Happiness™

Ferguson, Will

ISBN 10: 0864923678 ISBN 13: 9780864923677

Publisher: BTC Audiobooks, 2003

Synopsis

In this audiobook of his satirical, fast-paced novel, Will Ferguson, the author of the critically acclaimed Hokkaido Highway Blues, skewers American society's obsession with self-improvement. When an enormous self-help manuscript arrives on the desk of Edwin de Valu, a stressed-out, overworked, and underpaid editor at New York's Panderic Press, its fate seems destined for the bin. Edwin's cynicism about self-help books, coupled with his filthy mood that morning, results in his dismissing Tupak Soiree's What I Learned on the Mountain in the most ignominious fashion: he doesn't even bother to reply. However, during an editorial meeting Edwin is confronted by a questioning publisher, one desperate for the next big thing. Without thinking, and in need of something to report, Edwin begins to extol the virtues of What I Learned on the Mountain, and the excitement around the table is palpable.

With every reason. Tupak Soiree's doorstopper becomes a very unique thing: a self-help book that actually works, and it launches a chain of events that will have enormous consequences not just on Edwin's life but for the world at large. Suddenly, everyone CAN be happy, CAN lose weight and stop smoking, and CAN get rich quick. Edwin fears that the bliss he has unleashed on the world may indeed be a curse.

One by one his friends and family take up the cult of "Happiness" (a word now trademarked by Panderic Press). Soon Edwin begins to see that any system of blind acceptance is ultimately destructive. He realizes that he is the unlikely champion that fate has chosen to fight the menace of Happiness™.

Happiness ™ is a masterpiece of comic fiction, a must for anyone who has retched on Chicken Soup for the Soul but deep down felt the need for some spiritual and emotional guidance. Or as Tupac Soiree says: LIVE! LOVE! LEARN!

About this title

Review

"The Age of Nice is at hand, and there's nothing we can do about it." But the protagonist of Will Ferguson's Happiness, terminally luckless book editor Edwin de Valu, does want to do something. In fact, he feels obliged to put a stop to the Age of Nice, because it's all his fault. Desperate to save a flagging career in the world of self-help publishing, Edwin has staked everything on a dubious, thousand-page manuscript bearing the motto "Live! Love! Learn!" Promising its readers endless wealth, effortless weight loss, and everlasting happiness, the book has become a runaway success. And that's where Edwin's problems really begin. There's the murderous cartel of drug and tobacco barons who want Edwin's head on a plate, as well as the fact that misery, cynicism, irrational hatred, draught beer--all the things that once made Edwin's life as an underdog bearable--have become outlawed. It's down to one man to save the globe from the tyranny of the group hug! But can Edwin do it before the world economy melts down and a bestselling serial killer called Dr. Ethics enacts his own deadly revenge?

It has been said--possibly by the sort of homily-peddling guru that Ferguson attacks so masterfully in his debut novel--that there are many routes to happiness. The general effect of reading this razor-sharp satire on the self-help industry is to understand that these routes lead us nowhere, except perhaps to a cul-de-sac called Hell. This would be depressing to realize, except that Happiness clubs its readers into submission with the sort of zany, almost otherworldly wit that makes us profoundly glad to be alive. --Matthew Baylis, Amazon.co.uk

From the Back Cover

Edwin de Valu, an overworked and underpaid editor at New York's Panderic Press, is in trouble. He needs a hit for the coming season. In desperation he stakes his flagging career on a rambling self-help manuscript that promises its readers endless wealth, effortless weight loss and everlasting happiness. To Edwin's surprise, Tupak Soiree's magnum opus not only becomes a runaway bestseller but ushers in the global cult of "Happiness" (a word now trademarked by Panderic Press). It's up to Edwin to save American from Tupak (the "Stalin of the New Age") and his "neutron bomb of love."

About this edition

• Publisher: BTC Audiobooks
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0864923678
• ISBN 13: 9780864923677
• Binding: Audio Cassette