The Happiest People in the World, Brock Clarke
The Happiest People in the World, Brock Clarke
List: $23.07 | Sale: $16.14
Club: $11.53

The Happiest People in the World

Author: Brock Clarke

Narrator: Adam Black

Unabridged: 8 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/04/2014

Categories: Fiction, Satire


Synopsis

The absurdity and distortion of reality that made Brock Clarke's previous two novels so outrageously funny and yet so moving are on full display in his newest offering, The Happiest People in the World. Adapting the format of the political thriller and subverting it to tell his story of innocence corrupted, Clarke has delivered a biting and controversial satire on the American obsession with security and the conspiracies that threaten it.

The Happiest People in the World is a spy novel like no other spy novel. It's also a send-up of American culture, and in particular the constant pursuit of individual happiness of the kind that is attainable only at the expense of others. In exploring the contradictions and pitfalls of our national obsession with both “freedom” and “security,” the novel shows us how we constantly subvert our own good intentions—as husbands and wives, as children and parents, as students and teachers, as believers in art and believers in God, as citizens of America and citizens of the world.

About Brock Clarke

Brock Clarke is the author of several novels, including the bestselling An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England, as well as three collections of short stories, the most recent being The Price of the Haircut. He lives in Portland, Maine, and teaches at Bowdoin College.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Barbara on January 27, 2015

2.5 bumped to 3: The press on this book is: “This madcap adventure mixes small town teachers, barkeeps, teenagers, and fry-cooks with international spies, terrorists, and political refugees.” That pretty much sums up the book. Seriously. That sentence alone. My opinion is that it’s a goofy read at be......more

Goodreads review by Snotchocheez on February 22, 2015

2.5 stars What was turning out to be a mildly disappointing comedy (channeling, perhaps, the likes of Christopher Buckley and other satirists with a geo-political bent) became hugely disappointing once I realized, about 75% of the way through, that Brock Clarke (a pseudonymous porn-star-sounding nam......more

Goodreads review by Ron on December 23, 2014

Only the most intrepid or giddy readers persist in the search for a great new comic novel. We know it must be out there, somewhere — like Bigfoot. Every few months, an excited alarm is raised in the forest of literary fiction; we rush to inspect the spoor (Thurber? Amis? ). Hmm. . . . Funny, but not......more

Goodreads review by H R on December 22, 2014

Interesting novel, but with so many characters I had a hard time keeping track of everyone. When some of the characters have multiple names, I really get confused! Wasn't as funny as the blurbs on the book jacket say it is. The humor is cerebral and dark, not as accessible as something that might fal......more

Goodreads review by Vonia on September 18, 2020

2.5 Book overall, one word review would be "Absurd". Other than that? That ending. Not my style.......more