Are You Happy?
Stories
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
"Don’t let Are You Happy? pass you by: There’s not a word out of place in these brilliant Midwestern sketches. They’re lonesome, for sure . . . But they’re also hilarious." —Charles Arrowsmith, The Washington Post
"These nine startling stories capture the subtleties of feeling—and being made to feel—out of place . . .. Ostlund proves herself a master of the form."
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Nine exquisite stories that explore class, desire, identity, and the specter of violence that looms daily over women and the LGBTQ+ community.
An aspiring veterinarian survives a plane crash and starts life over in California. A woman mourns the loss of her childhood friend’s innocence and rethinks justice. A queer teacher's sense of safety in the classroom is destroyed. With settings ranging from small-town Minnesota to New Mexico, from bars and bedrooms to a furniture store and a community college, Are You Happy? casts a spotlight on people who try—and often fail—to make peace with their pasts while navigating their present relationships and notions of self. In prose that is evocative and restrained, unpredictable and masterful, Lori Ostlund offers a darkly humorous and compassionate examination of America’s preoccupation with loneliness, happiness, guns, and violence.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ostlund (After the Parade) explores queer identity and complex truths in this piercing collection. The lesbian college senior in "The Bus Driver" unexpectedly reunites with her "unlikely" childhood best friend, Jane, during a visit to her Minnesota hometown. Jane, now a reluctant mother, is saddled with an unsatisfying job at a chicken factory, and the women reflect on the disparate paths they've each taken into adulthood. The somber title story explores the bittersweet relationships between several gay men and their lovers. Other standouts include "Clear as Cake," which puts Ostlund's talent for crisp, sharply drawn characterization on display; and "The Peeping Toms," where two lesbians' lives are upended by a voyeur. Whether with a teacher's horrific encounter with an unhinged student in "The Stalker" or the lesbian woman's stressful visit with her unmoored newly widowed mother in "Just Another Family," Ostlund's collection coheres with her characters' shared need for emotional and physical safety and their desire to love and be loved—or simply to be seen. These stories will dazzle readers.
