Llegué a esta novela porque la anterior novela de Jameson, ‘Los últimos’, me pareció una interesante propuesta dentro del trillado género detectivesco, aunque la ejecución fuera finalmente fallida. Desgraciadamente, leyendo esta nueva obra de la autora me encuentro con una situación similar.

En ‘Are you happy now’ seguimos la historia de cuatro personajes principales (junto a un buen puñado de secundarios) que se enfrentan a un mundo donde se origina una pandemia. Parece la historia típica que podría surgir de estos últimos años. La pandemia consiste en personas que de un momento para otro se sientan y no hacen nada hasta que pasadas un par de semanas mueren.

Jameson utiliza esta pandemia como reflexión de la vida de estrés y las presiones que todos ponemos a otros y a nosotros mismos por tener que hacer ciertas cosas vitales como parte fundamental de nuestra vida.

Este, para mi gusto, buen punto de partida se sume en el más absoluto aburrimiento durante la novela. Ni los cuatro protagonistas son interesantes ni su desarrollo atractivo. Sus idas y venidas no son más que un slice of life que, aunque por momentos parece despegar, termina siempre dejando una sensación agridulce. Para añadir más problemas, el ritmo de la historia es sumamente lento. Y, aunque sea un ligero spoiler, el final de la trama “pandémica” es totalmente decepcionante.

Una novela prescindible.

Are You Happy Now, although it is about a fictitious pandemic where people sit down and give up, feels like it is a snapshot of modern life. In a world where things are difficult and overwhelming, the possibility of just giving up is an appealing one.

It is beautifully written with characters who I loved, is incredibly tender and a thoughtful read There were shades of Emily St John Mandel (the highest accolade I can give, I love her books) in the writing and world building. Although rooted in a realistic New York, things felt slightly altered and I really enjoyed this slight disconnect,

The central relationships of the four main characters were multi layered and beautifully depicted. I just adored it and gobbled it up in a couple of sittings.

At a New York City wedding, one of the guests suddenly sits down on the floor and refuses to stand back up. Soon, it became a worldwide phenomenon. Nobody understands if this is a choice, a sickness or another strange epidemy. Among the chaos, Yum, Emory, Andrew and Fin, all present at the wedding, try to find their happiness.

Are You Happy Now is an original position. In beautiful lyrical language, it tells the story of four people or rather two couples. It is a slow but emotional read, focusing on the characters' thoughts and intense feelings. I found the idea of people randomly sitting down in the middle of the room fascinating and thought-provoking. I could not stop thinking about the reason behind it. Was it an illness? A virus? A form of depression? Were they conscious? Was it a decision? Did they decide to opt out of the fast, stressful and overwhelming way we live right now?

I could not stop reading this unique story and would recommend his book to those looking for an original and thought-provoking novel.

This is a difficult novel to review - not because I didn’t enjoy it, rather I’m not sure how I felt. I seem to have been on a dystopian book trip lately and this seemed like it would tick all my boxes. The beginning really leans heavily into a pandemic, however, not Covid - one that sends people catatonic. The novel progresses by focusing on a group of friends and their dynamics when faced with a unique situation. So, the relationships were interesting, however, as I said, it’s not what I thought I was getting into. So, I’m effect, if you’re looking for a full on dystopian pandemic novel then this isn’t it. If you’re looking for a nuanced tale about millennial relationships then seriously give this a go.

I can't say I honestly enjoyed this one. It started off well and drew in the reader sufficiently. Lots of intrigue about the 'epidemic' of people giving up that builds to absolutely no pay off. I enjoyed Andrew and Fin's side of the story for the most part but the real focus of the novel was on Yun who was pretty insufferable as a person. Maybe that makes him accurate as a flawed human being but I feel like I wasted my time by the end of the book.

What worked for the author in 'The Last' doesn't work here at all. It needed answers, direction and a compelling protagonist I feel.

‘At a New York City wedding, on a sweltering summer night, four people are trying to be happy.

Yun has everything he ever wanted, but somehow it's never enough.
Emory is finally making her mark, but feels the shame more than the success.
Andrew is trying to be honest, but has lied to himself his whole life.
Fin can't resist falling in love, but can't help wrecking it all either.’

What a book… this has got to be the heaviest I’ve read in a long, long time. Written during the pandemic, this book looks at an epidemic of misery which leads to catatonia and later death.

With each character harbouring their own issues, and a sort-of mystery of these unusual deaths sweeping the globe, it’s an intense read and at points page-turning.

I found that this book made me feel exhausted and slightly triggering as someone who struggles with their mental health, but nevertheless found it to be an interesting read.

Again, it was quite unusual in the sense that very few of the characters had ‘likeable’ elements to them which meant I found it difficult to know what to make of them and whether I should be whooping that they had made progress or supporting the other characters.

