This book has been in my inbox for sometime and I've only just re-found it. I am somewhat confused as to how the title was hit upon as I consider the story to be more about loss than happiness. There are two main characters and two timelines as in so many novels at present! I enjoyed the interaction between the people but found overall the pace was slow and found myself skipping and scan reading more often as I got later in the book. A good idea but re-wite with a faster pace.

Beautifully written book about how strangers with seemingly nothing in common can become friends,
With new shared experiences. A really lovely book.

Forna is a good writer but I disliked the telling of this story and how long winded it felt. Dual timelines are quickly becoming a bane of my reading life and I wish it was not so popular these days. I really wish the novel had been mainly about the fox research and did not have so many tangents as I was most interested in the foxes and found that storyline the easiest to flesh out.

I remember this book so well. I didn't update my Netgalley reviews in years as I stopped blogging and didn't access any of the platforms for a long time.

This was the story about the way of a fox and pathways human takes in their lives. Sometimes paths collide. Sometimes you make a wrong turn or turn left when right would have taken you down a different path. Not necessarily a wrong path though.

I felt sorry for the fox and how it just tried to make a living in a world dominated by human greed. We can all co-exist you know.

Aminatta's writing style is worth mentioning in this novel.

In present day London, Jean and Atilla have a chance encounter. Jean is there to study urban foxes, and Atilla is there to deliver a keynote speech at a psychiatry conference. When they run into each other again by coincidence, Jean uses her network and skills to help Atilla search for the missing son of his family friend. Told in a mixture of present-day happenings and flashbacks HAPPINESS weaves a story of love and loss.

What drew me to this book initially is its stunning cover, and after reading it I have even more appreciation for the cover. Many characters and key points to the story feature on the design. A lot of the book summary mentions finding the son of Atilla's family friend, and while that was the most exciting part of the story to me, the book went on far after that plot wrapped up and featured many other unmentioned characters. I think the summary could've been better. To me, HAPPINESS is about letting go and holding on, although I'm sure there are other meanings in the book that went over my head. It's a very character driven story, and overall the book was not for me. I give it 2 out of 5 stars.

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Thank you to NetGalley and Atlantic Monthly Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I found the structure of this book difficult to follow at times as it jumps around so much and it made it difficult for me to become fully invested in the story. It also felt slow in places which in turn made it difficult to motivate myself to pick up at times. I did think the themes explored were overall interesting and there was some real depth and emotion to the characters which I appreciated.

This has beautiful writing, likable characters, emotional and tender encounters, but for some reason I didn't connect with it. Maybe because I found it to be slow paced. I appreciated the introduction to a different culture, though.

Happiness - how do we get it and how do we keep it? Does the pursuit of happiness bring us happiness? When tragedy strikes, how do we get back to happy? Whether human or fox,, nature has provided us with a solution - the ability to change and adapt.

This is a multi-layered novel about the meaning of life, trauma and about what happiness is or might be (and yes, about foxes, family, friendship and love, too).

Attila, a Ghanaian psychiatrist, and Jean an American wildlife biologist studying the habits of urban foxes, meet over a startled fox in London. One chance encounter leads to another and soon the friendship begins. As Jean helps Attila to find a runaway child of his friend, their pasts and thinking is unveiling upon us. And their chance of happiness (however elusive this state might be in our world full of loss, hurt and trauma).

This is definitely well-thought, well-constructed and rich novel. It tackles many crucial topics with a gentle understanding one rarely sees. This is most evident in the Attila's part of the story, as he has dealt with many traumas as psychiatristin the crisis zones. And his remarks about a life fuller precisely BECAUSE OF trauma are most touching.
Yet, I feel that this is not a novel for the common reader. Because it marches on a sound of his own, and this sound is a sound of massive river gently flowing, not a sound of swiftly paced brook. One needs time, a certain state of mind (or maybe of life) to connect with this story. And I, for one, want to be honest and recognize that so often I have failed to connect. But this is not the fault either of story or mine, I find it more of a mismatch of a life's flow. This book deserves to be returned to and maybe in a while my review would be different.
Yet, I can recommend this book with a clear conscience. It truly is an unique read.

A beautiful and ethereal exploration of human relationships. Set against an atmospheric background of the life of Londons foxes and American coyote and wolves. These solitary creatures frame the unusual relationship between Jean and Atilla. A slow but captivating read exploring loneliness, trauma and love.

it was a so-so read for me. I just really couldn't get into the story. I actually took a few months to finish as I just wasn't able to get drawn in. I'm sure it's just me and that it will find it's target audience. It's not poorly written or anything, I just didn't car for it. Sorry.

I am unfortunately no longer interested in this book. At the time of request, I was drawn by the atmosphere the Happiness evoked, but I've lost interest in the meantime due to several factors and I don't think the author or publisher will benefit from a halfhearted read and review from me. Sorry for the inconvenience.

This elegantly written novel is a compelling character study about two people who meet by chance in London. It is a story of love and loss, and of the interconnectedness of all things - humans and other living creatures. The plot wandered a little, but I enjoyed the prose and the characters, especially some of the supporting ones.

