Happy or Otherwise: Stories

Diana Joseph writes with heart, wit and intelligence. Each story in this collection reads wonderfully on its own--"Schandorsky's Mother" is my favorite--and builds toward a unique collective vision of motherhood. This should be required reading for every parent. Diana finds a rare blend of metaphors to access those painful struggles and exhilarating joys that make child rearing such a punch drunk experience. This is so good in so many ways.

This is a beautiful book of stories, each of which made my heart ache. Diana Joseph writes as if she's in love with each of her characters, even the not-so-nice ones; her sentences are soft and true. There wasn't a story in this collection that I didn't like, but my favorite is "Sick Child," if only because it has no business being a story: it's about a single mom with a sick son, and nothing really happens, except the kid coughs and the mother thinks. But it's lovely, and completely authentic. It begins, "She'll remember this as a friendlier time: he's coughing, but only because he can't not cough. His cough is a barking seal; it's a clogged drain. It's her name in the middle of the night. As tempting as it may be to ignore him, to put a pillow over her head, to pull the comforter over her face, to close her eyes and count to ten in every language she knows--English, Japanese, Pig Latin--he'll still cough; she'll still hear him." As the story continues, she remembers other times when her son was sick or injured, and times when she was, as a girl. She remembers an incident when her son was outside and came in with a wound near his eye that required stitches. She remembers the reactions other people in her life--the doctor, her parents, her ex-husband (the boy's father), her lover--had to this injury, and in their reactions we perceive their characters and their influence on her. She remembers, and looks out the window, and smokes, and her son continues to cough and call out her name. She is a woman who is keeping it together, but not well, not neatly, and not to her own satisfaction. She both loves her son and is sick of hearing him cough. At the end of the story, she remembers a trip to the bank, when her son was two; as they were waiting in line at the drive-through window, he abruptly vomited in the back seat; she couldn't decide whether to continue to make her deposit, or go home to take care of her son: "He emitted another deep belch, then he turned his face from her. He hiccupped, he was frowning, he was trembling. She knew he wanted to cry, and if he did, it would be explosive, loud and insistent. It would fill the car. Relax, baby, she said. You'll be okay, I promise. He wouldn't look at her. Instead, he looked out the window. As she soothed him, he continued to stare sadly out the window, and in his profile--his forehead wrinkled, his brow furrowed, his bottom lip quivering--she could see what he'd become, how he'd be when he was a man with troubles beyond his control." This passage illustrates what I love about Joseph's writing: the small details, the honesty, the eloquent and gentle sentences. She writes like a poet--with evocative imagery, efficacy of language, and as much attention to how words sound as to what they are conveying. I can't wait to read her next book.

"The septic system man likes Leslie. He found her needy and vulnerable and sweet. "He would mistake this for love."So writes Diana Joseph from her story "Windows and Words," one of the many resonant stories from her debut short story collection Happy or Otherwise. With a rhythmic voice, like some surreptitious siren, each story draws you in- anyone who reads a Diana Joseph story will not mistake the magic of her sentient spells. Happy or Otherwise is a collection of short stories, the kind that know how to open certain locked doors of emotion inside you. And when one of those doors is opened, the well of truth flowing from these stories cannot be dammed. You find yourself chanting the voice of each narrator in your head, and question certain illusions about happiness and what it means to love. As editor of The Pathfinder Magazine, I've had the pleasure of reading and editing many short stories. Never have I read an author as funny or truthful as Diana Joseph. She has the biting humor of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and the emotional truthfulness of Tim O'Brien. In "Bloodlines," Tabbitha tells the story of her dead brother and of how her grief-stricken father reconciles his son's tragic death in an unthinkable way. The story sears into your mind with passages like this: "We found him sitting on a hickory stump under his deer stand, his elbows were resting on his thighs, his hands were covering his ears, he was looking at the space between his feet, and I have seen men sitting this way since-in airports and bus stops and train stations, at this very moment on the edge of my bed; men broken by bankruptcy and faithless wives and their children's hate . . .""Naming Stories" is about the narrator's sense of identity, something everyone questions in their lives. One day, in school, the narrator learns about genetics . . . her parents both have blue eyes, as do her brothers-she has brown eyes. "Two years pass before I mention this to my parents. It's Report Card Day, and I've failed math. I need a way to distract them. And it works."Happy or Otherwise is a work of art. Creative writing at its finest, funniest, most gut-wrenching and truest. This collection of short stories fulfills the reader's imagination and heart. You will not be disappointed and you will find yourself re-reading these stories, Diana Joseph's unique and rhythmic voice chanting through your mind the whole time. -John SteeleManaging EditorPathfinder Magazine

Diana Joseph's stories are about people you know, but she tells these stories like the people you know would like to tell them-- smartly and without apology. Her characters include men, women, old and young, educated and not, almost-happy and otherwise, people who think about doing right, people who live with their mistakes. In "What Remains," the narrator confronts her past when her newly-separated granddaughter comes to stay. The main character in "Schandorsky's Mother" finds hope in the possibility of a future family. Recommended for anyone who lives, searches, wonders, or regrets.

After reading this book, I could not stop thinking about the story "Bloodlines," among others. This story impressed me because of its overwheming tension, yet it is tension that is subdued and subtle. It's not a nostalgic story about growing up on a Pennsylvania farm, but a gripping story about a father's violent nature, a mother's suspicious and complacent demeanor, the death of the narrator's brother; this story transcends other stories that merely strike us as idyllic. The ending is the best part.There are other stories I like: "The Fifth Mrs. Hughes" is quirky, funny, and delightful. "Expatriates" is about an Amish Dutch boy, who jumps the fence and teaches the narrator something about loyalty and honesty. "Shandorsky's Mother" is about a mother who writes a poem to teach her son about family. I recommend this book; it's funny and sad.