Thanks to @netgalley for this ARC, but definitely think before reading it as it did leave me feeling quite low.

I'm unable to pinpoint this novel into a genre. It's part coming of age story, (although none of the characters are that young) , part dystopian/pandemic novel and part romance exploring love, attraction, relationships and self.
After reading it, it left me thinking was this a novel not quite sure what it was trying to be and therefore ended up being a bit of lots of things but without being enough of any of them, or was it just a imaginative take on a kind of romance story. On reflection I've decided it was the later.

I enjoyed the author previous book, a dystopian novel and indeed went to a fantastic launch in London for it, so I was interested to she what she wrote next. It is quite different.
Four people are at a wedding when a guest stops, sits down on the floor and doesn't get up. She can not be 'woken' and appears to be in a catatonic state. Soon news of other very similar incidents are being reported. It doesn't appear to be a virus yet it is spreading. The novel follows these 4 as they form relationships, move in with their partners and go out to work, or not. All with this strange pandemic type situation going on around them.

A slower paced story which in the main is a romance of sorts but also looks deeper at the characters as this pandemic makes them look at themselves and those around them.

Firstly, the lack of a ‘?‘ in the title is driving me mad!

4 people are at a wedding when one of the guests enters a catatonic state and refuses to move. Soon, this starts to spread around the world and becomes another pandemic.

This was really a contemporary ‘romance‘ novel, with the pandemic on its edges. There wasn‘t enough depth to that side of it, and the reasons behind the catatonia (mental illness, a voluntary response to the climate crisis?) weren‘t fully explored. It certainly shouldn‘t be compared to the authors in the blurb. The ending was rather weak too.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3

Was not sure what to expect to this story and even now, I am not.sure It was an interesting read, but not enthralling

I liked the start of this book and I liked the concept of it. To just sit down and give up living without any knowledge of why or how is quite scary. The story concentrates on 4 interconnecting people and you get their stories but ultimately I was disappointed with the ending.

“He didn’t want to die, he just wanted to stop, to cease, sit down. Maybe just sleep, for a year or maybe forever.”

Four people, all in their late twenties/early thirties, are trying to be happy against the backdrop of a pandemic - no, not COVID-19 but a sinister mental health pandemic, where people simply... stop. They sit down, and never get up again, entering a state of catatonia. It's an intriguing premise that sadly I found the author squandered, using it as a jumping off point for 4 in depth character studies - which is fine, but I found myself rolling my eyes muttering "go back to the PANDEMIC!"

I found the characters various shades of frustrating - Yun especially, who is the one we follow most closely. Emory, a journalist on the front lines of communicating what's happening with the "pyschogenic catatonia" is a little more complex, as are Andrew and Fin, but ultimately, none of them captured my imagination.

I'm sad, as I was really looking forward to this one, but perhaps it's on me for expecting a dystopian novel where there simply isn't one - merely a dystopian backdrop.

I will say that this is one of the most striking and beautiful covers I've seen in forever, though, so kudos to the designer.

This was a wild and intriguing sci-fi dystopian. The novel starts off with an ominous gripping line when a “boy meets girl at a wedding and the world ends”. The story follows the four main characters, the way their life changes as they witness the affect of the mysterious catatonia. Yun, an agnostic struggling musician; Emory, a self inflicting news reporter hoping to gain success; Andrew, an underpaid teacher who had never felt much; and Fin, a young ballet dancer fighting against the world. The lives of these characters become intertwined with each other as they watch the harsh reality of NYC. Relationships are created, tested and some are distorted as “love not properly expressed mutated into something jagged”.

With an unknown disease, neither viral or bacterial, mass hysteria occurs when millions of people start shutting down. With no scientific reason and the government leaving them to come up with their own conclusion that "it wasn’t a virus. It was no longer a simple case of mass hysteria, it was now just a narrative, that too many people had accepted.” People are forced to carry on with their lives with the fear of the catatonia that seemed to be “something so vast it couldn’t be perceived with the eyes. It could only be felt, like an ache soul- deep.”

This novel touched on the downfalls of living in a capitalist society where individualism and competition is encourage. I enjoyed how Jameson used the different personalities to witness how people responded to the unknown pandemic and succumbed to the dystopian reality. Whilst reading, it reminded me so much of the initial response to covid and with the reference of coming out of a previous pandemic, it hinted at a far more sinister alternative. I really like how through all the mystery and paranoia, the book asked very philosophical questions about death. The question over why this disease has happened is never cleared up which only adds to the uncertainty and unease. Whilst this was not an easy read, this psychological pandemic had me very intrigued and is something that I would recommend.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Penguin General for sending me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The book focuses on a burgeoning relationship with the backdrop of an impending pandemic. A good character study on how a person reacts to fear, loneliness, and societal changes, however I didn't find the central 4 characters as compelling, so it was a bit difficult to get fully invested.