I was expecting something else when I startet this book. But, I was not disappointment because of it. The book can be a bit slow for some readers, and usually for me as well, but it worked. There was some chapters with a little "action", but most of them was story based - taking the story of two different people in London and making it into a lovely story of their happiness.

Happiness is a hard thing to writ about. In my opinion it often becomes cliche and sappy, and for most parts unreal. I am a pessimistic person, maybe that is why books about happiness seems so strange to me -- I do not know. This book however, still a little unreal, made me belive in the story of the two main characters. How they slowly find peace in the life they have now. The book made my laugh, cry and been with joy, and few books I have read manage to do all three, usually is just one.

Recommended read for the holidays coming up!

The One with the London Fox and the Accra Shrink
Aminatta Forna, Happiness (2018)

(Pardon the pun, it was just too hard to resist – but the book is not comic)

I downloaded Happiness from Netgalley because Annie (from A Bookish Type) loved it so much back in February. It even made it to #1 of her favorite books of the first part of the year. Her review was so glowing that I jumped on the ARC. To be honest, I wouldn’t have thought to choose this book because the title is so lame. It was not love at first sight. It took me a while to grow into it, because it’s a meandering book with many people and many stories, but like happy fairy tales, in the end, they lived happily ev… oops, I should say, I really, really liked it.

I liked it because it’s one-of-a-kind. I liked it because it’s a book free of clichés, and full of great characters and great ideas. The female main character is Jean, an American middle-aged, divorced biologist, who currently lives in London to study foxes who have adapted to urban environment. The male main character is Attila, a psychiatrist from Accra, who has worked for decades to treat civilians traumatized by war and who is in London for a few days to deliver a keynotes speech at a conference. Their meeting is a long shot. Their becoming friends is unlikely. Their falling in love is nothing short of a miracle.

Jean and Attila have lived through a number of catastrophes, big and small. They have grown and evolved and learnt some truths. They are good people, but they aren’t perfect. The book is about connections, common humanity in face of loss, death and life events. It goes against the grain when it speaks about tragedies and death as normal parts of life. Attila teaches (it feels a little preachy, at times, but the character is so wise that I’d listen to his lectures anytime) that Western people have pushed death out of their lives so much so that people stricken with loss and grief are treated as pariahs. On the contrary, people from other parts of the world acknowledge that life is fragile, don’t expect things to go well all the time and close rank around the bereaved. It surely is an idealistic view of non-Western people (as my recent reading about Indian slums has shown), but it’s also a refreshing reminder when picture-perfect images of happiness ever after are pervasive on the (mostly Western) internet (or else, you’re doing something wrong and here’s the 10 steps).

Besides Jean and Attila there are many secondary characters that I loved in the book: a community of immigrant street cleaners, hotel staff and street performers who live in the city but aren’t seen and acknowledged. They help Jean to record fox sightings across town, and will help Attila when the need arises.

The book makes you feel rather hopeful in humanity, and that’s a rare treat these days. I hadn’t heard of Aminatta Forna before and I’m glad of this serendipitous discovery (thanks Annie!). I’ll be definitely checking her other books out.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.

What could be more timely than the new novel Happiness (Amanitta Forna, Atlantic Monthly Press, 368 pp.), with its themes of displacement and survival? Jean, an American newly divorced and living in London, creates miniatures of nature for city gardeners. Attila is a Ghanian psychiatrist who specializes in treating trauma - especially related to war and immigration - in town for a conference. And then there are the foxes. Jean is there to study the urban foxes of London, immigrants from the countryside who have found an ecological niche in the garbage and hidden places of the city. Jean and Attila, the foxes, the immigrant doormen and street sweepers who help them find what is lost - all of them are trying to make a home away from home.

Although people, animals, and even birds have lost their homes, the title signals that Happiness is not only bitter, but also sweet. Attila contemplates an immigrant patient who “had what it took to survive, which in him was a curiosity about the nature of existence, in all its shades. That curiosity provided the elemental defense against despair. In other it might be humor, stoicism, adaptability, or a sense of something greater, something that goes beyond themselves.” Ultimately, you leave with a strong sense of what it means to be resilient, to grow where you’re planted, to find a place in the world even if it isn’t your place.

Happiness is also beautifully written, with the serene tone that I associate with Ann Patchett.

May I have one quibble? Some editor should have noticed that an American like Jean would say “have a friend over”, not “around” and would say slogan (not strapline) and Tylenol (not paracetamol). (She hasn’t been there very long!) Whatever. I just kept reading. You should, too.

Read if: You’ve ever felt displaced.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an advance reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

Happiness is a slow but worthwhile read, a good friend you want to chat with leisurely for hours, thumbing through page after page. I loved this book!

Happiness felt understated-at times to its own detriment-but I really enjoyed it.The urban wildlife aspect was something I enjoyed even if it felt a little romanticized.

