Lovely, well-written novel. The lead characters were a bit strange in their relationship to one another. I never felt the chemistry. It was a little tough for me to tie the threads together, but that could be a reflection on my scatterbrain. Fantastic description; a love for what she is writing about really makes Forna's prose stand out. Loved the "italics" portions. Beautiful cover.

I really enjoyed this original and thoughtful novel about love, happiness, trauma, PTSD, grief and loss, a challenging collection of themes, but one which Aminatta Forna manages with skill and grace. Jean and Attila quite literally bump into each other on a London bridge. Jean is an American wild-life researcher, a scientist who is studying London’s urban foxes. Attila is a Ghanaian psychiatrist who specialises in PTSD and the aftermath of war and conflict, who’s in England to attend a conference. There are many dichotomies explored in the book – the wild and the domestic, interlopers and natives, urban life and life in the wild, and Forna explores many of these themes to challenge our sometimes pre-conceived ideas. Certainly Attila wants to open up to discussion the idea that that trauma doesn’t always lead to damage and that grief is not necessarily a disease that is treatable but an emotion that is part and parcel of human existence. Happiness is not necessarily a state in which you never encounter difficulty or adversity but something that can embrace negative emotions and experience. Both Jean and Attila have loss and grief in their own personal lives which they must come to terms with. There are various subplots which are woven cleverly into the narrative and add to its rich tapestry of people and ideas. Jean and Attila are fallible but likeable and believable characters and my world feels expanded from having spent time in their company.

A Quiet and contemplative novel which begins with a chance meeting on the Waterloo bridge brings together two people, both emotionally wounded. Two people, Jean a woman who studies animals in urban areas and Attila, who is an expert in PTSD in refugees. An unusual friendship will develop between the two, and maybe a hope for more. Although their studies differ in theory, in essence they are both studying the behavior of those, whether animal or human, who were forced out of their natural environment. Trying to adapt to a new environment, often facing hostility.

This is a book i should have loved, but didnt, though I did admire the prose and the subjects. I even liked the characters, though my favorites were the doormen who came from various Africa countries. They added a compassionate element that I liked. I'm not sure why this missed the mark for me, whether it was my mood or that I found the plot meandering, but I found myself putting it down and not in a big hurry to pick it back up. I did like the last third more, which is why I rated this the way I did.

ARC from Netgalley.

This is a beautifully written book with wonderful descriptions of the characters and surroundings. I found the first half rather hard to get into and the story seemed to be often confusing. I would advise people to read this book for the writing but not necessarily the story.

In the quiet tone that readers of her previous books have come to love, Forna paints a vivid and colorful picture of city life, of chance encounters, love and friendship. Bittersweet and beautiful.

A chance encounter on Waterloo Bridge, London. Theatregoers, en masse, stream out into a sleety night. Heavy foot traffic on Waterloo Bridge startles a fox. Two pedestrians crash with the woman falling to the ground. The gentleman helps her up.

Dr. Attila Asare, a psychiatrist from Ghana, has traveled to London to deliver a keynote speech at a psychiatry conference. For years, Attila has worked in war zones, specializing in trauma experienced by survivors. He is a big man with a hearty appetite. When eating out, he enjoys being seated near the kitchen in order to view the epicurean creations carried by waiters to the dining clientele.

Jean Turane, an American, is a wildlife biologist working on a two year independent study of urban foxes. Jean, a runner, tracks the movement of foxes who are nocturnal, solitary animals. She gets an assist from some West African immigrants who have volunteered as fox spotters.

Attila's visit to London is multi-faceted. He is asked to check on his "niece" Ama who has not been reachable by phone. A visit to her apartment is unsettling. A neighbor informs Attila that immigration came two days ago. Ama is located in hospital being treated for diabetes but her son Tano, ten years old, is missing.

"Happiness" by Aminatta Forna is a very rich, multi-layered novel. Both Attila and Jean seem to have fulfilling careers but are alone, having experienced loss of love. They carry on, ministering to others. Attila works with trauma victims, Jean with the fox population, recording their movements, trying to promote urban co-existence between humans and foxes. There are factions opposing Jean's work. Lack of knowledge and panic are the driving forces. Attila and Jean cross paths, on occasion. Is this for a reason or a season?

