Happy Now?

I thought this book was wonderfully written. Witty in all sorts of unexpected moments and authentic about how real people feel, act, and react. I truly cared for each character ... each was human, flawed, and likable. I'm not a literary expert but something about this book reminded me of Ann Patchett's novels, whose work I also really love and admire. Hard to believe this is Shonk's first novel and looking forward to what comes next.

Shonk provides an amazing character in Claire, and captures us with her understanding of the complexities facing Claire after her husband's suicide. Her ability to capture characters, the nature of professors, and the (thinly disguised) Northwestern University campus are very impressive. Shonk's penetrating understanding of the psychology of her characters makesthis a wonderful book.

This book has the sort of premise that makes a good movie pitch: young man commits suicide on valentine's day, while wife is left to pick up the pieces. However, it's not the Hollywood version of the story you might expect. The characters don't always react the ways people are supposed to, which makes them human and endearing, while sometimes also frustrating and baffling. Claire, the wife, is a figure of sympathy, of course, but you also realize through the course of the book that she didn't know her husband very well and might not ever really understand his depression and suicide. Her family responds with a lot of nurturing, even to the point of friendly stalking, in the case of her silent, sweet father. Her pregnant sister Nomie even sleeps in the bed with her every night. Other people are not particularly sensitive, including the cat-centric veterinarian who suggests that Claire has not been paying enough attention to the grief-stricken cat of the deceased. The most painful part of the book, for me, was the meeting that Claire has with Jay's therapist; it's a very uncomfortable scene. Claire's eventual emergence out of the questioning stage is a relief, even though she hasn't made it out of the woods entirely by the end of the book. The book is a compelling meditation on the potential for distance in marriage, and the dearth of coping mechanisms for grief that American culture offers. Sometimes it's pretty sad, and sometimes it's wickedly funny, but in the end, it's the well-drawn characters that make the book an absorbing read.

This is a compelling read. Claire is a fascinating character--full of acerbic wit but nonetheless profoundly shaken by Jay's suicide. The humor is dark, but how, at some level, can you not laugh about a young spouse who chooses to check out on Valentine's Day? And leaving a suicide binder rather than a note? Thanks for the thoughtful tips on taking care of the cat, Jay. Happy now?

Because of her remarkable collection of short stories,The Red Passport, I have been on the lookout for new work by Katherine Shonk. Her just-released first novel, Happy Now? lives up to my highest expectations. I am in awe of her writing style, a wry, observant combination of heartbreakingly sad and laugh out loud funny prose. The story trajectory is remarkable also. We know by page 7 that the central event of the story, a young husband's suicide, has occurred. The rest is looking back at Claire and Jay's love story, and going forward with the young widow who, while feeling the tragedy of her situation, can also step back and view it as "embarrassing." Her family (divorced mother and father and her young sister Nomie) is not the most communicative but they are there for each other in odd, clumsy and touching ways. Her mother makes practical things happen: appointments, arrangements, funeral wardrobe. Pregnant Nomie comforts her with the sheer force of her desire that Claire be happy again. But to me the most touching of her comforters is her loving, worried father - a man of few words - who waits in his rusting red station wagon outside her temporary home all day, day after day, dropping off doughnuts and making a motorcade of the simplest outings. Her mother says, "Why is your father out there?" . . . "I don't know" is Claire's answer. But of course she does know. From early morning when he brings her coffee, until her light goes out at night, he's waiting to be sure that he doesn't miss that one moment when his daughter might need him. I loved this book.