I loved this short story collection. The stories dealt with grief, relationships (both romantic and familial), the way that memories are or are not true, and the beauty of the mundane. I think this collection can break your heart if you connect directly with one of the specific topics.

As with story compilations, I liked some more than others. We started off strong with The Bus Driver and The Gap Year, but things kind of melded into each other after.

It’s almost as if the author was given a prompt and wrote multiple stories around it. I say this because there is very little variation between the main characters. They are all living within a same-sex partnership (marriage isn’t legal yet), have a connection to Albuquerque, at least one cat (sometimes called Gertrude), and may have issues with a maternal-esque figure.

Despite this, I feel that each story does have its own message to share.

'Are You Happy?' is a collection of short stories featuring characters grappling with loneliness, connection, and the pursuit of happiness. If you enjoy character-driven fiction about life's complexities and finding happiness, this collection might be for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Astra Publishing House for this ARC!

Sonder
/ˈsɑndər/
(uncountable) (neologism) The profound feeling of realising that everyone, including strangers passing in the street, has a life as complex as one's own, which they are constantly living despite one's personal lack of awareness of it.
Albuquerque has a population of around 560,000. Los Angeles reaches about 3,770,000. Every person in these cities, or even around the world, has a life of their own. Their own troubles, interests, secrets. This collection of short stories gives us a glimpse into the lives of those we consider mundane and shines a light on the fact that we underestimate how complex humans are. Each short story feels like an invasion of someone's privacy, but no one really cares because we are all curious enough to keep reading. What's clever about it is the eerie details that unite the stories, and more specifically the characters, without them knowing. It’s like knowing a secret about people who don’t actually know you or particularly care for your existence. It takes things that we consider boring about ourselves and visualises them within someone else, because we’re all more interested in the lives of others than our own.
I will say that not all the stories were as good as others, but for the most part they were consistent, and frankly I feel like I’m missing out because I don’t have a physical copy of this book.

The nine stories in this collection are funny and memorable. I was hooked after the first story and found every entry worth reading. This wise collection is equally heartbreaking as it is hilarious and I highly recommend!

My favorite collection of the year. I savored it slowly as my work read, a story or so a week. The stories are unique but the characters share commonalities: the midwest, writing, calm in the face of absurdity around them. Highly recommended.

The way these stories combined themes of motherhood, religion, and family dynamics. It was a really interesting exploration of the different violences imposed on women, queer people, and queer women. Social violences, stalkers and implied threats, and grief. I was reading one story per day because of my schedule but I'd love to read them all in one sitting.

Are You Happy is a collection of stories based mainly in Minnesota.

Most of the stories have an underlying sense of threat - either physical or mental which makes them all somewhat edgy and disturbing.

You are left under no illusion about the tone of the stories from the first in which we find sexual abuse, violence and retribution. This tone continues throughout the stories and they're all excellent.

I really enjoyed reading all the stories but my favourites were The Bus Driver, Are You Happy?, The Stalker and Just Another Family.

I would definitely recommend this great collection of stories from Lori Ostlund, a writer I am sadly unfamiliar with (something I will rectify in the future). She is certainly an interesting and challenging author who doesn't shy from difficult subjects.

Definitely recommended fir anyone who likes a short story with bite.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Astra Publishing House for the advance review copy.

I found this collection incredibly enjoyable. The writing is charming and easy to read, even when dealing with difficult topics like grief, death, and longing. The way these themes are woven together throughout the book feels so natural and true to life.
While each story stands well on its own, they all share a certain tone and emotional depth that ties them all together, I particularly loved “The Stalker”.
Overall, a thoughtful and well crafted collection that I’m sure will stay with me.

Oh boy. I have such mixed feelings about this collection. There was one five story in this anthology but then the rest were just alright or fell completely to the wayside. I found the story about the couple who lost their son to be the most captivating and poignant with the commentary on grief to be really well done. Also, the stories about the peeping tom and the stalker were successful in being unsettling and creepy but I wasn't a fan of how the author just ended them so abruptly. I understand the choice in doing so but it kind of threw off the flow of the collection as a whole and especially with having those two stories back to back.

My biggest issue with this collection is how often the author inserted comments, lines or descriptors that felt borderline offensive. In some cases I think that the author was trying to showcase the flaws of the characters in the story but it missed the mark and just felt gross instead. There is also a story in which the author uses a disfigured and disabled character as a grotesque villain of sorts and that doesn't fly with me. I highly recommend this author, and everyone else, to pick up Disfigured by Amanda Leduc to learn more on why these portrayals are harmful to the disabled community.

Thanks to NetGalley and Astra Publishing House for an ARC of Are You Happy? in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 5/5

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Absolutely loved it! It's such a weird and darkly funny book in all the best ways. These are the kinds of stories you'll return to and read quotes from at certain times. The writing is excellent as well. Will be reading more from this author.

