The Illicit Happiness of Other People – A Novel - Softcover

Joseph, Manu

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393338622 ISBN 13: 9780393338621

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012

Synopsis

Ousep Chacko, journalist and failed novelist, prides himself on being the last of the real men. This includes waking neighbors upon returning late from the pub. His wife Mariamma stretches their money, raises their two boys, and, in her spare time, gleefully fantasizes about Ousep dying. One day, their seemingly happy seventeen-year-old son Unni an obsessed comic-book artist falls from the balcony, leaving them to wonder whether it was an accident. Three years later, Ousep receives a package that sends him searching for the answer, hounding his son s former friends, attending a cartoonists meeting, and even accosting a famous neurosurgeon. Meanwhile, younger son Thoma, missing his brother, falls head over heels for the much older girl who befriended them both. Haughty and beautiful, she has her own secrets. The Illicit Happiness of Other People a smart, wry, and poignant novel teases you with its mystery, philosophy, and unlikely love story."

About this title

Review:

Joseph's smart new novel is laced with black humor and keen observations on human nature... Joseph's rich characters intersect in moments of tenderness.

Starred review. Joseph writes with extraordinary wit, cunning and sympathy about both family relationships and ultimate mysteries.

Ingeniously constructed.... [Joseph is] using his witty, incisive writing to explore the great philosophical questions of happiness and life.--Manil Suri, author of The City of Devi

Fusing ribald farce with poignant drama... Joseph deftly rotates narrative points of view... [and] embellishes each strand with vibrant dabs of local color... that help showcase India in all its sublime and absurd glory.... Wild, irreverent and blackly comic.--Malcolm Forbes

Sublime.... Joseph's witty narrative adds depth and vigor to the Chacko family's tale and assuredly explores the complexity of self-perception amid present-day life.--Leah Strauss

The Illicit Happiness of Other People is both a terribly funny and deeply sad story.... Beautifully written.... Manu Joseph perfectly captures his characters in his precise, sharp prose.--Ariel Balter

Book Description:

A darkly comic novel set in modern India.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0393338622
• ISBN 13: 9780393338621
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352