A humorous take on the ever-elusive "happiness." The Oatmeal has been making me laugh for years!

I was pleasantly surprised and a little thrown off by this one. Whenever I read something from The Oatmeal I expect strange, crude humor but this was actually quite a bit more. At the end of the book, it's explained that this was done as a specific writing exercise known in the psychiatric world as "flow." The written part of the book is actually a lot deeper than I ever could have expected. The visual part though is what we've all come to expect from The Oatmeal. While it matches the text, in that the text is technically depicted, it does not match the feeling I got from reading the words. I did get a few smiles from the artwork but I thought of the art and writing as two separate things. If I hadn't, I doubt I would have enjoyed the book nearly as much as I did.

Well it looks lovely, especially the rich colours, but it's piffle, concerning one man's obstinacy in not defining 'happy' correctly. For no reason.

If you go to The Oatmeal to laugh, this is not quite the book to do so. While his books about cats trying to kill you, and two old men who are his dogs are quite funny and laugh out load, this was more, oh, ok, I see what you are saying, but this is not funny.

This reminds me a little bit about what <a href="http://www.juliawertz.com/2015/03/23/the-fart-partys-over-2/" target="_blank">Julia Wertz</a> once said about humor. It is funny when you are mocking the world, but when you mention what your life is like, that you have problems, the humor goes away, and people stop laughing. That is what I feel when I read this. OK, so your life is a drag, and you are not ecstatically happy all the time, but is that what happiness is? To be in a total state of bliss? It seems that what he defines as happy is different from what others define, and his ingagement might be happiness to others.

So, having said this, do not read this book if you are looking for "ass bunnies" as Julia Wertz says. Read it if you want to hear what The Oatmeal has to say about happiness.


Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

How to Be Perfectly Unhappy is a short, sweet graphic novel that questions the state of being happy and unhappy. The Oatmeal explores the depth of our thoughts and explains that “happy”, as the world writes it, is not real.

The art is just incredible. Though simple, the art varies in style and colour that readers just can’t get enough of it. With the splashes of colours on some pages and lack thereof in other, the illustrations perfectly complement the writing. It almost reminds me of watching a stop motion film: I can imagine the characters moving within the page.

What I loved most about the book was that it approaches happiness in a different light. It reminds the reader that sometimes the things that are meaningful to you aren’t always the things that make you happy, and that’s ok.

I found myself genuinely smiling as I flipped past the last page. Bittersweet, How to Be Perfectly Unhappy delivers with such deepness and simplicity that allows readers of all ages to understand..

I like the Oatmeal books that I have read. They have always had a peculiar sense of humor with the illustrations and what Matthew Inman discusses. This also has great humor throughout and I enjoyed it for the most part. A good short read for those that like the Oatmeal books.

Wow. I hated this so much. SO. MUCH.
First of all, the whole book is full of cartoon illustrations with vomit, farts, poop, blood, and grotesque faces. That does not make me a happy reader. I was too busy being nauseated to enjoy the writing.

And while the writing made a couple of good points about the concept of "being happy", I don't think the general philosophy here is a healthy one. No counselor that I know of would recommend this way of thinking.

I hated this so much. On so many levels. UGH.

Classic The Oatmeal material. I do love the approach to this book. He still gets his point across while still using his brand of humor. I can relate to the feeling he is trying to explain.

This is a little heavier than what I generally expect from The Oatmeal. The art is really beautiful and ranges from silly and simple to more complex visuals as the author has a point to make. The idea of being happy is much more complicated than how society seems to propose it as a yes or no question. That definition doesn't really fit with the spectrum of human experience. I agree with this and I think it is something that can make a person feel negatively when it's not necessary because this idea of Happiness as a permanent condition can be discouraging to anyone who does not wake up to rainbows and frolicking puppies and kittens every morning.

I enjoy The Oatmeal and generally look for more lighthearted stuff from them. I still feel as imperfectly unhappy after reading this as I did before, but I appreciate the creativity and can't argue with the sentiment behind it.

I received an advanced copy of How to be Perfectly Unhappy from NetGally in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I think How to be Perfectly Unhappy may be my favorite collection of Matthew Inman’s work to date. Not only does it still have the sometimes insane humor that we all know and love, but it blends it together with a surprisingly deep message, one that I personally resonated with.
I’ve read bits and pieces of How to be Perfectly Unhappy on the Oatmeal website, but it was actually really nice to be able to read through it all in one go. I think that anybody that’s ever struggled with the issue of “not being happy enough” should give this a read. It’s very well done and exceptionally insightful.
If you’re a fan of Matthew Inman and the Oatmeal, you may want to consider buying this book. It is deeply personal and touching, and I feel like I know him better now because of it. I certainly feel like I can relate to him more now. And as a bonus, supporting an artist you like is always amazing!

