This book is hard to categorize. It is written partly like a middle grade and partly like a YA. It’s a mystery, but if you classify it as middle grade then it could be considered horror too.

Though, even though the majority of the book is through Fern’s perspective, who is 10 years old, there is some of Alice’s perspective, Fern’s mother, who we follow through the beginning of a new relationship with a fellow resident of the apartment building. Hence the jumping back and forth between this book feeling like a middle grade and a YA. Not once did it feel like an adult story.

Alice keeps moving her and Fern around to keep hidden from her ex-husband, ​Fern’s father. They move to an apartment building in Minnesota that was a former sanitorium, complete with cemetery, quirky neighbors and all.

One day Fern sees a dead body in the dumpster, but by the time she gets anyone out there to see, it’s gone. And the mystery begins.​

This is a good middle grade mystery with a bit of a YA drama mixed in. I enjoyed it as that—not as the horror that I went in thinking it was going to be.

I thought this book was very good! I liked all of the characters that were featured and I honestly didn’t see the story going how it did but I was pleasantly surprised how it went.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Happy People Don't Live Here.

Alice and her precocious daughter, Fern, are recent arrivals at the Pine Lake Apartments, a former sanitorium now a rundown apartment.

The neighbors are quirky and offbeat, not to mention the non-living residents, the ghosts that roam the grounds and complex.

When Fern discovers a dead body in the dumpster, her investigation unearths her neighbors' secrets, including her mom's and a non-mortal friend.

But it is only through confronting your fears and worries can we make amends and move on with our life, in this world and the next.

I liked Fern, she was smart, courageous and not afraid to think outside the box.

But I wasn't a fan of the story.

First, I found the writing style distracting; it was very stream of consciousness and there are no quotation marks when a character speaks.

The tone is more YA-ish, not adult since Fern's POV dominates most of the narrative.

Second, I'm not sure what the story is about.

Is it about Alice and her bad childhood and crappy parents that led her to into a relationship with an even worse man?

Is it about the past that always haunts us? Is that what the ghosts represent?

Is it about confronting your trauma and moving on despite your fears and worries?

Is it about how people are never really happy, but we just move on with life because that's what living is?

This is one of many books I've read in which the main character is running from an abusive relationship

I didn't like Alice because she was less developed and was a standard trope, and the rest of the neighbors were more interesting like Mrs. Teasdale, Zillah, and Undine.

The ending is more HEA than I expected, but even not happy people deserve happy endings.

The long-awaited novel from the award-winning short story writer, Amber Sparks, was worth waiting for. I devoured this genre-bending novel about a mother and daughter on the run from the past, encountering ghosts (literal and figurative) as they strive to find a place of their own. I adored the characters, and the way that the book ultimately stayed deeply funny in real ways, despite the horror elements as well as the trauma involved for all of the characters. I'll be thinking about this mystery/ghost story/fairy tale novel for a long time.

"Just past the edge of summer, Alice and her daughter, Fern, arrive at the Pine Lake Apartments - a former sanatorium occupied by an ensemble of peculiar neighbors and a smattering of ghosts. Among the living: the Mermaid Lady, who performs in a nightclub fish tank; the building's handyperson, moonlighting as a medium; and an awkwardly charming professor of medieval studies. Fern alone is acquainted with the undead, who pass like troubled clouds through the apartments, humanity mostly lost ages ago. For the determinedly private Alice, Pine Lake seems the perfect place at the edge of the world to hide herself and her daughter - until the day Fern finds a dead body in the dumpster.

Intent on solving the mystery of this discarded corpse, Fern eagerly puts her encyclopedic knowledge of detective novels to good use while dodging warnings from her increasingly paranoid mother. She soon comes to realize that within the strange tapestry of Pine Lake residents, nothing is ever quite as it seems. Her investigation digs up long-buried secrets, including her mother's, that implicate each of her neighbors...and conjures a new one from beyond the grave.

The hotly anticipated debut novel from "master of the fantastic" (Roxane Gay) Amber Sparks, Happy People Don't Live Here is an unforgettable portrait of family - whether by birth or by chance or by choice - and the sometimes dangerous myths we make to keep ours together."

I don't think there have been nearly enough Mermaid Ladies in my life. This book helps to rectify that.

Fun, well-written, an engaging read with touches of horror, featuring a cast of characters that could have been the quirkier cousins of Wes Anderson's protagonists.

I devoured this book in one sitting. It was quirky and nostalgic feeling, sort of reminiscent of Coraline — our plucky, precocious, and imaginative young MC Fern and an apartment building full of an odd cast of mysterious characters and a bit of the supernatural. The first thing I noticed was how unique the writing style and narrative voice were. It was slightly literary leaning, but still managed to have a casually intimate tone that sort of broke the fourth wall to speak directly to readers. The short chapters kept me reading and the fascinating cast made it hard to put down.

This was a quick mystery read. A steady stream of ghosts and the supernatural weaved throughout. But what really drove this story was the fun and unforgettable cast f characters.

This is a cute mystery geared toward fans of quirky, supernatural mysteries with a touch of magical realism. The author’s note mentioned that this paid homage to Turtle Wexler from The Westing Game which I absolutely saw throughout the book. Happy People Don’t Live here centers around Fern, the bright and perceptive 10 year old daughter of Alice, a woman on the run from an abusive ex who is constantly moving them from place to place and living under the radar. Fern and Alice are used to relying only on each other, but when they move to Pine Lakes, a former sanatorium, they reluctantly open up to the other eccentric residents after Fern makes a startling discovery in the dumpster.

