The Big Happy - Softcover

Mebus, Scott

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1401360270 ISBN 13: 9781401360276

Publisher: Miramax, 2007

Synopsis

David just wants to be happy. In fact, he has made it a personal quest to dispel all unhappiness from his life. But it's harder than it sounds: he's approaching thirty, a downmarket DJ by day (and a struggling writer by night), living in a cramped Manhattan apartment.

His friends are always there for him -- or are they Annie, his closest friend, is getting married to a man David dubs "Rat Boy"; Dustin and Cameron, David's cohorts in the city, are doing the unthinkable and settling down; and Zach, David's model of cool, as aloof and evasive as a wisp of smoke, is harboring a secret that could capsize the whole crew. On top of everything, David finds himself falling in love with Jane, a younger woman whose wit and charm are matched only by her instability.

The Big Happy asks the big questions: Can love and happiness coexist? Are we doomed to live out the mistakes of our youth? Do friendships ripen, or rot, as we age? For David, the prospect of happiness has never been quite so depressing.

About this title

About the Author:

Scott Mebus is a novelist, songwriter, playwright, comic, and music producer. His rock musical Tarnish appeared in the New York International Fringe Festival. Most recently, Scott was a producer for MTV and VH1, where he worked on the Tom Green Show, Real World, and MTV Yoga. He lives in New York City.

From Booklist:

The misadventures of hapless bachelor David Holden continue in Mebus' mildly amusing sequel to 2004's Booty Nomad. As the novel opens, David, who is about to turn 30, has abandoned his successful career as a television producer to (surprise, surprise) pen the Great American Novel. He spends his nonwriting hours (and they are numerous) working as a wedding and bar mitzvah DJ and obsessing over Janey, a beautiful but bitter bachelorette. He also conspires with his friends to pry gal-pal Annie away from her painfully earnest, do-gooder fiance, Josh. ("She'd be trapped in that house in suburbia eating macrobiotic muffins and wondering why the hell her car runs on electricity.") But most of all, David seeks "The Big Happy," a state of perfect contentment that seems preposterous at best. Playwright and songwriter Mebus is not without comedic credentials--he has worked as a producer for VH1 and MTV's Real World--but his ruminations on the laments of the modern male, although funny at times, pale in comparison to, say, Nick Hornby. Still, fans of the first novel will want to follow the story. Allison Block
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Miramax
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1401360270
• ISBN 13: 9781401360276
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384