Anne Giardini

I'm embarrassed at how long this book has languished on my bookshelf of unread books. But, despite Marie Kondo's advice to get rid of unread books, I always knew I wanted to read it. It got good reviews when it came out plus the author is Carol Shields' daughter so there's hope the writing chops are in her genetic makeup. Now that I've finally read it I can say there is a substantial difference between how mother and daughter constructed a plot but they are both descriptive and absorbing show more writers.

Maggie is in her 30s, has a responsible job, good friends, a loving family and, since she lives in Vancouver, is surrounded by amazing scenery. She doesn't have a romantic relationship at the moment but she's not obsessed about finding someone. Everything seems to be going well until she takes a quiz her roommate put together for a women's magazine that purports to tell a person how long they will live. Even though Maggie is in good shape and doesn't take part in risky activities, the quiz says she has three months to live. It all comes down to the final question which asks if she is happy? Maggie says she is not completely happy which counts as a no. If she had answered yes, the quiz would predict she would live to 96. As much as Maggie would like to discount the quiz she starts to experience insomnia and yet, her doctor can't find anything wrong with her. She tries to carry on her life and as chance would have it, three different men come into her life. Maggie may be a little gun-shy about commitment because of her sisters' experiences with love. Her one sister recently returned from living in Rome and now she is engaged and pregnant. Yet she keeps saying that she still loves the man who was her lover in Rome regardless of the fact that he is married and won't leave his wife. As the three months draw to a close, Maggie has no time to worry about whether her death is impending because her sister gives birth and shortly after her Roman lover and his wife show up to claim the baby. Maggie decides to take the baby away from Vancouver until the custody can be clarified. So she, her roommate and the baby take off to Quebec and, with the help of friends, get taken to a small francophone community where a nursing mother has lots of breast milk to spare. Eventually, they have to go back to Vancouver and face the music. At the close of the book, Maggie says that she and most of the people she knows well are happy "Happiness is more ephemeral than thought. It can't be observed without changing its nature. Its ingredients are subtle, and there is no guarantee that a formula or recipe for joy can be written out or passed on or repeated even once again. Happiness evades capture, dissolving like a melody into the air, eluding even the most delicate, careful grasp. It frustrates any systemaic search, responding better to random fossicking and oblizue approaches, and its rewards are infuriatingly arbitrary, stingy or abundant by purest chance."

The message of this book is that happiness cannot be pursued. I feel happier already. show less

The Sad Truth About Happiness is the story of the seemingly happy Maggie, a woman in her thirties who works as a radiology technician, giving other women breast exams. While she is not exactly “settled down,” she has meaningful relationships with several men and stability in the form of her friend and roommate Rebecca, who creates questionnaires for women's magazines.

When Rebecca asks Maggie to test her latest quiz, which aims to predict the day a person will die, Maggie's life is show more suddenly thrown into turmoil. According to the quiz, Maggie will die before her next birthday. Faced with this information, Maggie begins to seriously question her life choices. Her death date, it seems, was predicated by one question – “Are you happy?” Maggie sets out to discover the answer to this seemingly innocuous question, surprising both herself and her friends and family.

Anne Giardini has written a lovely debut novel – wise, wry, warm, and beautiful. It would be interesting to read this novel back-to-back with Unless, by her late mother and esteemed Canadian author, Carol Shields. Each novel explores similar themes, such as love, happiness, and mother/daughter relationships – but in different ways. This is a fabulous first novel, and it is clear that Anne Giardini has earned the publication of this first book on her own merits, proving wrong the critics who would assert that it was only published because she is Carol Shields' daughter. show less

This book was quite readable - it did keep my attention until the end. It has some serious flaws though - did Giardini do her own editing? (Spoiler alert) There is one character who is called by the wrong name and the narrator's references to Gian Luigi's children shift - apparently he had a son who was the youngest, then the youngest was a daughter and the son was in the middle, and then he had all girls - finally it is revealed he had no children at all. Was the narrator's sister Lucy show more making things up about the children or did she know all along? It is never resolved or explained. There are also unlikelies (if that is a word!) - who can get 2 quick tickets for a flight from Montreal to Vancouver two days before Xmas and during a storm? The Quebec scenes seemed contrived - let's throw in some Canadian bi-culturalism here and see if we all understand French (I did, I grew up there). Weirdly, my copy uses American spelling, which spoiled the delicate Canadian ambiance!
Apparently Ms. Giardini has a very busy life as a mother, writer, lawyer, and head of a company. So maybe something got overlooked in the rush. But where was her editor? This book had potential but without her mother's lifelong influence and a good editor it didn't quite reach "very good" for me. show less

In this novel, Giardini captures Italian culture abroad: what does it mean to grow up in an Italian family, what are its cultural differences and linguistic particularities. I loved Nonna's proverbi, the great care in detail from smells and tastes to clothes and attitudes and the description of the lives of the characters.
Unfortunately, the novel itself has a weak plot and no structure. Nicolo, the main character, does not give an impression of growing. While he is comfortable with his show more Italian identity, he has no desire to go back to his roots. The story focuses in and out of him, so it's difficult to keep track of his progress. Finally, information - of his sexuality for example - creeps out of nowhere, leaving the reader to wonder why it is suddenly such an issue.

A nice novel to read to get a feel for Italian culture, but not one that will make you think. show less