This is one of the hardest reviews I ever had to write. It is hard not because the book is bad, quite the opposite. It is hard because I could not figure out what it was about. One day I thought it was about foxes and humans, how connected everything else in nature, how interdependent. Then, I would think it is about aliens and foreigners be it other nationalities, races or species. And I thought it was about love and loss in all its forms and demonstrations.

I guess this book is about all of those things I mentioned and more. The premise that NetGalley put out does not give this book justice. This book is so much more than a story of one wrong done right. It is not a story about war as much as it is a story about overcoming trauma..

This book took its time with me. I have to admit I put it away after reading first few pages. It felt wrong. It felt wrong on so many levels. One of them being, I read the very same story about hunting wolves long time ago in Chingiz Aitmatov.  So, it felt wrong to read on. However, I persevered and was rewarded for it.

This book took a lot out of me. This is not a light read. It is one of those books that you have stop and read a bit, then stop again and come back a few pages.

Anyhow, we are all like urban foxes in London, anywhere we go. We are lost, confused, hunted, unwelcome until we make the place our own, until we find happiness.

Although in her previous novels Aminatta Forna has grappled with wars and atrocities in Sierra Leone and the former Yugoslavia, her latest novel, titled Happiness and set in the heart of London, may be her most challenging undertaking yet.

After all, happiness is often as elusive as the foxes and coyotes that slink across the pages of Forna’s novel. It is wild and untamed; it doesn’t play by our rules. Try to capture it by working hard or following your dreams or buying the latest iPad, and it will likely slip away. Turn your back, and it might just sneak up on you in the unlikeliest of places.

A woman bumps into a man on Waterloo Bridge. It’s a fleeting encounter, but then they keep meeting again. They discover each other: Attila the Ghanaian psychiatrist and Jean the American wildlife biologist. Their lives slowly intertwine. It’s a classic romance plot. Will they? Won’t they? Of course they will.

But this is not the sort of happiness that Happiness is really about. Forna is trying to get at something more complex: why ishappiness so elusive? Why are some people unhappy when they have everything, while others seem to be happy in much harsher circumstances?

To answer this question, she builds up a complex and fragmented plot involving not only the slow-burn romance between Attila and Jean but also the wrongful detention of a young Ghanaian woman, the search for her missing son, the slow decline of Attila’s former colleague and lover from early-onset Alzheimer’s, and much more. To add to these multiple threads, there are flashbacks to everything from the sudden death of Attila’s wife in Accra to his former driver’s kidnapping in Iraq and a wolf hunt in nineteenth-century Massachusetts.

Forna’s London is a city of outsiders. Jean and Attila are joined by a supporting cast of traffic wardens, street sweepers, security guards and doormen from across Africa, as well as a Bosnian who works as a Savoy chef by night and a silver-painted street performer by day. Then there are the ultimate outsiders: the wild animals like urban foxes and parakeets that, having moved from a place where they couldn’t survive to one where they thought they could, now find themselves targeted for extermination in the name of safety.

What all these disparate subplots and minor characters have in common is that they help to build a picture of happiness and how it might—or might not—be attained.

One logical way to pursue happiness would be to remove or avoid things that lead to unhappiness. Yet the characters in the novel who try that approach don’t fare too well. The parakeets, after having their eggs addled and their tree cut down due to complaints of noise and damage, simply relocate and survive elsewhere, leaving the angry denizens of Twitter and radio talk-shows to find new targets. One of Jean’s rich clients in her garden design business seems to have insulated herself from everything that could make her unhappy, and yet what is left is certainly not happiness, but a numbing existence behind glass in her chic City Road apartment, worrying a cuticle with her teeth, afraid to make even the simplest decisions.

If happiness cannot be achieved by subtracting unhappiness, what is the alternative? The answer lies, perhaps, in another book with an ambitious one-word title, Resilience, by the French psychiatrist Boris Cyrulnik—a book which Forna reviewed for The Daily Telegraph in a 2009 article that now reads like the novelist’s early draft for the central themes of Happiness. What makes some people resilient while others succumb to trauma, Cyrulnik argues, is not so much the experience itself as the way people frame it.

Attila comes to a similar conclusion, telling his audience at a conference lecture that psychiatrists have unwittingly divided the world into those who have suffered, who must necessarily be traumatised, and those who haven’t, who should be normal. The trauma victims are left with no hope of recovery, while those on the other side of the divide desperately try to cleanse their lives of contact with suffering and wonder why they’re not happy. They are doomed to ‘face the void without ever knowing the reality of life’, forever trapped in ‘the creeping numbness that the fear of suffering, the terror of pain has created.’

In an age of Brexit and the refugee crisis, of climate change and deepening inequality, Forna’s novel is a timely reminder that building higher walls will simply leave us like Jean’s client, biting our nails behind glass, terrified of the suffering outside. We may all have a better shot at happiness if we open the doors and bravely face the void alongside the Sierra Leonean traffic wardens and the Bosnian street performers—and perhaps even the foxes and the parakeets too.