The illicit happiness of other people

Title:

Author:

Summary:

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

Edition:

1st American ed.

Physical Description:

344 p. ; 21 cm.

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Subject Term:

Geographic Term:

Publisher:

W. W. Norton & Co.,

Publication Date:

2013

ISBN:

9780393338621

Publication Information:

New York : W. W. Norton & Co., 2013.

Call Number:

JOSEPH

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607002743477	Adult Fiction	JOSEPH	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

The PEN Open Book Award called Manu Joseph "that rare bird who can wildly entertain his readers as forcefully as he moves them." In The Illicit Happiness of Other People, Joseph brilliantly brings his talents to the story of an Indian Christian family living far afield in south India.

It has been three years since seventeen-year-old Unni Chacko mysteriously fell from a balcony to his death. His family--journalist father Ousep, who smokes two cigarettes at once "because three is too much"; mother Mariamma, who fantasizes gleefully about murdering her husband; and twelve-year-old love-struck brother Thoma with zero self-esteem, have coped by not coping. When the post office delivers a comic drawn by Unni that had been lost in the mail, Ousep, shocked out of his stupor, ventures on a quest to understand his son and rewrite his family's story.

Combining family drama with philosophy, social satire with satisfying storytelling, The Illicit Happiness of Other People reminds us that the greatest mystery of all--the one most worth our time and energy--is understanding the people we love.

Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Indian author Joseph's smart new novel, after 2010's PEN/Open Book Award-winning Serious Men, is laced with black humor and keen observations on human nature. Three years after 17-year-old Unni Chacko, a budding cartoonist, plunged from his third-floor terrace, his father, Ousep, resumes his obsessive search for the truth behind his death, using his son's funny and contemplative comics as guides in his quest through modern-day India. Ousep, a journalist, spends his days interrogating those who knew Unni, and his nights drunkenly waking his neighbors upon his return home. His wife, Mariamma, tries to protect their younger son, Thoma, from Ousep's harmless but humiliating alcoholic rages, while Thoma struggles to impress the beautiful Mythili, one of the brothers' closest friends. What Ousep discovers, after interviewing Unni's friends, fellow artists, teachers, and anyone else he can track down, is a deeply thoughtful teenager burdened by weighty existential quandaries. Joseph's rich characters intersect in moments of tenderness, yet each continues along a path that gracefully highlights the titular Other and the emotional divides that separate individuals. Lucky for us, Joseph's empathic prose deftly bridges those gaps. Agent: Isobel Dixon, Blake Friedmann Literary Agency. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.