object—three collections of short stories—Passion and Affect; The Lone Pilgrim; and Another Marvelous Thing—and two collections of essays, Home Cooking and More Home Cooking. Colwin died in 1992.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Colwin - A Must Read!!!,
By Jennifer E Hughes (Concord, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Happy All the Time (Paperback)
There are not enough words to describe how much I adore Laurie Colwin. I have read all of her novels and am deeply saddened by her untimely death and the knowledge that there will be no more delightful novels by my favorite author! This was my first Colwin novel and, as soon as I finished it, I set to reading all of her other books in quick succession. There is something so utterly comforting and insightful about all of her novels and stories that feels to me like I am coming home. She makes me yearn for a New England fall and cozy apartments with a fireplace and the one you love. Her characters are so idiosyncratic that you can't help but love them and all their foibles. I have spent numerous rainy days re-reading Laurie Colwin and I believe, once you discover her, that you will do the same!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A "feel good" story about friends, families, and lovers.,
By 1caldeb@gte.net (Adelanto, California, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Happy All the Time: A Novel (Paperback)
Guido and Vincent are cousins and best friends. Guido marries Holly, Vincent marries Misty. In the midst of this cosy foursome are a diverse assortment of friends, family, and acquaintances whose off-beat personalities are so realistic that the reader forgets these are only characters in a novel.. "Happy All the Time" is one of those rare books that you hate to see end. These are the kind of people we'd like to have in our own lives.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Deja vu,
By Manola Sommerfeld (California) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Happy All the Time: A Novel (Paperback)
I read her last novel, _A Big Storm Knocked it Over_ first. I loved it. This one is great too. One thing i noticed is how she likes a certain type of characters to figure in her works: the slimy boss, the garden-lover mother-in-law, the gourmet cook. Her sense of flow is great. The ending came up easily, and i was perfectly satisfied with it.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Guido Morris and Vincent Cardworthy were third cousins. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Maria Teresa, Betty Helen, Uncle Giancarlo, New York, Arnold Milgrim, Ruth Binnenstock, John Bride, Misty Berkowitz, Holly Sturgis, Vincent Cardworthy, Board of City Planning, City Hall, Medicine Stone, Roy Borden, Dancing Chicken, John Perkins, Doria Mathers, Guido Morris, Hester Gallinule, Jane Motherwell, Adalaide Berkowitz, Aunt Flo, Clifford van Allen, Dorothy Cardworthy, Moss Hill New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Guido Morris and Vincent Cardworthy were third cousins. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Maria Teresa, Betty Helen, Uncle Giancarlo, New York, Arnold Milgrim, Ruth Binnenstock, John Bride, Misty Berkowitz, Holly Sturgis, Vincent Cardworthy, Board of City Planning, City Hall, Medicine Stone, Roy Borden, Dancing Chicken, John Perkins, Doria Mathers, Guido Morris, Hester Gallinule, Jane Motherwell, Adalaide Berkowitz, Aunt Flo, Clifford van Allen, Dorothy Cardworthy, Moss Hill New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
26
books
cite this book:
See all 26 books citing this book
- Elegant Choices, Healing Choices by Marsha Sinetar on page 47, and Back Matter
- Shine On, Bright and Dangerous Object by Laurie Colwin in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- The Marriage Sabbatical: The Journey That Brings You Home by Cheryl Jarvis on page 122, and Back Matter
- Another Marvelous Thing by Laurie Colwin in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Passion and Affect by Laurie Colwin in Front Matter, and Back Matter
See all 26 books citing this book
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