Happiness - Softcover

Ferguson, Will

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143016393 ISBN 13: 9780143016397

Publisher: Penguin Canada, 2003

Synopsis

Will Ferguson's bestselling debut novel—formerly known as Generica—is now an international publishing sensation, attracting kudos from critics and readers in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. Ferguson is well known for his non-fiction hits such as How To Be Canadian, but here he turns his hand to fiction—with hilarious results.

Edwin de Valu, an overworked editor at Panderic Press, is in trouble. The weekly editorial meeting isn't going well and he needs a hit for the upcoming fall season. In desperation he presents a previously rejected self-help manuscript, "What I Learned On The Mountain,"by Tupak Soiree.

Much to Edwin's chagrin, the project is accepted, and soon becomes the number-one bestseller of all time. But can this self-help book be the real thing? Dismayed by the plague of happiness that ensues, Edwin attempts to get to the bottom of the mysteries of Tupak Soiree and the book he has unleashed on our unsuspecting world.

About this title

Review:

"The Age of Nice is at hand, and there's nothing we can do about it." But the protagonist of Will Ferguson's Happiness, terminally luckless book editor Edwin de Valu, does want to do something. In fact, he feels obliged to put a stop to the Age of Nice, because it's all his fault. Desperate to save a flagging career in the world of self-help publishing, Edwin has staked everything on a dubious, thousand-page manuscript bearing the motto "Live! Love! Learn!" Promising its readers endless wealth, effortless weight loss, and everlasting happiness, the book has become a runaway success. And that's where Edwin's problems really begin. There's the murderous cartel of drug and tobacco barons who want Edwin's head on a plate, as well as the fact that misery, cynicism, irrational hatred, draught beer--all the things that once made Edwin's life as an underdog bearable--have become outlawed. It's down to one man to save the globe from the tyranny of the group hug! But can Edwin do it before the world economy melts down and a bestselling serial killer called Dr. Ethics enacts his own deadly revenge?

It has been said--possibly by the sort of homily-peddling guru that Ferguson attacks so masterfully in his debut novel--that there are many routes to happiness. The general effect of reading this razor-sharp satire on the self-help industry is to understand that these routes lead us nowhere, except perhaps to a cul-de-sac called Hell. This would be depressing to realize, except that Happiness clubs its readers into submission with the sort of zany, almost otherworldly wit that makes us profoundly glad to be alive. --Matthew Baylis, Amazon.co.uk

From the Back Cover:

Edwin de Valu, an overworked and underpaid editor at New York's Panderic Press, is in trouble. He needs a hit for the coming season. In desperation he stakes his flagging career on a rambling self-help manuscript that promises its readers endless wealth, effortless weight loss and everlasting happiness. To Edwin's surprise, Tupak Soiree's magnum opus not only becomes a runaway bestseller but ushers in the global cult of "Happiness" (a word now trademarked by Panderic Press). It's up to Edwin to save American from Tupak (the "Stalin of the New Age") and his "neutron bomb of love."

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Canada
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0143016393
• ISBN 13: 9780143016397
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368