A review by black_girl_reading
Happiness by Aminatta Forna

5.0

This book tells the story of multiple folks, primarily from various African nations (plus an American scientist and a British scientist) as they converge in London by random chance, human kindness, and one common connection. I loved that Attila, a character from the memory of love showed back up in this novel as the common thread, because he got a bad rap in that book and I knew there was a man I liked in there. He was such a sensory person, and so well written. So warm and compelling. This book touches so much on human nature and on the fragility and beauty of life, in such visceral ways you come to know the characters as people. I loved as well the sly way that Forna picks apart the privilege of whiteness in London, and the disruptive racism there, and also gives us a glimpse of the communities that immigrants build and the spaces they inhabit together. And there were animals! So many foxes and parakeets, and coyotes. Forna does not shy away from the heavy stuff, from the brutality of life, but she is so adept at making it just part of the human condition. It’s a motivator to live with joy, not a clarion call to be more fearful. I appreciate that she can tell the most horrific stories of war that stick with me, but that in the same book she can give me characters that I come to know and love and expect to share dinner with when I next run into them. What a book.