More Happy Than Not

More Happy Than Not
AuthorAdam Silvera
Cover artistJanine Agro and Liz Casal
LanguageEnglish
GenreYoung adult novel
PublisherSoho Teen
Publication date
June 2, 2015
ISBN9781616955601

More Happy Than Not is the debut novel by American author Adam Silvera, published June 2, 2015 by Soho Teen.

The book is a New York Times best seller,[1] was shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature,[2] and has been included on many "best of" lists.

Plot

[edit]

Aaron Soto is a 16-year-old living in the Bronx with his mother and brother. His father died by suicide in the house three months ago. Aaron's ensuing depression caused him to attempt suicide as well, leaving him with a scar on his wrist in the shape of a smile. He maintains his happiness with his girlfriend Genevieve and his other friends in his project, promising himself to not make the same mistake again.

Aaron meets Thomas, a kid from a different project, and becomes friends with him due to his idealist and carefree personality. When Genevieve leaves for three weeks on an artist's retreat, their friendship deepens. Aaron suspects that Thomas is gay, and realizes that he had developed feelings for him as well. Aaron breaks up with Genevieve, and his old friends attack Thomas out of jealousy of Aaron's new friendship. Later that night he admits his feelings for Thomas, but he rejects him, telling him he's straight.

Distraught over losing his best friend, girlfriend, and old friends, Aaron turns to the Leteo Institute — an organization that uses neurosurgery to erase traumatic memories in their patients — to solve his problems. He figures that if he forgets that he is gay by erasing all his memories of Thomas, he'll have his old relationships back and be happy again. Before he does so, Thomas comes back and apologizes for reacting so harshly, though he states that he is straight and a romantic relationship between them isn't possible. Aaron's old friends overhear their conversation and physically assault Aaron for being gay.

A blow to his head from the attack causes his memories to be "unwound"; It is revealed that Aaron had already gone to the Leteo Institute before. He remembers memories that had been repressed: he secretly dated a classmate Collin while he was in a relationship with Genevieve. When he came out to his father, he kicked Aaron out of the house and slit his wrists in the bathtub. Aaron sought to confirm his relationship with Collin, but Collin drew back, due to his girlfriend getting pregnant. Devastated, Aaron decided to erase his memories of Collin so that he could be fully happy with his relationship with Genevieve.

Aaron recovers from the attack and the reappearance of the memories. He considers taking another Leteo procedure to forget the painful memories, but Thomas convinces him not to. Unfortunately, Aaron learns that he is developing anterograde amnesia as a side effect of the procedure. Before he fully loses his ability to create new memories, he sets out to gain closure in his relationships. He forgives Collin, Genevieve, and Thomas. Thomas pushes Aaron to focus on being "more happy than not" despite the hardships in his life. As Aaron waits for a cure to his amnesia, he promises to always try to find the happiness in the memories he remembers.

Reception

[edit]

More Happy Than Not is a New York Times best seller[1] and a Junior Library Guild selection.[3]

The book received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews,[4] School Library Journal,[5] Publishers Weekly,[6] and Booklist,[7] as well as positive reviews from English Journal,[8] The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books,[9] and The New York Times.[10]

The New York Times's Gina Bellafonte applauded how Silvera "manages a delicate knitting of class politics through an ambitious narrative about sexual identity and connection that considers the heavy weight and constructive value of traumatic memory, as well."[10]

Beyond popular media, More Happy Than Not has been discussed in academic journals, including English Journal,[11] The Lancet,[12] Children's Literature,[13] Oregon Library Association Quarterly,[14] The Clearing House,[15] and Research on Diversity in Youth Literature.[16][17] It was also analyzed in two chapters from Engaging with Multicultural YA Literature in the Secondary Classroom.[18][19]

