Book review: ‘The Happiest People in the World’
Secret agents, murder and a love triangle are the major elements that make up “The Happiest People in the World” by Brock Clarke.
Its creative plot is what will likely draw in readers. Some spoilers may follow in this review. A Danish cartoonist named Jens Baedrup has submitted an offensive drawing of Muhammad to his newspaper, which provokes a Muslim living in his town into burning down Jens’ house. To protect Jens’ life, a group of secret agents tell everyone of his death while making him change his identity and move to a small American town. There, he becomes a guidance counselor and falls in love with the principal’s wife. The principal, on the other hand, once had an affair with the same agent that brought Jens into his town. As it turns out, almost the entire town is composed of secret agents, and the principal’s brother is the boss. And to make it even more complicated, the man who burnt down Jens’ house has come back to finish the job.
The characters are likeable, yet flawed. Everyone acts selfishly during the plot, but most of them have valid reasons. The principal is jealous that his wife was stolen from him and is often bitter about it. His son, Kurt, is a rebellious teen. Ronald, the janitor, becomes obsessed with avenging his sister’s death, even though he doesn’t have any of the facts correct. The drastic measures he chooses are quite unsettling.
This leads to another problem, which is that the pacing and tone are inconsistent. The book is initially set up as a comedy, and the jokes are done very well. But after a while, the comedy and secret agent elements are phased out for the love triangle element to take over. While the love triangle is fine, it’s not as exciting or fun to read as the earlier parts of the story. Jens, who is supposedly the main character, doesn’t do a whole lot that’s meaningful after about the halfway point in the novel. Strangely enough, this all snaps back in the ending, where the tone becomes very dark out of nowhere. It’s jarring to see the plot points resolved in such a manner when no real action has happened for a while before that point.
Despite the inconsistent tone, when “The Happiest People in the World” gets it right, it’s an excellent time. If you can get past the duller parts toward the middle to see the resolution, you won’t be disappointed.
Jeremy Farbman is a sophomore at Mt. Lebanon High School.