Book Review: Happy Place
“No," he says quietly. "In every universe, it's you for me. Even if it's not me for you”
The past few books have had the audacity to make me sad. Not a bad thing, but the ones you least expect to make you sad are also the ones to make you mad in the end. This is another book club read, and I love book club, after Four Seasons in Japan, we unanimously decided that we needed to read something happy. This book literally has ‘Happy’ in the title, so it was a bit of a no-brainer. It's also an Emily Henry rom-com, which is always a winner. What I wasn’t expecting was for the book to start with a pretty brutal break-up and good grief - this is not the Emily Henry I know. But as with all rom-coms, the only way is up.
Harriet goes on the yearly week-long trip to a little cottage in a coastal town in Maine with her two best friends, Sabrina and Cleo, with their respective partners. Sounds fun? But no. As a surprise, Sabrina invites Wyn, Harriet's former fiancee, lover, best friend and soulmate. Notice I said “former”? That's because they broke up 5 months ago and haven't told anyone. Yet. So, bring on the awkwardness, the unsaid words, the hurt, the sadness and a series of misunderstandings. Can they find a way back to each other, or is it over for good?
Structurally, the book is interesting. Rather than having a linear timeline, the book jumps between the past and the present. You see the formation of Wyn and Harriet's relationship, their time at the little cottage, how they fell in love and how they fell apart. It adds context to the present, the complexities of the relationships you're tied to - especially when you're dating within a group of people who are all your best friends. Will this irrevocably change the dynamic and rub salt in old wounds? Potentially. Or at least it does for Harriet. Another interesting factor is understanding who you are and what you want. I do believe that kids are asked to pick their futures at too young of an age - do they even know who they are yet? Cleo is an excellent example. She starts as a Fine Art major, studying figures and painting - her ambition at the start is to have a painting in a prestigious museum one day. But, no - she turns to farming instead and loves it. I think it is fair to say that Harriet doesn't know what she wants, she does what other people expect of her. These are two very different things and allow for significant character development, even though it happens over the week.
You get a few ‘moral of the story’ quips. First, tell people how you feel and never assume anything. Second, stop saying you're fine. Third, know what you want. Fourth, be honest with your family, including your chosen family. Fifth, you cannot force things to happen the way you want them to. Amongst others. But the biggest takeaway for me was to figure out what it is you want. And that can be with anything, personally or professionally - is it truly making you happy? Or is it due to unsaid weighty expectations and guilt? Choosing what makes you happy is hard, especially when you do not know - a with Harriet. But what she does know is that Wyn makes her happy, and she won't be happy without him. The job? She’ll figure that out in due course - but this time, she’ll do it for herself, not others.