Happiness by Will Ferguson... book review

I started reading Happiness by Will Ferguson on the train home for Christmas, and figured I'd have more time while on vacation to just rip right through this humourous little book. I wasn't able to finish it until last night, but it was a great read! I picked it up at Val Vil a few months ago, and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it. It was hilarious! Reminded me alot of Neil Gaimen, but without the sci fi aspect.

The Untranslatables that were in the book were really interesting. These words, that can't be directly translated into English, outlined the theme of the book well.

The whole backwards philosophy of the protagonist was so true to life, I was getting a little disheartened with the world. Good thing the book was a funny one. It kept things light, without being corny and straying from the main message, which is... the pursuit of happiness (and consequently the expenditure of mass amounts of money) is an integral part of the survival of the world economy, which defines the "wealth" of the population. Kind of a Catch 22. Unfortunately.

Untranslatable... Schadenfreude- A malicious satisfaction in the misfortunes of others.

By the way- I LOVE Canadian authors. And Canadian comedians. Did anyone catch the Comedy Gold specials that were on the CBC Monday and Tuesday night?

posted by Unknown @ 11:33 a.m.