Happy All the
Time is a tongue-in-cheek title: The two couples in this
novel not only are not always happy but also wonder whether love might
not be "sickness." This is not a sentimental novel, but it is one that
asserts that love is worth the pain.
Giudo, who analyzes everything, marries inscrutable, self-contained
Holly, with whom he thinks life is perfect — until she leaves
him for an undetermined period with no explanation except that
separation will keep them from growing complacent.
Meanwhile, his best friend and third cousin Vincent, an easygoing guy
who thinks things usually work out, is laboring mightily to win the
heart of Misty, a self-described "scourge of God" who expects the worst
to happen.
But none of them gives up. While you may wonder what the attractions
were, by the end of the book author Laurie Colwin manages to persuade
you that each is with the right person. As Misty put it: Vincent's
"happy vistas and Misty's grim vision fused into one full-balanced
picture of the world."
Happy All the Time
will make you believe in love, but not as a gift the gods bestow on the
lucky. On the last page, when the two couples toast "a truly wonderful
life," you feel they've earned it.
Love was Colwin's favorite subject in her five novels and three volumes
of short stories. She also wrote two books about food before dying
unexpectedly in 1992 of a heart attack at age 48. She is not widely
known, but she has a devoted following of fans who say they return to
her books over and over for new insights and encouragement as they
confront their own difficulties of the heart.
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