For this reader, "Happiness" was a most enjoyable and informative book. The behavior and habitats of wolves, coyotes and foxes was presented. The character development was excellent as well. This is a tome I highly recommend.

Thank you Grove Atlantic and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "Happiness".

They meet by accident, but somehow they have known each other forever. Attila, a Ghanaian psychiatrist, has come to London to give a speech at a conference. He is a specialist in post-traumatic stress and has seen the worst the world has to offer. But this is not the only thing he has to do there. First of all, he has to find the daughter of some of his friends who hasn’t called for a couple of days and who, together with her son, seems to be missing. Another thing task waiting for him is to visit Rosie, his former colleague and lover. She is in a home, not aware of the world anymore, waiting for her life to come to an end. While Attila is occupied with the humans around him, the American biologist Jean cares a lot more for the animals. Especially foxes around town. She is fighting a hopeless battle against those who want to kill them all and do not understand that this is not how things work with wild animals.

Aminatta Forna’s novel has a title which could hardly fit better: “Happiness”. The whole story is about happiness and the question what you need in life to be happy and what happiness means after all. But maybe it is not happiness that we are looking for, but rather – as one of the characters puts it – hope. Without hope, there is not future, but you can have a whole lot of future without happiness.

Both Jean and Attila are most interesting characters in their very own ways. The author has done a great job in creating them and in opposing them, their view of the world and the way they approach life. They have some similarities, too, their principles and beliefs and the fight for what they believe is the right thing – it is not easily nowadays to find people with such strong convictions.

Yet, what I loved most about the novel were the really poetic ways of unobtrusively talking about life and love in a philosophical way. She captures the fragility of love and our existence in a way that is hard to excel. I really fell for the language in this novel and was waiting eagerly to find more of those passing comments that capture so much truth in this unassuming, shy way:

The reckless open their arms and topple into love, as do dreamers, who fly in their dreams without fear or danger. Those who know that all love must end in loss do not fall but rather cross slowly from the not knowing into the knowing.

It is a bittersweet story, full of love and loss, life and death. And certainly one of the most remarkable novels of this spring.

I struggled reading this book but finished it. And pleased I did.

A beautifully written novel that makes the reader examine what they are putting in their own way to happiness and to let compassion and hope rule the head and the heart.

A lovely great read. When I started highlighting as I read I knew I had found something good. And I did not inundate you with my highlighted updates only because I read an advanced readers copy of this, so consider yourselves spared.

This was my first encounter with Forna and I definitely do not want it to by my last. I like how she writes, how her words are punches in a paragraph and caresses in another. Her ability to see, to join dots is one I want more of.

Happiness, what is it, shall we find it where the adverts tell us, or the films or society. Forna's story explores life, death, trauma, happiness. How what seems small, insignificant, like how we treat animals is a reflection to how we treat others, what we expect from others and from our life, what scares us, what we allow to make us happy. Forna's people are the people I want to read about. The more we read about the ones in the shadows, the better. The ones in the limelight, who dictate, what happiness is, are not a reflections of us, rather a magnet greedy for attention without any real care for the attention givers. What gives some people such a certainty, such a feeling of entitlement, that what they think is right, that they have the moral high-ground? This certainty that obliterates the life of others and casts them in the shadow. Is it being born in one place and having the fortune or misfortune to stay in that place, to call that place yours. Not everyone can do that, not in our world, the ones moving in the shadows exist as well and this is one of their stories.

Great story, I loved reading it.

This is a masterfully written book that is weaving stories throughout, and keeps the reader entertained and fascinated by the weaving. Imagine watching a large tapestry being woven. That’s what you are doing as you read this book.

4★
“‘Fast food. Fried chicken, burgers, kebabs – the sidewalks have turned into an “all you can eat” buffet for foxes. The same is true in cities the world over.”

Jean has a small grant to study urban foxes in London and supplements it with money earned from “wilding” people’s urban domains, planting vegetable and wildflower gardens on balconies and rooftops. Her business card reads “Jean Turane. Wild Spaces.”

She’s a divorced American with an ex-husband, Ray, a perfectly decent fellow who absolutely loves the cars he sells and the life he’s chosen in a small town. Jean, on the other hand, is an outdoor girl who goes for runs through the woods and puts radio-collars on coyotes. He does go along to help and tries to sound interested, but isn’t completely convincing.