A strange and interesting bundle of short stories that stay amusing even while discussing heavy topics. Ostlund keeps a lighthearted presence throughout each of the stories while exploring topics like motherhood, religion, family, and more, without doing them any injustice. Some stories I barely remember, but the one's I do are incredible. My favourite was The Stalker, which was suspenseful and thought provoking, but I did find that the endings of most stories were slightly disappointing. Overall, it was worth a read and I found myself thinking about it long after reading it.

A very interesting collection of short stories. I felt like this collection covered several topics, but it didn't seem disjointed. Every story felt like it belonged. I enjoyed the author's sense of humor when discussing heavier subjects. The first story was a wonderful introduction.

These were fine! I liked a few more than others as usual with short story collections but failed to gel with the whole collection.

I think this is a great anecdotal book. Every character is like someone I would find in the office that I work in, in the best way. The people are simply people and you want to know more about them. This is a good reflection on what would you do in these situations and how would you feel. That's the best part of the this entire book, the reflections you can see within your own life.

An interesting collection of stories that revolve around LGBT characters, all were very well written and I enjoyed reading them. My absolute favorite was the novella at the end, Just Another Family, for some reason I really identified with it and the characters. Quite a few of the stories took place in Minnesota or the characters were from there, just something I noticed and not being familiar with the area, it was interesting to read about the area and traits of the people from there (at least from the author's perspective). Even if you are not of the LGBT community, these stories, I think, would still appeal to someone who enjoys reading. Thanks to #Netgalley and #Astra House for the ARC.

Well this is weird. This is a short story collection I enjoyed from beginning to end. Some of the stories were fairly long, some were short, but all hit me in a place of just missing people. I think the title, "Are You Happy?" is asking a question and one wonders if it was a question the author wanted to ask certain characters. Most of the nine stories focus on LGBTQ+ characters throughout different years/decades. You don't follow the same people, though two characters I recall had a cat named Gertrude and that threw me off. Many of the characters live in or near Albuquerque which I got a kick out of since I was just there for my birthday in January.

See below for a short description of the stories:

1. The Bus Driver. This whole story was so dang sad and be prepared for a trigger warning about statutory rape. The main character is having regrets over the falling out with her former best friend Jane who went a totally different way than her after high school. I liked the questions it asked though, how much of this was just Jane herself seeking something else, the teacher (who took advantage), and the main character for not saying anything. The ending...wow.

2. The Gap Year. Oh. This was so sad. Be prepared for it.

3. Are You Happy? The main character, Phil is dealing with everything that came after he, his mother, and aunt survived a plane crash. Phil was tired of being something he was not, and wanted a different life and got one. But he also kept his new life from his family since he didn't want them to tarnish it for him. The ending was sad though.

4. Clear as Cake. A young woman learning to "write" and really realizing she's not a writer. But at times you can see her getting the hint of what everything is all about, but backing away from it. This took place during the 1980s I recall which to me help set up a lot of what this story was about.

5. The Peeping Toms. A couple, Clarice and Miriam are dealing with an older relative and a series of peeping toms throughout their lives. The reveal of who is the peeping tom at the end of this one just honestly made me sad. The whole story felt sad honestly.

6. The Stalker. This one was grim to me too after the last story. An adjunct teacher whose name I don't recall getting is dealing with one of her students stalking her. And I had to wonder if he was meant to be depicted this way or not. I think nowadays many would argue that he's on the spectrum because of how he talked. This is also the second story featuring a cat named Gertrude.

7. Aaron Englund and the Great Great. I felt sad while reading. A young 5 year old boy and his family (who do not like each other at all) go to visit Aaron's mother's uncle August. Aaron's father just seemed like an ass from beginning to end of this story.

8. A Little Customer Service. A woman named Tara gets involved in a romance with Gretchen, who is 17 years older than her and rich. Just a story of Tara realizing that she's giving up a lot to be in this relationship.

9. Just Another Family: A Novella. This one was the longest of the stories in the collection. I liked it and thought it anchored everything that came before it.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

i sometimes find short stories to be difficult to connect with and unfortunately this book fell in that realm. each one was very well written and they all fit together so nicely but something was missing for me. i felt like i was digging for the underlying themes and ultimately just got bored. i think i would give this another shot later down the line and do just one story every few weeks to let them sink in more than trying to do a singular read through.

This is a well-written collection of short stories. They're mostly mundane, slice-of-life stories that often feel like repetitions on a theme, but in a comforting and interesting way, not a boring way. This collection is quiet, but thoroughly enjoyable.
She's really good with the eerie, wild little details that stick with you. There's a few of the stories that are going to live with me for a while. That's my favorite kind of short story. The seemingly innocuous sort that stays with you regardless.

I soft DNF'd this because I have an ARC so I may come back to it later. I got through the first 3 stories and none of them gripped me. I think it's because the writing style is very detached. The premise of this short story collection sounded very interesting, but I don't think the execution is for me.