This is Happiness by Niall Williams

An interesting and animated debate ensued during our meeting to discuss this book.

The story is set in Ireland, in 1958 and follows young Noe (short for Noel) who becomes witness to the transformative journey of the village where his grandparents’ farm is. The novel grapples with themes such as love, the Balance between Tradition and Progress (the resistance to the introduction of electricity), and the complexities of human relationships. 

Irish History is the background to this book’s story, particularly the famine or Great Hunger.

During the 1840s, Ireland had a population of 8. 2 million. 

Tenant farmers were poor and forced into growing the quickest and easiest crop: the potato.

The disease known as potato blight disseminated the potato crop. This triggered a domino effect of defaulted rents and great debt. Many people were left homeless and starving. 

Around 1 million people died of starvation and roughly another 2 million people emigrated on "coffin ships", so named as small ships, high numbers and poor conditions caused high death rates. 

The Great Hunger was one of the worst tragedies of the 19th century and profoundly affected Ireland and the Irish people. Even today Ireland has not reached pre-famine population levels. (Today’s Irish population is 4.5 million).

During our discussions, there were diverse opinions.

For the positive points, it was felt that it had been an interesting read for several reasons:

• the scenes were beautifully described using  evocative and highly descriptive language 
• the story offered some really charming and poignant scenes about friendship and the coming of age of an adolescent ( Ex: "The kiss" scene) through the eyes of a much older person
• the descriptions were very insightful giving a quite moving feel to the characters’ thoughts and emotions 
• during most of the story, the tone is full of humour with charming naïvety and sweet innocence
• you could not help reading the story without hearing Irish accents for all the characters as well as lively and vibrant  Irish music in the pubs. In fact, the whole story would make a brilliant synopsis for a film
• the book title fits well with some of today’s culture of "living in the now” and essentially being ALIVE and wanting to declare: "This is happiness!"
• the author is a talented author using beautiful language and offering some very humourous phrases such as: " … as clean as a bishop’s rectum"!

For the more critical opinions, it was felt that sometimes the book's pace was slow and, simply not enough things were happening. 

Overall, the feeling was that it had been a good read. 

Would we recommend this book to others? The response would be a BIG YES!

"I have already bought a new copy for a friend!"