Happy Hour: A Novel

Product Information

Isa Epley, all of twenty-one years old, is already wise enough to understand that the purpose of life is the pursuit of pleasure. She arrives in New York with her newly blond best friend looking for adventure. They have little money, but that’s hardly going to stop them. Profound … At their core, books are about the beautiful, but here we have a book where our narrator is not only an observer of beauty but in possession of that beauty too.” I asked him about his business, how long he had lived in the city, who his last girlfriend was—because most people in New York are happy to be invited to diatribe.” Profound ... At their core, books are about the beautiful, but here we have a book where our narrator is not only an observer of beauty but in possession of that beauty too. Ellen O'Donohue Oddy, Radical Art Review If your days of living for perpetual glamour are now behind you (or yet to come), this magnificent debut is an excellent reminder of what it costs and how it’s done.”

Anyway - I read this novel, Happy Hour, as pretty much a straight-up tribute to that one, and it’s Just the Right Amount of Updated. As Happy Hour’s 21 year-old protagonist/narrator Isa herself says: But here I am AGAIN talking about this book like its sole merit is its meaningful literary heritage! The other thing is just that I enjoyed it, and the writing, so damn much! I’ve put some random quotes at the end of this so that you can get an idea of the Humour and the Tone. Intellectuals are funny because they always think you mean more than you say, when sometimes I don’t mean anything at all.”

Make a booking enquiry

Happy Hour is filled with charm, memorable insight, and witty aperçus, adding up to the realization that life, while unfair, is antic enough to be worth all the trouble.” This is Breakfast At Tiffany's meets Girls and it's going to be your new book obsession. Sarra Manning, Red I realize now, the older you get, the harder it is to be impressed because people make you feel ashamed of ever being impressed by anything at all. I keep many glowing remarks to myself because of this.” The less time spent in public, the safer girls feel. That’s not incidental; the world was built that way.

Funny, profound and beautiful. Granados is brilliant on the intersections of social class, race, work, money, beauty and power.” A] sharp and beguiling debut … Granados’s nuanced characterization, biting observational humor and intoxicating prose make Happy Hour a delicacy to be savored, as well as a poised takedown of New York’s cultural elite.”Terrific advice from one of my favorite scientists about how to make best use of our most limited resource: time.”

Also, because we have made at least some Social Progress for Women, Happy Hour is able to fully omit the misspellings, malapropisms, and repetition (So…I mean…I mean) relied upon in GPB. In fact, Isa’s voice is delight to behold, with many an elegant turn of phrase. And I want to be clear that Happy Hour should be read for Joy as much as for Importance! With the verve and bite of Ottessa Moshfegh and the barbed charm of Nancy Mitford, Marlowe Granados’s stunning début brilliantly captures a summer of striving in New York City Ms. Holmes engagingly conveys what she has learned from her study…‘Happiness is a choice, she writes. ‘How we decide to approach our hours and spend our days determines the happiness we get to enjoy in life.’"

A wonderful, hilarious, pleasurably exhausting reminder of what it is to be young in a big city…a swig of a very cold martini on a balmy evening.” The voice said, ‘Things have been really boring since I last saw you. I think we should go on a date.’ I really could not place who it was, since I could have been having this same conversation with innumerable friends.”

A wonderful, hilarious, pleasurably exhausting reminder of what it is to be young in a big city...a swig of a very cold martini on a balmy evening. Megan Nolan A] sharp and beguiling debut ... Granados's nuanced characterization, biting observational humor and intoxicating prose make Happy Hour a delicacy to be savored, as well as a poised takedown of New York's cultural elite. Devon Ashby, Shelf Awareness Refreshing and wry in equal measure, Happy Hour is an intoxicating novel of youth well spent. Isa Epley is all of twenty-one years old, and already wise enough to understand that the purpose of life is the pursuit of pleasure. After a sojourn across the pond, she arrives in New York City for a summer of adventure with her best friend, one newly blond Gala Novak. They have little money, but that’s hardly going to stop them from having a good time.Now, though, a family of three: mother, teenaged daughter and eight-year-old son, moves in next door and, despite her reclusive tendencies, she inexplicably finds herself admitting them into her life. Franny finds she has something to offer each of them and that, surprisingly, she enjoys their company. Happy Hour is richly written, vividly rendering a stinking city, its tangled social circles and the airy pretence of an exclusive party crowd ... it is refreshing to read a book about fun and frivolity whose climax does not rely on the moralisation of peril. Sarah Carson, inews Laurie Santos, Chandrika and Ranjan Tandon Professor of Psychology at Yale University and host of The Happiness Lab podcast