A review by e11en
Happy Never After: why the happiness fairytale is driving us mad by Jill Stark

2.0

I love Stark's writing and am a big fan of her work, however this wasn't my favourite. The format is the same as High Sobriety (which I loved), investigative research seamlessly entwined with personal anecdotes/memoir of Stark's own experiences with anxiety. From a research perspective, the book offers a really great, introductory overview of many of the issues surrounding anxiety in today's society, it just unfortunately didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. If you follow the news and popular current events closely, you may feel the same way. The memoir components were powerfully written and they certainly evoke empathy, however reading about others' anxiety always makes me feel anxious. There's certainly comfort in the solidarity and familiarity of them; knowing someone out there is having similar experiences to you. But for me, that's pretty fleeting and it seems to eventually exacerbate any lingering helplessness.