HAPPY NOW?
HAPPY NOW?
After many lonely years and alarming Internet dates, Claire Kessler, an artist and self-proclaimed homebody, believed she had found the perfect man. Jay was earnest, romantic, and gainfully employed, and within a year they were married.
Less than two years later, Jay killed himself.
On Valentine’s Day.
Happy Now? follows Claire’s chaotic and often tragicomic journey through the weeks after her husband’s suicide.
With wit and compassion, Katherine Shonk explores both the possibilities and the limitations of human relationships. Happy Now? is an uncommonly honest portrait of love, loss, and letting go.
Order Happy Now? from your local independent bookseller, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon.
PRAISE FOR HAPPY NOW?
“...[an] accomplished, moving first novel...The author...traces Claire’s odyssey from grief, guilt and rage to acceptance with such honesty and empathy, leavened by startling but bracing humor, that we hope for the best for her appealing protagonist—and for more novels from this talented writer.”
— Wendy Smith, the Chicago Tribune
“What drives the story is the mystery of character... Happy Now? becomes a dark thriller as Claire, ready to face the truth, pursues it with desperation.”
— the New York Times, Editor’s Choice
“What Shonk accomplished is nearly miraculous: she took material that could have been painfully maudlin and instead created one of the most honest and bitingly funny portraits of grief in contemporary fiction without, as many writers might (and have), resorting to broad farce or easy, cathartic hugs.”
— Aimee Levitt, Chicago Reader
“...Shonk’s...distinctive voice — the ironic, self-mocking sense of humor, the flair for capturing the ache of imperfect romantic love, the observation of quirky behavioral details, the starchy appraisal of flawed character, the telling sense of family dynamics — is once again on display.
On the surface, [the] story might seem like fodder for a Lifetime television network drama or a women’s magazine story. But Shonk (the sort of writer Saul Bellow might have dubbed “a first-class noticer”) makes gold of it — invariably stripping away sentimentality and replacing it with the mix of caustic intelligence and biting wit of someone who feels things deeply but never loses the ability to step back a bit and see the dysfunctional theater of it all.”
— Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times
“Katherine Shonk’s absorbing debut novel, Happy Now?, opens in the bleak aftermath of this tragedy, and painstakingly captures the surreal rhythms and routines of dealing with a sudden loss. ...With grace (and graciousness), Shonk shows us a relationship that, while full of love, could never have been enough for one of the people in it. ...Happy Now? is a raw, lucid portrait of a life just after it’s been shattered, as it begins to take on a new shape.”
— Eryn Loeb, Time Out New York
“Anyone who has passed up a popcorn car-chase flick in favor of a good indie knows how powerful a simple, skillfully told, character-driven story can be. Katherine Shonk does, and Happy Now? (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), her first novel, is proof. Shonk's incisive writing feels effortless, at times stealthy. She's so economical in her descriptions—of a character's mannerisms, clothes, psyche—that she can evoke a resonant image in the space of a sentence.”
— Rachel Rosenblit, ELLE magazine
“Both tear-jerking and laugh-out-loud funny, [Happy Now?] will have readers rooting for its brave heroine and hoping that, indeed, she will one day be happy again.”
— Publisher’s Weekly
“Carefully configured with telling details, Shonk’s brooding yet wryly witty drama is a revealing tale of family ties, love gone awry, and the wintry season of grief.”
— Donna Seaman, Booklist
“In Claire Kessler, Shonk has managed to create a wonderfully realistic character and a story poignant and witty rather than melancholy and dark.”
— Library Journal
“With gentle humor and a complex heroine, Shonk’s (The Red Passport, 2003) confident first novel uses a light hand to sketch out some dark truths. Sensitive and engrossing portrayal of the grieving process that never resorts to cliché.”
— Kirkus Review