A review by michellemorgs
Happiness by Aminatta Forna

5.0

It took me a bit to get into the groove of this book but by the end I was completely enamored with it. Other reviews use words like slow, quiet, and subtle and those are all true— this isn’t a novel driven by plot (through in hindsight the whole thing takes place over the course of maybe a week and so I’m not sure that’s even a fair characterization— by shortening the timeframe the novel unfurls in, I think Forna is able to background plot and really dive into her characters. I mean, a lot actually happens in the week of Happiness’s landscape). Instead, it’s about relationships, ecologies and immigration, both human and animal, survival, trauma, the losses we bear whether from the sad disappointments of unrealized relationships to those borne by war and violence. It’s a story about care and community. This book made me look at the strangers around me in a different way. It made me want to be a better person which is more profound I think than such a cliche would usually suggest. It made me think about change and suffering in a new light. It’s definitely a book to let yourself sink into and experience. I had this on my list for over a year and a half before I got to it but I’m glad I read it as my first book of 2020. It feels like it might set the mood for my upcoming decade.