Accolades for More Happy Than Not
Year Accolade Result Ref.
2015 Booklist Editors' Choice: Books for Youth Selection [20]
Booklist's Best First Novels for Youth Top 10 [3]
Bustle's "25 Best YA Books Of 2015" Selection [21]
Goodreads Choice Award for Young Adult Fiction Nominee [22]
Kirkus Reviews' Best Young Adult Books of 2015 Selection [23]
New York Public Library's Best Books for Teens Top 10 [24]
New York Times Editors' Choice Selection [25]
Paste's Best Young Adult Books of the Year Selection [26]
School Library Journal's Best Books: Young Adult Selection [27]
2016 Best Fiction for Young Adults Top 10 [28][29]
CBC Children’ Choice Book Awards: Teen Choice Debut Author Finalist [30]
Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices: Fiction for Young Adults Selection [31]
Indies Choice Book of the Year, Young Adult Selection [32]
Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature Shortlist [2]
Paste's Best Young Adult Books of All Time Selection [33]
2017 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults Selection [34]
Rainbow Project Book List Selection [35]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "MORE HAPPY THAN NOT". ADAM SILVERA. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  2. ^ a b "Lambda Literary Awards Finalists Revealed: Carrie Brownstein, Hasan Namir, 'Fun Home' and Truman Capote Shortlisted". Out Magazine. 2016-03-08. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  3. ^ a b "More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera". Junior Library Guild. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  4. ^ "More Happy than Not". Kirkus Reviews. 2015-04-01. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  5. ^ Stern, Amanda (2015-05-01). "More Happy Than Not". School Library Journal. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  6. ^ "Children's Book Review: More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera. Soho Teen, $18.99 (304p) ISBN 978-1-61695-560-1". Publishers Weekly. 2015-04-13. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  7. ^ Smith, Julia (2015-05-15). "More Happy Than Not". Booklist. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  8. ^ Cremonini, Alise (January 2017). "More Happy Than Not". English Journal. 106 (3): 97–99 – via ProQuest.
  9. ^ Spisak, April (2015). "More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera". Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. 69 (1): 54. doi:10.1353/bcc.2015.0675. ISSN 1558-6766. S2CID 145613510.
  10. ^ a b Bellafante, Ginia (2015-06-19). "'More Happy Than Not,' by Adam Silvera". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  11. ^ Ginsberg, Ricki; Glenn, Wendy J.; Moye, Kellee (2017). "Opportunities for Advocacy: Interrogating Multivoiced YAL's Treatment of Denied Identities". The English Journal. 107 (1): 26–32. ISSN 0013-8274. JSTOR 26359514.
  12. ^ Bianchi, Andrew (December 2015). "Teenage Kicks". The Lancet Psychiatry. 2 (12): e37. doi:10.1016/S2215-0366(15)00509-X.
  13. ^ Matos, Angel Daniel (2019). "A Narrative of a Future Past: Historical Authenticity, Ethics, and Queer Latinx Futurity in Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe". Children's Literature. 47 (1): 30–56. doi:10.1353/chl.2019.0003. ISSN 1543-3374. S2CID 181451285.
  14. ^ Tusing, Sabrina; Miller, Barratt (2020-07-13). "Baby, I Was Born This Way! How Local Teens Helped a Library Deliver an LGBTQ Collection". OLA Quarterly. 25 (4): 35–40. doi:10.5399/osu/1093-7374.25.04.09. ISSN 1093-7374. S2CID 225526437.
  15. ^ Batchelor, Katherine E.; Ramos, Maria; Neiswander, Samantha (2018-01-02). "Opening Doors: Teaching LGBTQ-themed Young Adult Literature for an Inclusive Curriculum". The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas. 91 (1): 29–36. doi:10.1080/00098655.2017.1366183. ISSN 0009-8655. S2CID 149118163 – via Taylor & Francis Online.
  16. ^ Browne, Katelyn R. (January 2020). "Reimagining Queer Death in Young Adult Fiction" (PDF). Research on Diversity in Youth Literature. 2 (2).
  17. ^ Durand, E. Sybil; Jiménez-García, Marilisa (2018-06-01). "Unsettling Representations of Identities: A Critical Review of Diverse Youth Literature". Research on Diversity in Youth Literature. 1 (1).
  18. ^ Chrisman, Alyssa; Blackburn, Mollie V. (2019). "Interrogating Happiness: Unraveling Homophobia in the Lives of Queer Youth of Color with More Happy than Not". In Ginsberg, Ricki; Glenn, Wendy J. (eds.). Engaging with multicultural YA literature in the secondary classroom : critical approaches for critical educators. New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-05319-1. OCLC 1086375797.
  19. ^ Ricki, Ginsberg; Glenn, Wendy J. (2019). "Introduction: The Critical Power and Potential of Multicultural Young Adult Literature". Engaging with multicultural YA literature in the secondary classroom : critical approaches for critical educators. New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-05319-1. OCLC 1086375797.
  20. ^ "Booklist Editors' Choice: Books for Youth, 2015". Booklist. 2016-01-01. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  21. ^ White, Caitlin (2015-12-10). "The 25 Best YA Books Of 2015". Bustle. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  22. ^ "More Than Happy". Goodreads. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  23. ^ "Best of 2015". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  24. ^ Rouyer, Anne (2015-12-11). "Best Books for Teens 2015: Our Top 10 Favorites!". The New York Public Library. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  25. ^ "Editors' Choice". The New York Times. 2015-06-25. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  26. ^ Smith, Eric (2015-12-10). "The 30 Best Young Adult Books of 2015". Paste Magazine. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  27. ^ "Best Books 2015: Young Adult". School Library Journal. 2015-11-24. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  28. ^ "Best Fiction for Young Adults: 2016". Booklist. 2016-03-01. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  29. ^ Lam, Anna (2016-01-15). "YALSA names 2016 Best Fiction for Young Adults". News and Press Center. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  30. ^ "Ninth Annual Children's Choice Book Awards Finalists Announced". Children's Book Council. 2016-02-16. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  31. ^ Horning, Kathleen T. (2016). CCBC choices 2016. Merri V. Lindgren, Megan Schliesman, Emily McKnight Townsend, University of Wisconsin--Madison. Cooperative Children's Book Center. Madison, Wisconsin. ISBN 978-0-931641-26-8. OCLC 945196735.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  32. ^ Hawkins, Rosemary (2016-03-16). "ABA Announces 2016 Indies Choice/E.B. White Read-Aloud Award Finalists". the American Booksellers Association. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  33. ^ Smith, Eric (2016-10-20). "The 30 Best Young Adult Books of All Time". Paste Magazine. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  34. ^ "2017 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults". Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). 2017-01-18. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  35. ^ "More Happy Than Not | Awards & Grants". American Library Association. 2017-12-20. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
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