The premise of this book really drew me in, it sounded like something I would really enjoy, but unfortunately it did not work for me.

I like the idea of the book bringing to light how important the mental health crisis is, but I feel like the plot felt faltering at points. There was no real explanation of anything happening and the pacing of the book was off for me personally, it felt too slow.

I found the characters to be disjointed. The relationships between them did not sit right with me for some reason and they did not fit into the overarching premise of the book either.

Something just did not feel right with this book for me, and I am also not really sure who I would recommend it to.

This was one of those quiet peaceful apocalyptic reads.
Follow a group of intertwined people as a catatonic sleeping condition plagues the world. While not necessarily focusing on the pandemic, it mostly focuses on the different forms of relationships and ultimately, complicated love.
This was more literary fiction than and for of pandemic novel.

Hanna Jameson became an auto-buy author for me after I read her incredible apocalyptic novel THE LAST, which I recommend to people regularly. The chance to read her next book was a given, and I was pleased to find that ARE YOU HAPPY NOW was just as gripping.

With a clearly drawn cast of characters, none of them perfect and all of them ringing familiarity bells in one way or another, the story begins with an eerie unexplained event which slowly starts to seep across the world. It's a sobering reflection of what it's like to live in a time when there's a daily tally of a terrible thing that's causing people to die. I believe this was written during the pandemic and even now, when the pandemic is still here but we're all just "getting on as normal" and going to work and so on, this book is unnerving in how honestly it looks at what that's like - to continue living and planning and working and enjoying yourself while people in your city or your neighbourhood, or your family or circle of friends, are dying.

This was a story I kept having to pick up to get a couple more pages done whenever I had a spare moment, and that to me is always a marker of success. I continue to hugely enjoy Hanna Jameson's work.

This book made a very promising start - a guest at a wedding suddenly sits down and is unable to move, followed by a wave and then a pandemic of people falling into catatonic states, and then dying. We follow Yun, Andrew, Fin and Emory as the pandemic spreads. It is unclear whether the problem is caused by a virus or mass hysteria.

The story then loses impetus and direction, as we seem just to be embroiled in the romantic nonsense of these characters - all the males are apparently gay, even if married or with girlfriends. The whole story becomes a rather self-obsessed diatribe as the characters fall in and out of love with each other and try to decide what they really want from life. I think the author was trying to show that life is what we make of it, and the option of just sitting down and giving up remains with us all, but it fell rather flat for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin General UK - Fig Tree, Hamish Hamilton, Viking for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Are You Happy Now starts at a wedding, a guest sits down and refuses to stand up. She’ll turn out to be the first out of many people around the world. We then follow four guests at this wedding witnessing the world changing and their lives changing too. It was a really captivating book to read, dealing with mental health and the younger generations living through a worldwide disease that aims people randomly. The writing was great and most characters were really interesting to follow. Definitely a book I’ll recommend at my bookstore!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for letting me read this ahead of publication.
3.75/5 rounded up to 4. *Some spoilers*
I really enjoyed this very emotional and intense book. The characters were very well fleshed - I felt like I knew them all and I understood their motives and pains, their situations, emotions, and relationships were extremely realistic and I couldn't help feeling for them. I found myself getting emotional a few times and ended up thinking about the characters when I was not reading, which in my book is a sign of goor vibes. The writing style was engaging and beautiful. I also loved how diverse the characters were, in many different ways.
I felt like it could've been slightly shorter overall, as there was, in my opinion, a slight change in pace in the last 30%.
The minus for me was the "pandemic" plot. Mostly because even though it was a major plot point and a major driving force, the fact that it was never actually developed and explained further bugged me throughout the book. The fact that we didn't have a clear "theory" as to what was causing it and if it was, in the end, intentional or not made me doubt some motives and the peoples reactions to it, especially due to recent and still ongoing real events.
Overall a really great read and once I will surely recommend!

Thanks to net galley for this free read. I read 'The Last' by this author which is totally different but also has themes of 'the end of the world' and how it may/could happen.
The opening scene introduces the reader to the main characters who are attending a wedding. Yun and his best friend Andrew attend as do Emory (a journalist) and Fin a ballet student. During the wedding one of the guests sits down on the dancefloor and 'refuses' to get back up again.
We follow the lives of the above characters in the following days where more and more people appear to be struck down by an illness which could be physiological or could be due to mental ill health. Nobody can pinpoint the cause and no individuals survive. The book poses the question - 'is it a choice or is it an illness.'
This was an interesting read and although it took me a while to get into it, it felt like it ended too soon!
I look forward to reading more from this author and what subject she tackles next!
Thanks again to net galley.