The Half-Life of Happiness

by John Casey

Book Overview

" Casey] is an astute observer of the ruses as well as the private confrontations that govern our behavior." --The Washington Post Book World In The Half-life of Happiness, National Book Award winner... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679409785
• ISBN13: 9780679409786
• Release Date: March 1998
• Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
• Length: 513 Pages
• Weight: 2.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.7" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

The Half-Life of Happiness

Casey reveals characters that breath. He ask the reader to work on knowing the meaninging behind the motivations of his characters. I found myself "dog-earing" many pages and reading sections over again as I connected to the narrative. I found The Half-Life of Happiness to be a wonderful companion to the complexities of this holiday season. This book will challenge you to slow down and look at the life around you from many different narratives. You will see yourself, your family and your friends in this powerful piece of work. Enjoy and watch the compassion in you grow with each chapter.

An Adult Book About Adult Things

An excellent novel about what it is like to be a man or a woman in this world. The effects that your family and friends have on you and your family and friends. Nothing is forced, the plotting is excellent and the writing is graceful, superb and flawless. Casey doesn't leave you stranded. The ending is thoughtful and emotional. For every action there is a reaction. I was very moved. Very.

Wonderful family saga.

I loved this book. Near the end I had to slow down to keep it from ending. This is a full and beautiful account of a family made up of people who are all quite appealing yet human, with all the weaknesses that humanity entails. It is the story of Mike Reardon's journey through the break-up of his marriage and the indignities of a political campaign. The point of view shifts between an omniscient narrator reporting events as they happened in the 1970s and the first-person account of Edith, Mike's somewhat embittered daughter, looking back from the present. This technique produces a rich and often humorous point/counterpoint portrayal of events.The denouement, built around a final scene in which the daughters, Edith and Nora, drive to a family reunion attended by both their father and mother, took my breath away. I closed the book, but I didn't want to let go.Thank you, John Casey.

richly textured, moving and insightful

For those wanting an escape from legal potboilers, books about horses and medical thrillers, here is a great summer read that may actually linger in your mind awhile. Reminiscent of Updike's Rabbit novels, Casey's Half-Life of Happiness is a richly textured, very moving account of the breakup of a marriage set against the backdrop of a fascinating Congressional election. The characters come alive in the skilled hands of John Casey, who describes the couple's boredom, their inability to communicate as their world crumbles around them, and the frustrations felt by liberal Democrat lawyer Mike Riordan as he slips into middle age and is coaxed into a seemingly futile bid to run for Congress. The story is one about relationships- at its core the novel deals with the breakup of Mike and Joss, but it works on so many more levels including the strained relationship between sisters Edith and Nora, as well as numerous effective passages involving the couple's friends, colleagues, political opponents, etc. The narrative focus changes frequently, but never in such a fashion as to disrupt the continuity of the plot. Overall, a very intelligent, moving novel of a family crisis written with humor, compassion and attention to detail.

Excellent insights into family life

In this novel about a marriage falling apart, Casey spends an enormous amount of time with each character, describing his or her feelings and thoughts in clear detail. I felt like I really knew each of them, yet I didn't feel suffocated by being in the character's head too long. This works well because besides the husband and wife point of view, Casey gives us their older daughter as a narrator looking back on her childhood during the time of the divorce. Plenty of plot, too, that kept me reading. Altogether this book was an excellent balance of insightful fiction, family drama and local color all done by a highly talented writer. I enjoyed his other books, too, and look forward to the next.