The Sad Truth About Happiness
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
Children's Hospital Book Market purchase .
I think it must be really hard to be a writer when your parent was so great at it.
I believe this is Anne Giardini's very first novel. Nevertheless, I think I was unfairly expecting better from her.
The beginning of the story was so promising. Maggie's roommate Rebecca writes quizzes for magazines. She's good at them. She insists that the results of her quizzes are always accurate. For fun, Maggie takes the quiz that Rebecca says will predict how long a person will live. Maggie learns, on completing the quiz, that she will die in three months! In analyzing the data, it appears that this is all because in answer to one of the questions about happiness, Maggie said she was not happy. Yikes! Assuming I put any store in quiz results, I'd probably work on that happiness thing right away. But how do you really know if you are happy or what happiness even is?
Rather intriguing questions.
In any event as the story progresses, we learn that Maggie's sister is pregnant, the father a married man living in Europe. When sister gives birth, the father shows up at the hospital with his wife in tow and a custody Order he obtained in Europe fully planning to take the child home with him.
Maggie overhears his intentions and steals the baby from the hospital and, accompanied by Rebecca , takes off with him to a village in Quebec. She doesn't tell her sister or anyone where she has gone. I rather liked the fact that all the womenfolk in the village help Maggie and the baby no questions asked, even down to a wetnurse for the baby. (Although given that sister had no intentions of breastfeeding, I wondered just how this would all go over with her, the baby's mom.) Maggie intends to stay away only for so long as she thinks it will take for things to sort out and the father to go back to Europe. Needless to say, she heads back too soon at which time the story becomes entirely chaotic and, frankly, unbelievable.
Having said that though, I do have to admit, I was entirely engaged and did not give up on the book because I had to know what would happen next, as ludicrous as that might be.
I believe this is Anne Giardini's very first novel. Nevertheless, I think I was unfairly expecting better from her.
The beginning of the story was so promising. Maggie's roommate Rebecca writes quizzes for magazines. She's good at them. She insists that the results of her quizzes are always accurate. For fun, Maggie takes the quiz that Rebecca says will predict how long a person will live. Maggie learns, on completing the quiz, that she will die in three months! In analyzing the data, it appears that this is all because in answer to one of the questions about happiness, Maggie said she was not happy. Yikes! Assuming I put any store in quiz results, I'd probably work on that happiness thing right away. But how do you really know if you are happy or what happiness even is?
Rather intriguing questions.
In any event as the story progresses, we learn that Maggie's sister is pregnant, the father a married man living in Europe. When sister gives birth, the father shows up at the hospital with his wife in tow and a custody Order he obtained in Europe fully planning to take the child home with him.
Maggie overhears his intentions and steals the baby from the hospital and, accompanied by Rebecca , takes off with him to a village in Quebec. She doesn't tell her sister or anyone where she has gone. I rather liked the fact that all the womenfolk in the village help Maggie and the baby no questions asked, even down to a wetnurse for the baby. (Although given that sister had no intentions of breastfeeding, I wondered just how this would all go over with her, the baby's mom.) Maggie intends to stay away only for so long as she thinks it will take for things to sort out and the father to go back to Europe. Needless to say, she heads back too soon at which time the story becomes entirely chaotic and, frankly, unbelievable.
Having said that though, I do have to admit, I was entirely engaged and did not give up on the book because I had to know what would happen next, as ludicrous as that might be.
Journal Entry 3 by Pooker3 at Little Free Library #2873 in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada on Friday, June 28, 2019
Released 4 yrs ago (6/28/2019 UTC) at Little Free Library #2873 in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
This book was released for the 2019 Canada Day release challenge in celebration of Canadian books and authors. I hope that whoever finds it enjoys this first novel by a Canadian author. Happy Canada Day!
To the finder of this book:
I hope you enjoy your new read.
Welcome, also, to the wonderful and wacky world of BookCrossing! Here you'll find a unique and worldwide community of book lovers sharing their books. This book is now yours! Read it, enjoy it. Keep it or pass it on to someone you know, return it to any Little Free Library or even release it into the wild. It is all up to you.
If you make a journal entry (you can do it anonymously or as a BookCrossing member) all previous readers of this book will be notified by e-mail and can follow this book on its travels. BookCrossing is free to join, completely confidential (you are known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your email address) and it's a whole lot of fun!
To the finder of this book:
I hope you enjoy your new read.
Welcome, also, to the wonderful and wacky world of BookCrossing! Here you'll find a unique and worldwide community of book lovers sharing their books. This book is now yours! Read it, enjoy it. Keep it or pass it on to someone you know, return it to any Little Free Library or even release it into the wild. It is all up to you.
If you make a journal entry (you can do it anonymously or as a BookCrossing member) all previous readers of this book will be notified by e-mail and can follow this book on its travels. BookCrossing is free to join, completely confidential (you are known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your email address) and it's a whole lot of fun!