“Ray felt he could not compete with her work. If she had run her own nail salon probably they would still be together.”

That’s the life a lot of her old schoolmates chose, but she’s enjoying her solitude in London, where she watches foxes clamber along walls, across bridges, through alleys, making dens under shipping containers. Some are chased away, some are fed by people working in the kitchens of the Savoy.

Crossing Waterloo Bridge one day, she literally bumps into Attila Asare, an enormous, very black African psychiatrist who is in London as the keynote speaker at a psychiatry conference. They mumble apologies and go on their way. They cross paths again, of course, and the connection of their stories is the basis for the novel.

Forna is a fine writer and she obviously has a lot to say about urbanisation of wildlife, conservation, politics, wars and war zones, migrants, psychology - anything I’ve left out?

Jean is a bit of an idealistic tree-hugger, Attila is a realistic, practical psychiatrist, and when they are suddenly presented with a young boy who needs looking after, they gather some of the African community around them and pitch in.

There’s a bit too much going on, but basically I enjoyed it. I was reminded of Trevor Noah’s autobiography, Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood, when Attila was asked about his name.

‘Your parents named you after Attila the Hun?’
Attila smiled. ‘Some people,’ he said, ‘name their baby girls Victoria.’

Noah said many Africans had only heard famous names and decided to name their kids for someone famous, and one kid he grew up with was called Hitler. As Noah said, the parents would have had no idea Hitler was bad, just that it was a name they’d heard a lot. [I shared a lot of his information about this in my review of his book: ]

There are many side stories, mostly Attila’s I think, since he’s got the colourful background, working around the world as he has with troops and people suffering from PTSD. He is continually asked to be an expert witness in stress and trauma cases, but he prefers not to testify, since there’s too much at stake now financially, not medically.

“‘It’s a hot topic and it’s only getting hotter. The military take it a great deal more seriously these days. Then there’s the insurance companies, certain employers. There’s a lot of work for expert witnesses now.’”

He’s an expert, all right, but he understands that not all reactions to grief and tragedy are necessarily PTSD. So there is quite a discussion about what does constitute PTSD as opposed to normal reactions to loss or horror, and if I need a psychiatrist, I’d like Attila to be mine, please.

He has suffered his own trauma and losses, and the stories cut back and forth a bit to his work in war zones, facing checkpoints and his unwinding with an iPod playing something like a Congolese rumba, which gets him dancing with abandon in his hotel room. Seems to suit him.

Jean’s stories tend to get preachy about cutting down trees, killing foxes and coyotes, eating vegan, running through the cemetery to be alone. A bit of a killjoy, but gradually we see her warm up with the influence of the migrant community, Attila and the boy.

A good read, if a bit disjointed, and I loved Attila. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the review copy from which I’ve quoted, so quotes may have changed.

Happiness by Aminatta Forna is a well-written, but complicated story which moves back and forth between places and people. The many side stories are, in my opinion, somewhat distracting as they seem to be overly long and detailed - although well written and interesting, in their own right. These asides seem to take the focus away from the central story line to the extent that on returning to the main story, I found it difficult to pick up where it had left off and sometimes lost track of who some of the subsidiary characters were. Everything ultimately related to everything else, but it was not an easy route to follow.

The characters are well developed and appealing, and I particularly enjoyed the main character, Attila, a kindhearted Ghanaian psychiatrist with a penchant for Latin-American and other ballroom dancing.

Happiness is an interesting book and I would certainly recommend it, but not if you're after an easy, undemanding read. Thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the ARC.

I wasn’t a fan of this book and was unable to finish.

