The Pursuit of Happiness [Import] [Paperback]

Douglas Kennedy (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 656 pages
• Publisher: Arrow (2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0099439840
• ISBN-13: 978-0099439844
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,218,922 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Douglas Kennedy is the author of ten novels, including the international bestseller Leaving the World and The Moment. His work has been translated into 22 languages, and in 2007 he received the French decoration of Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Born in Manhattan, he now has homes in London, Paris, and Maine, and has two children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A love story, a historical novel, March 27, 2004

By 

Kirk McElhearn "Freelance writer and translator" (A town in the French Alps) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Pursuit of Happiness (Paperback)

I'm not a fan of love stories, though love is part of many novels. This book, on the surface, seems to be little more than a tragic love story. But it is set during the McCarthy era in New York, and it depicts people and places with resounding veracity.

I was drawn to this by the author's other works, which can be wild, wacky and funny, but this novel is a different style for Kennedy. You may not find it to your liking, but there is a haunting that remains in your soul after reading this book that makes it worthwhile.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Art of the Novel is Alive & Well, July 27, 2007

By 

C. Middleton (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Pursuit of Happiness (Paperback)

This is the sixth novel that I've read by Douglas Kennedy, and all are excellent, but really, they're more than excellent, because his work overall is exceptional, the man has talent, because simply he has the novelist's skill to write a strictly transfixing tale and draw the reader in no matter the apparent banality (on the surface) of the general plot. Unfortunately I have left this particular novel till now to read, and without question it is Kennedy's best work.

The Pursuit of Happiness is a perfect example of a seemingly mundane plot:

The time is post WW2, when life's possibilities for young Americans seemed limitless.

Privileged WASP girl, Sara, defies conservative well-to-do parents, graduates Bryn Mawr, and against her parent's wishes chooses to live in Manhattan with a low paying writing position at Life Magazine. Sara's brilliant and rebellious older brother Eric Smythe is also living in the big city, writing plays and dabbling in the then "fashionable" political persuasion of communism. Both are writers and have the potential to be great ones. Sara meets handsome war time journalist, Jack Malone, (great name) at her brother's bohemian New Year's Eve party and they fall in love at first sight. They make love that night only the next morning Sara discovers Jack has to go back over seas that day but "promises" to write her three times everyday and return in nine months to live happily ever after...this never happens. Poor Sara writes him and never receives a word which proceeds to ruin her life...and on from there.

This could well sound interesting to some and soap opera clichéd to other's, however, the story is anything but "interesting" or clichéd because it is Kennedy's skill at characterization, his ability as a writer to give the reader a close empathic identification with the main character, all set in the context of post war Manhattan - a time and place where dreams can and do come true.

Written in the first person, we see, feel and experience all Sara Smythe's lows and extreme highs - we want her to win because she is at bottom a woman who knows herself and is willing to do anything necessary to do the "right" thing in life but later learns a valuable lesson.

Personally, as an amateur writer of fiction, the ability for a male writer to write so convincingly as a woman is astounding to me. One of Kennedy's other excellent novels, A Special Relationship, proved this skill beyond a reasonable doubt.

The Pursuit of Happiness is almost epic in its scope, set against the McCarthy witch hunts aimed at the American entertainment Industry during the 50's, forcing, like the Nazi SS, innocent citizen's to name names to protect their livelihoods, destroying too many lives...this is a period in American history that should never be forgotten.

The Pursuit of Happiness is not only a good novel but a great one, proving to me that the art of the novel is alive and well.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pursuit represents an ambitious advance, February 17, 2003

By 

Robertomelbourne (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Pursuit of Happiness (Paperback)

Having visited New York in early 2001, and being a keen fan of Kennedy, I grabbed his then new work with keen interest.

Kennedy has written his most complete work to date. While his previous works were superb, ranging from travel books, to three well executed thriller-page turners, Pursuit represents an ambitious advance.

The plot centers on a relationship based in the Marcarthyist period in the US, and the principal location is New York.

Having only just visited New York for the first time, I greatly enjoyed Kennedy's description of NYC main streets and avenues that I had only just visited weeks before.

The advance for Kennedy comes in his greater scope of plot and storyline, and even his greater self confidence as a novelist. He manages to very competently convey the issues, concerns and emotions of his main character, a woman in 1950's America.