Kim Fay's Reviews > Happy All the Time

How is it that I have not reviewed this book before now? For many years, it was a tradition that for the first book of the new year, I would read "Happy All The Time." This story of two couples is so light-filled and nuanced and clever -- I simply take great pleasure in reading it and enjoy being reminded that life can be quite lovely, indeed. Laurie Colwin has a dry (and subtle wicked wit), which is what gives this novel its depth. Yes, the world portrayed in this book is sheltered, but sometimes a reader needs to take shelter. So Guido and Holly, Vincent and Misty, thank you for getting my 2012 off to a terrific start!

Yes, I read Happy All the Time again this year. And I will read it again and again and again in the years to come. This year, I reread it because Laurie Colwin, and this novel specifically, play a special role in my upcoming novel Kate & Frida. This year, I also reread it trying to remember the first time, in my early 20s, buying a Penguin Contemporary American Fiction edition because an agent told me my writing reminded him of Colwin, reading it, and falling in love with the story. And with one of the main characters, Holly, who lived the way I wanted to live one day. With intention. With a desire to make the world around her a beautiful place for the people in her life. I'm much older now, and the novel changes with each read, as my perspective changes, but it never fails to speak to me of love and quiet joy.