This book is a mystery that relies heavily on ghosts and supernatural elements. All of this is completely normalized within the context of the plot. The plot felt like a watered down noir mystery centering around identity and the suspense of a mystery harasser. Domestic violence is an ongoing theme throughout the plot as Alice is on the run from an abusive ex, however that was very sanitized and from the descriptions of the ex he almost seemed like one of the supernatural beings which was a little bit of a confusing choice.

I wasn’t bothered by the stylistic choices such as lack of quotation marks which is a common enough choice in fiction and it was clear in the writing who was speaking. The plot felt a little slow and focused a little bit too much on Fern being foiled by adults who didn’t want her investigating, but that didn’t make the book seem childish. Primarily the slowness of the plot failed to hold my interest so while I appreciated and enjoyed the book, it wasn’t a page turner.

Many thanks to W.W. Norton and Company and to NetGalley for this ARC to review. This review is my honest opinion.

3.75 stars

When Fern and her mother Alice move into the Pine Lake Apartments, an old sanitarium that has been repurposed into an apartment complex, they find themselves surrounded by a strange assortment of neighbors. Alice, who wants to keep herself and Fern hidden, just wants to focus on her art and her work but Fern, her 10 year old daughter who's current obsession is detectives, discovers a dead body in the dumpster and takes on her first case. Despite her mother's objections, Fern becomes wrapped up in a plot of missing people, strange visitors, listless ghosts in a graveyard, and even company from beyond the grave.

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I think my favorite part about this book has got to be the cast of characters. Everyone was quirky and interesting and just so colorful. This was a wonderful little dark and funny ghost tale, explored more often than not from the eyes of a young girl who wants to be taken as seriously as an adult. It was a charming tale.

The ending was a bit messy and confusing, and I felt like it all ended suddenly without resolution to a few running plot threads, but that was really my one complaint. Also what mother let's their 10 year old run their business website lmao

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of Happy People Don’t Live Here. This one was wonderfully weird in the best way — a moody mother-daughter duo, eccentric neighbors, lurking ghosts, and plenty of messy family secrets all tangled into a gothic, quirky read. It’s eerie without ever feeling too heavy, funny in unexpected moments, and just the right amount of odd. A little chaotic at times, but full of twists that kept me hooked. Definitely a unique, ghost-tinged story I really enjoyed. ★★★★☆

This is a sweet, quirky story about an apartment complex full of strange characters and secrets. It's pretty reminiscent of "The Westing Game"-- a central mystery (and then other mysteries that are almost red herrings) and off-beat residents. It was enjoyable.

This was a quirky and atmospheric story set in a strange apartment complex filled with odd characters and subtle supernatural elements. While the premise and eerie setting initially drew me in, the pacing felt a little slow at times and the mystery didn’t fully come together for me. It’s an interesting read with moments of charm, but it might not resonate with everyone.

Dnf at 25% this book was hard for me to read because the dialogue wasn’t in quotes or even separated out. It was also a little bit too slow for me.

DNF

Unfortunately, this reads far closer to young adult, or maybe even a little younger, than adult. I just couldn't get into it. Also, I wonder about the decision to not include quotation marks for dialogue. Granted, it could make sense with something later in the book, but it made the book more annoying to read.

DNF - this one was not for me. It read a little too young adult for my tastes. I won't be leaving a rating anywhere to be fair because I DNFd pretty early on.

I was so excited about this but I don't think the book fit the description well so it really threw me off. just not for me.

This book reminded me of the kind of magical storytelling that comes from a childlike point of view such as Matilda, The Secret Garden, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Alice and Fern’s sibling-like mother-daughter relationship is refreshing. Alice’s complexities keep the reader grounded while Fern’s wit and imagination keeps the darker moments of the book from feeling too hopeless. I loved this book and will enjoy reading it again and again.

I don’t know, do I just not talk to 10 year olds enough? Because there is no way they are actually as precocious as the 10 year old lead Fern in “Happy People Don’t Live Here”. I get that there should be some humor here and in general the plot is supposed to have a cloudy, almost mythic tone surrounding it but the primary narrator really took me out of the book.

I agree with other reviewers, this book maybe should be marketed as YA. I don’t read a lot of young adult but I could see this story written by someone like Maureen Johnson. It has that air of suspense that can often be heightened through a young person’s POV. Also like other reviewers, I am personally against the removal of quotation marks to denote speaking. It made me feel like I had to slow down to read the text, which could have been intentional so that I took the time to absorb the story. However I already felt the plot was too slowly paced. So much so that I couldn’t finish. I’m all for slow burns and I don’t need every book to have the twists and turns of modern thrillers, but the combination of the writing style, characters, and frankly misleading cover (I did not pick up on the gothic elements whatsoever) made me give up. Unfortunately this is just not a title for me. However I would suggest those who like their mysteries with a touch of supernatural and difficult themes to pick this one up.

*Happy People Don’t Live Here* by Amber Sparks is a haunting, razor-sharp collection that hits like a gut punch in the best way. Each story is beautifully strange and emotionally raw—full of women who burn, ghosts that linger, and grief that won’t sit still. Her writing is lyrical but fierce, and I kept highlighting lines just to sit with them a little longer. If you like your fiction bold, weird, and aching with truth, this one’s for you.