3.5 stars
Happiness is a slow burn that took a while to get into at first. Yet there is so much depth to this book that one cannot easily dismiss it. Flashbacks and long ago histories are used to show that coincidence does not exist. Instead Forna chooses to highlight the inter-relatedness of humans to one another and to our environment. In this way Happiness is a love story. One that is honest and tenderly develops over time. Early on we are introduced to Jean, a wildlife biologist studying canids in urban areas and Attila, a psychologist who travels to war torn countries and examines the impact of trauma. Their relationship lies in the background of what defines Happiness. Through the voice of Attila, Forna examines our ideas of happiness. In Western society this notion of contentment is more about the belief that we are owed pleasure. This theory assumes that we come into the world happy and as long as hardship doesn’t knock on our door we remain blissful and at peace. But life does not work this way. Change is inevitable. Our need to control everything exposes our vulnerabilities and causes us to act out in fear. Holding ourselves to the opinion that trauma brings about grief and changes us for the worse only brings about despair. Instead struggle and change should be viewed as necessary for personal growth and instilling an appreciation for what we have been given.

This is a multi-layered fictional account of a man’s introspection and love for three different women, while at the same time allowing the reader to briefly glimpse the lives of those he loved. Intermingled throughout the story are wild fox and coyotes (which seems very knowledgeable) plus wild birds. The author weaves the mating of humans and the wild rather interestingly. The reader is left with hope.

I'm so conflicted about Happiness. I think there's a really extraordinary novel in here - I just think it occasionally gets too caught up in its meandering structure, and loses focus too often. At its best, it's striking and thought-provoking; at its worst, it's a slog.

Happiness is a quiet, contemplative novel that meditates on themes like trauma, cultural differences, the relationship between humans and animals, and what it means to be happy. The novel begins with a chance encounter between two expats in London, an American woman named Jean and a Ghanaian man named Attila. It takes place over the course of about a week (though it feels much longer), and it follows each of their narratives as they weave in and out of each other's lives.

I've seen this compared to Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day, but it actually reminds me more of The Unconsoled. Not the whole Kafkaesque element, but one thing that struck me was how Jean and Attila kept encountering minor characters, getting caught up in their drama, and getting derailed from their main story - reminiscent of Ishiguro's character Ryder (not to mention that Attila and Ryder are both meant to be preparing for exhibitions of sorts - a psychology lecture for one and a piano recital for the other). But anyway, these proverbial rabbit holes that they go down feel less like subplots than they do side-quests, and as a reader I couldn't help but to go through Happiness with a touch of impatience, waiting for the narrative to regain focus. This not-quite-linear structure is deliberate, but it didn't completely work for me.

I thought Forna's prose was really excellent, and I highlighted so many passages on my Kindle that I found striking. But I also couldn't wait to be done with this after a while. While it's certainly a unique novel that has a lot to offer, I just wish it had been subjected to more rigorous editing. Maybe that's just a personal preference, though. Recommended if you're in the mood for something thoughtful and character-driven, that ultimately examines the role of trauma in shaping our lives.

Thank you to Netgalley, Atlantic Monthly Press, and Aminatta Forna for the advanced copy provided in exchange for an honest review.

I knew nothing about this author or novel but, true to its title, it was a happy surprise. This is a thoughtful and thought-provoking story of two adults who meet in London. Attila is a trauma expert from Ghana who arrives in London for a conference and to check up on a niece who hasn’t been heard from. Jean is a biologist who is studying the behavior of foxes in urban settings. Attila is a widow; Jean is divorced. The two meet on a bridge one night and their lives become intertwined.

This is a slow-moving, character-focused novel about two people who are lonely but who are also really driven by their areas of expertise. It was nice to read a book about characters who are so passionate about their work. Both are outsiders in their own way, but they are also mature, confident adults with strong self-identities who happen to connect. Attila and Jean are both people I would like to know (and that’s not something I say about most books).

“You had to wonder what was it in humans that made them crave contact with wild animals, when the animals steadfastly resisted the same. People paid money to swim with dolphins, they went on safari, took their children to petting zoos… Where did it come from, the yearning? Something missing in human society or some other more basic drive towards the remnant of what was once wild, not in the animal, but in us.” Happiness by Aminatta Forna.

In addition to its focus on animals, I loved the diversity of the book’s characters. As Jean studies her foxes and Attila looks for his niece and her son, they get to know different people living and working in London, from doormen at hotels to street performers. The result is a rich tapestry of characters who live and work in the city, most of them from other parts of the world. For me, like so many things lately, it shines a light on the importance of seeing and understanding the diverse cultures around us.