The Oatmeal always puts out great work. However, this book is in a different vein: less sarcasm, and a more powerful message. It was not what I expected, but that is a good thing! Despite it's short length, it really made me as a reader think about the concept of happiness as a social construct, and how we use the term in today's society. It confronts happiness as an illusion, and fights back against the way we try to place a binary nature upon it (happy vs unhappy, with nothing in between).

The illustrations were fantastic, as always, and I especially loved the comparison involving Pluto.

In this short graphic novel/comic The Oatmeal shows readers how to be perfectly unhappy while enjoying life. According to the author, the idea of being happy has become so forced that it's nearly impossible to truly achieve it. Rather than living a life struggling to find "happiness" one should simply do what they enjoy and find interest in.

I straddle the fence when it comes to agreeing with this sentiment because to me you can do the things you are interested in and still be unhappy. Likewise you can be happy doing something you don't honestly enjoy. It can go either way depending on the person, because every person is different and has their own opinions and definition of happiness.

The Oatmeal always makes their comics pretty straight forward without a lot of bells and whistles artistically. What illustrations are incorporated are cute and an evident tie in to their brand. It's easy to take one glance at the cover or any pages and recognize this is an Oatmeal publication. Fans should be sure to look for it on October 31, 2017. With that release date you can even TRICK your friend or an unsuspecting family member into TREATing you to it. 😉

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing this early review copy.

It's a very quick read, and I think I read it on his website already. But I love the sentiment here.

He talks about how he isn't necessarily unhappy, he feels very fulfilled by what he does. But he argues that our definition of happy if flawed.

It spoke to me, because people don't really tell me I'm unhappy, but I feel like I fall short of some goal.

It's nice to have someone tell me it's an unattainable goal.

<i>How to Be Perfectly Unhappy</i> is a short graphic novel which challenges the thought that being happy is the ultimate goal in life. It goes over the vagueness of the term "happy" and whether a person can only be happy or unhappy.
Although it is under fifty pages, this graphic novel made me think about what being happy and unhappy means and I am impressed by that. To illustrate this I will give you a quote:

<i>I'm not unhappy.
I'm just busy.
I'm interested.

And that's ok.</i>

If you want to open your mind to a new definition of being happy, then you should definitely pick this little book up.

This book is by the author of 'The Oatmeal' comics. Though I am not an avid follower of this series, I found this very thought-provoking. Instead of a set of separate comics, the entire set focuses on the single statement mentioned in the title.

There is something very serious presented in simple caricatures that will definitely start more than a conversation or two. Since it is a small book in itself, It requires an equally concise review, so I will stop with the fact that it is very interesting read ( despite seemingly having less content, word wise)

I neither loved nor hated this book. I meh'd it. Its 50 pages of pictures with a few words thrown in so the author can describe how he's not happy and thats ok. I love The Oatmeal but I think it loses its charm when its in book form

The title seemed familiar, but I was hoping there would be some new material in this one. Sadly, the answer is no. If you follow The Oatmeal/Matthew Inman on Twitter, and check his site quite a few times a month, then you have already read the entirety of this one there.

I still read it, and I noticed a few little changes (like the picture of the guy on fire in the running part).

It was good, and the message still came over clearly, just like it did when I read it the first time. It is a strong message, and I think it is one that needs to be read by everyone.

But I do think it is a bit silly to make a book just for this one comic. It would be nicer if he made a big compilation book with this one, several others, and also some new material not yet shown on his site/twitter. I would love that. I would buy that in a heartbeat. This may sound rash, but well, I have to post my honest review and I can't help but mentioning this.

All in all, still a good book, but I had expected more of this book.

I love The Oatmeal and will read anything that Matthew Inman puts out. If you aren't already following him on Twitter, I highly recommend jumping on that bandwagon. I read this lovely little book just after I finished another graphic book called Quiet Girl in a Noisy World and this edition covers some of the same ground. Less full on belly-laughing humor, Inman in this one takes on the idea of the dualism of being happy. (That is, if you are not happy, you MUST be unhappy). Instead, he illustrates that the problem is not that he is a grumpy, nasty, unhappy monster, but that happy is too unattainable, and something he's not really interested in attaining nor well-suited for. Instead, he is driven and hardworking and funny and many other things that are quite wonderful, thank you very much. Just not so much "happy".

I've previously read other Oatmeal books and really enjoyed the humour alongside the fantastically talented illustrations. With this one however, I was struck by how hugely cynical and pessimistic the author comes across. I understand the concept of happiness being rather a binary term, you either are or you're not happy, and this doesn't encompass the whole range of human emotions accurately. But the way it was delivered just left me feeling really deflated at the end of it!

I always enjoy The Oatmeal's drawings and this book does not disappoint. I like what it explores about what it means to be happy. As a generally upbeat person, I could understand where someone might balk at the ideas presented in this book. But I think that it causes the reader to stop and reflect on what happiness means to them.