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The Illicit Happiness of Other People A Novel Manu Joseph Books

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The Illicit Happiness of Other People A Novel Manu Joseph Books

The first 160 pages of this beautifully written novel left me cold. it wasn't until the backstories of the main characters began to flesh out that I saw a reason to care about any of them (a morose and emotionally withholding drunk of a husband and father, a resentful and mentally unstable housewife who is too smart and educated for her life, an arrogant and cruel teenager who kills himself, a hapless younger brother who is no more than a stock character). Is that a flaw in the writing or pacing of the book? Perhaps. But even as I was picking this up nightly, reading in fits and starts -- putting it down in after twenty pages, only to pick it up and repeat that the next night, and the next -- I enjoyed Manu Joseph's deft use of language and his astute observations. I love his wry, subtle humor, and his way of telling a story in a few sentences:

"Somen's father is bare-chested, his mother is in a sari. Ousep can see their bellies. And their deep navels that gape at him as if they are the alert eyes of a long, indestructible tropical marriage."

Much has been made of the philosophical questions posed in this novel. Frankly, as central to the plot as those themes are, that aspect of the story borders on the edge of trite for me. What I find more interesting is the examination of where we draw the line between mental illness and "normalcy." Absorb what you will from this book, but do stay the course for the first half and you will be rewarded in the second.

My favorite quote:

"It is the misanthrope alone who has clarity. By standing outside the huddles of man, he sees a lot, and what he often sees is the evidence that people are not as smart as dogs think they are."

Too right.


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The Illicit Happiness of Other People A Novel Manu Joseph Books Reviews

Beautiful prose and story telling captures the intensity of Unni and his ideas as well as the pain of mom and regrets of dad.
One of the best stories I've ever read. Please try it.
Exquisitely written. Wonderfully developed characters -- even those without names -- who stick with you long after you've stopped reading. A tender portrayal of the anxieties and ambitious of Indian youths and the parents that watch them struggle with social pressures as they come of age as adolescents and young adults.
You are emotionally stricken within the first few pages of this book a family is dealing with the unexplained loss of a talented son and the father - who is sadly a very talented failure - cannot find peace. His journey takes him to places that uncover deeper family mysteries that impacted his wife's happiness and the discovery that the lost son is connected - emotionally and behaviorally - to that long ago event is unexpected and disturbing.

I struggled at times to move through the book. it's heaviness weighs on the reader. the effort, however, was worthwhile. American and European readers will be exposed to an unfamiliar culture and all readers will be re-acquainted with the intensity of adolescent feelings.
Lost interest pretty Soon. Manu Joseph's Serious Men was so funny and sent me out to looking for his other writings but this was a disappointment. Although edging on philosophy an little bit concentrates mostly on unrealized sexual dreams of a teenager and unwarranted molestations that prevail in India.
Wonderfully written. A wickedly intellectual challenge. Explores the ability to know the truth about life, the world, everything. Finds the culprit to be human being's ability to think, to reason, to know what is enlightening. Does this by following, in revealing detail, the thinking and the behavior of a family and its community wrestling with the inability to understand the suicide of a brilliant teenager. The belief in happiness as the universal virtue to be pursued is, the story suggests, a delusion, established and supported by all the rationality and faith humans can bring to bear upon the concept, a delusion that diverts them from the truth of their existence, their behavior, and nature itself.
Manu Joseph's earlier book, SERIOUS MEN, remains one of my very favorite comic novels. ILLICIT HAPPINESS, on the other hand, proved to be quite something else, a dour and bleak but still compelling read. Underlying the work is the ultimate search for "the meaning of life" as couched in what I take to be the Hindu or Buddhist belief system. A father compulsively seeks the reason for his young son's suicide; his wife wrestles with a mentally-debilitating memory; their younger son struggles to make sense of a bewildering world. There is a singleminded-ness about Joseph's narrative that keeps the reader interested and attentive despite the gloom; however, I doubt I would have finished the novel had I not so enjoyed his earlier work. Perhaps ironically, I found SERIOUS MEN not at all "serious" while ILLICIT HAPPINESS seemed anything but "happy" ....
The first 160 pages of this beautifully written novel left me cold. it wasn't until the backstories of the main characters began to flesh out that I saw a reason to care about any of them (a morose and emotionally withholding drunk of a husband and father, a resentful and mentally unstable housewife who is too smart and educated for her life, an arrogant and cruel teenager who kills himself, a hapless younger brother who is no more than a stock character). Is that a flaw in the writing or pacing of the book? Perhaps. But even as I was picking this up nightly, reading in fits and starts -- putting it down in after twenty pages, only to pick it up and repeat that the next night, and the next -- I enjoyed Manu Joseph's deft use of language and his astute observations. I love his wry, subtle humor, and his way of telling a story in a few sentences

"Somen's father is bare-chested, his mother is in a sari. Ousep can see their bellies. And their deep navels that gape at him as if they are the alert eyes of a long, indestructible tropical marriage."

Much has been made of the philosophical questions posed in this novel. Frankly, as central to the plot as those themes are, that aspect of the story borders on the edge of trite for me. What I find more interesting is the examination of where we draw the line between mental illness and "normalcy." Absorb what you will from this book, but do stay the course for the first half and you will be rewarded in the second.

My favorite quote

"It is the misanthrope alone who has clarity. By standing outside the huddles of man, he sees a lot, and what he often sees is the evidence that people are not as smart as dogs think they are."

Too right.