A review by archytas
Happiness by Aminatta Forna

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

It is the small details of life that Forna has a talent for. The joy, agony and wonder of everyday living. Her characters emotional lives sing through the small moments - this disappointment of awkward pauses on a phone call; the joy of spotting someone lost; the exhaustion of failure. Forna's characters have rich lives, juggling multiple worries in a way that is very normal, and yet rarely written as such. Yet through these personal stories, Forna weaves a larger one about who we are and what matters to us. She does this with threads appearing quite different: dementia and elder care, urban wildlife and the delicately fraught issue of who cities belong to, racism and the impossible vulnerabilty of refugees and migrants, and PTSD, trauma and whether happiness itself is a myth. The result is an immensely satisfying story, one which entertains and provokes, and never forgets to celebrate connection.