All too rarely a book comes along that is so emotionally honest and engaging that it is irresistible. Such is the case with Anne Giardini’s debut, “The Sad Truth About Happiness.” It is the kind of novel that the wise reader should probably buy two copies of, one to keep and one to lend, because the lent copy is never coming back.
At 32, Maggie Selgrin has arrived at stability. She is a typical middle child, the one with the reputation for being “rational and level-headed,” in contrast to her “querulous, quarrelsome and discontented” sisters. She has had choices and made them, passing up a chance to do graduate work in literature to become a mammogram radiation technician, because the latter is a job that does obvious good. She has a nice apartment and a good roommate. Her appearance to the world is that of a competent, assured and empathetic woman.
Rebecca, the roommate, is a freelance writer providing quizzes to women’s magazines. She takes the responsibility seriously, designing tests intended to provide useful information. One night, after dinner and over wine, Maggie asks to test drive the latest project. It’s a kind of longevity test, one that spits out a predicted death date at the end. To the consternation of both young women, Maggie is predicted to die on Dec. 22, 1999 – three months from now and two weeks before her birthday.
The only answer that significantly affects her score applies to the question: “Are you happy right now?” Though not actively unhappy, Maggie also isn’t actively happy. There are too many holes in her life, the largest being the lack of a love interest.
The story that follows is a meditation on the meaning of happiness, and it soon becomes clear that it is quite a slippery concept. If your goal is material success or marriage or career advancement, the world provides pictures that are relatively clear. But most people are more familiar with the absence of happiness, which isn’t necessarily sadness, than with its clear presence. Happiness comes down to personal definitions, and it is pretty hard to search for it until you have a picture of what you seek.
Maggie begins her exploration with the same level of self-understanding that allowed her to answer “not really” when the question first arose. She doesn’t change her life so much as pay more attention to it. And, in this newly awakened state, some interesting things begin to happen. Although she has not been in any kind of romantic relationship for several years, she finds herself seeing three men, all of whom are worthy of her time and attention. She also finds herself more involved than she might have been in a family drama, one that involves her high-strung and pregnant younger sister. It is in the search and the accompanying examination of her life that Maggie and the reader begin to understand the elusive concept that is happiness and how it might first be captured and then held.
There are probably more ways to search for happiness than for truth. Giardini sets out on a quiet, inward-looking path and blends a conversational tone with vibrant prose to create an empathetic novel. She has a good eye, one that she generously shares with Maggie, for the variety of humorous situations that are part of day-to- day living. The characters’ talk and situations ring true.
It is difficult to turn the final pages of “The Sad Truth About Happiness,” knowing that the shared journey will soon be done. In less able hands, Maggie could end up a character with paralysis by analysis. Instead, she ends up feeling her way, taking some steps off the path, and at times surprising the reader as well as herself. By the end, though, the reader will find Maggie and those who’ve walked with her just a bit closer to that elusive goal of happiness.
Robin Vidimos is a freelance writer who reviews books for The Denver Post and Buzz in the ‘Burbs.
The Sad Truth About Happiness
By Anne Giardini
Fourth Estate, 278 pages, $23.95
