The Illicit Happiness of Other People: A Novel [Paperback]

Ousep Chacko, journalist and failed novelist, prides himself on being the last of the real men. This includes waking neighbors upon returning late from the pub. His wife Mariamma stretches their money, raises their two boys, and, in her spare time, gleefully fantasizes about Ousep dying. One day, their seemingly happy seventeen-year-old son Unnian obsessed comic-book artistfalls from the balcony, leaving them to wonder whether it was an accident. Three years later, Ousep receives a package that sends him searching for the answer, hounding his sons former friends, attending a cartoonists meeting, and even accosting a famous neurosurgeon. Meanwhile, younger son Thoma, missing his brother, falls head over heels for the much older girl who befriended them both. Haughty and beautiful, she has her own secrets.Starred review. Joseph writes with extraordinary wit, cunning and sympathy about both family relationships and ultimate mysteries.The novel is an admirable blend of plot and ideas, of a story that reads like a mystery but also of the kind of philosophical and social observations that are worth pausing for and underlining. ...Indeed, with...Josephs prose is exquisitely phrased without an excess of sentimentality... the confident, immersing voice ofWonderful...Ingeniously constructed.... [Joseph is] using his witty, incisive writing to explore the great philosophical questions of happiness and life.Josephs smart new novel is laced with black humor and keen observations on human nature... Josephs rich characters intersect in moments of tenderness.Sublime.... Josephs witty narrative adds depth and vigor to the Chacko familys tale and assuredly explores the complexity of self-perception amid present-day life.Fusing ribald farce with poignant drama... Joseph deftly rotates narrative points of view... [and] embellishes each strand with vibrant dabs of local color... that help showcase India in all its sublime and absurd glory.... Wild, irreverent lƒ6