I also liked that this book was a mix of what I’ll call big issues and small issues. As a psychologist who specializes in trauma, Attila has traveled to war zones and studied the effects of violence (such as captivity and torture) on individuals. Jean has to deal with people who want to eradicate foxes, coyotes, even parakeets. There’s terrorism, a missing child, and a close friend with Alzheimer’s. But at the same time, this is a book about small moments, like Jean trying to stay close with her college-age son in the aftermath of her divorce. Like the small, and not-so-small, matter of finding a new friend.

“There is a time one sees a new love, a person who might perhaps become a new love, when the possibility of love has been spoken for the first time, but the possibility of retreat still exists, when one or other might still step away from the abyss. In the hours apart a space opens up between the could-be lovers. A false word or misstep and all might yet be undone. Beneath the possibility of joy lies the fear of shame.” Happiness by Aminatta Forna.

This is a book that ponders what it means to be happy, to connect with the world around you — with people who are different, and with nature. Forna’s writing is straightforward but powerful, simple and emotional at the same time. She draws together many different events, giving them meaning in a way that doesn’t hit you over the head but makes you think. I was sorry to see this book end.

Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and publisher Grove Atlantic. The book was published May 6.

I will totally admit that I started this book and wondered "what am I reading?"

I didn't understand the first chapter about the wolves ... I couldn't understand the connection once I was introduced to Attila or to Jean. But I continued to read and was able to connect some dots; the thing I realized was that I really liked the characters - I liked where their stories were going, and I thought it was so well written I didn't want to put it down.

Honestly, I can't say that "the STORY" is the best one I have read. However, I can say that Attila's storyline was lovely to follow and Jean's storyline was also equally wonderful to follow - and when they connected it all made sense, but the book could have been all about Attila or all about Jean and I would have enjoyed it as well. Does that make sense?

The beauty in this book is how well developed their individual stories are - Aminatta Forna was able to create such vivid lives for each character, as well as each supporting character. She was able to bring the past and the present together in such a seamless way.

This is a book that speaks to a reader who loves to explore characters, who don't need high tension plots or twists and turns. This is a book for someone who likes to observe people and see what happens. I don't think it's going to get the hype it deserves, but I do think if someone takes the time to sit down and just read - you won't regret it.

Recommended read and thank you Netgalley for the advanced reader copy of this book in return for my honest review.

Stealthily – like the foxes, coyotes and wolves under discussion in Happiness – Forna’s new work creeps up on the reader, its direction initially undetectable. The book opens with an account of wolf-hunting in New England in 1834. Is it an historical novel, an American one?

The answers are no and no, or maybe. For this is a story of wide and significant scope that spans continents and decades, even though it unspools itself mainly in the UK in the twenty-first century. And there’s more to it than mammals or birds, or wildlife or gardens. This is also a book about war and trauma, about refugees and immigrants, survival and the unexpected by-products of suffering. And last, but far from least, it’s a love story.

That this accomplished author can not only juggle all these elements but render them translucent, readable and fascinating is remarkable, but less surprising if we recall that her previous novels have revealed a similar ability to peel away layers of meaning and perspective. Yet Happiness is exceptionally diverse in content and structure. Even the commentary on the subject of its title comes late and theoretical. The proof is perhaps not so much on the page as in the book’s lingering after-effect.

At the novel’s heart are two properly grown-up characters, urban wildlife biologist Jean Tulane, from the USA, and Dr Attila Ansare, a trauma-specializing psychiatrist from West Africa. Separately, they are both fascinated by what they do; professional immersion has resulted in their lives and their occupations having, over time, melded into a single unit. A collision on Waterloo Bridge is the couple’s first introduction, and soon they are involved in the hunt for a lost boy which leads to an expanding network of bonds. Meanwhile Jean becomes drawn into a metropolitan fox-culling controversy and Attila comes to the aid of a lover from earlier days, now an Alzheimer sufferer.

Forna slips episodes from the past into her present-day narrative, showing Jean and Attila at work, and at home too, explaining how they have arrived at this moment. Meanwhile around them, in London, they assemble a curious crew of incomers and marginal folk, a population that fills and lends ballast to an odd, often touching story blending pain, change and death with hope, value and the possibility of love.

Hard both to characterize and put down, this is a fresh and engrossing work, written with enormous heart and attention to detail . Once again, Forna takes us somewhere different and easily persuades us to stay.