Secrets to Happiness by Sarah Dunn

Secrets to Happiness Reviews

• 
  Danielle

  entertaining, but scattered and lacking in substance.
  
  ms. dunn really needs to put more focus on character development and the climax. i could not understand what motivated these people to do what they did because each character was filled with fluff and nutella. that being said, i rarely understand people, yet find them amusing and enjoyable, so can't (won't) discount this book on that basis.
  
  as for the climax....i'm still wondering where the WOW factor is? it was all so typical. where was the twist? the turns? the 'GASP'?! no where to be found, my friend.
  
  it's just a shame because it COULD'VE been a good book; instead it was just 'okay.'
  
  there is potential here. keep on truckin', ms. dunn, keep on.
• 
  christa

  I'm not sure why I thought a book about a single woman writer living in Manhattan wouldn't be chick lit, since most chick lit begins with those very same ingredients. It's kind of like taking ground beef, adding orange powder, serving it in a hard shell and saying "But it's not a taco."
  
  But in Jancy Willett's review of "Secrets of Happiness" in the NYT's Book Review, she says point blank: " ["Secrets of Happiness":] was definitely not written just for women, no matter how it’s packaged. True, the protagonist is female, the setting is Manhattan, and the focus is on relationships — and there’s a big shopping scene. True, mostly women will read it. But then women are the ones mostly reading every­thing. Besides, it’s not about shoes. And the shopping is for books, at the Strand. Also, unlike chick lit, chick TV and chick movies, “Secrets to Happiness” is actually funny.
  
  And I believed her because she writes for the NYT's Book Review, which means that reputable writerly people accept e-mails from her, and they probably wouldn't call security if she walked into their office.
  
  Granted, I wasn't expecting "The Great Gatsby," but the cover suggested at least Tom Perrotta, so I bought it.
  
  Holly is a recently divorced 30-something TV writer, one-time novelist living in New York. She has recently begun a no-strings-attached relationship with the 22-year-old younger brother of her friend. She adopts a dog with a brain tumor. Her best friend is in the early stages of consummating an affair with a hamburger-eating Buddhist. Holly's exboyfriend -- the one who is a barely disguised character in her only novel -- has recently been busted cheating on his long-distance girlfriend, and said long-distance girlfriend calls Holly to flesh out the situation. Holly's friend Betsy keeps hearing she is too old for a) her job; b) men in her age group.
  
  The short chapters star different voices from the handful of characters, and by different voices I mean the same voice with a different name or gender and a lack of depth. Each is sorta droll and sorta neurotic, and the scenes are like episodes from a collection of " ... guess what happened to me ... " stories. The least-interesting character is, ironically, Holly. I laughed twice, once at a joke about what kind of a person rapes people at 7 a.m. ["I mean, who's in the mood to rape another person at that time of day?" said Holly. "I can barely put my contact lenses in.":]
  
  Um, Jincy? I'm not sure what Devil-Wears-Prada-Lipstick-Jungle-Bitter-Is-The-New-Black books you've been reading, but this is chick lit.
  
  So. What's wrong with chick lit? In this case it's lazy, cliche-laden drivel that is actually insulting. When a male character lands a blind date with a heavy-set woman, he immediately checks out for the duration of the date and gets drunk. When he touches her shoulder, it is like "grabbing a deboned chicken carcass." While furthering his role as the asshole of the novel, the intrinsic autobiographic nature of most chick lit leads me to believe that on some level, the author is an asshole, too. Meanwhile, Betsy is repeatedly asked out by a chunky dude who works at her gym. She finally agrees to go out with him, and in the course of the date decides that she guesses it is okay to like him even though he is fat. And this is written as though it is a moment of growth.
  
  Largely, I think that chick lit is written by women who don't like men or women very much. Saying this probably makes me sound like someone you don't want to invite to a party, but I assure you I'm fun.
  
  I prefer to not read it because it isn't satisfying to me. Which is weird, because I've never seen a Lifetime Original Movie that I didn't love.
  
  NOTE: Full disclosure, I loved "Bridget Jones' Diary."
• 
  Hilarie

  Sarah Dunn is a truly talented writer. Her writing is witty, lively, and flows beautifully. However, for me, Secrets to Happiness wasn't the book to showcase that talent. In fairness, let me start off by saying that I am probably outside of the target demographic of this book. I am a fairly conservative, career woman turned stay-at-home mother, who is totally devoted to my husband and children. The characters in this novel would likely describe me as a naive optimist.
  
  The central character of the novel is Holly Frick, a recently divorced writer on the downward slope of her career, who has been anything but lucky in love. Holly lives, works, and plays in New York city. In general, Holly is a bit at a loss as to how to find happiness in her life. It turns out that most of her close friends, including her best friend Amanda, haven't figured that out either; despite appearances to the contrary. Secrets to Happiness presents us with a host of characters, and their search to find fulfillment.
  
  Initially, I really enjoyed this book for the first few chapters in which the author introduced Holly, and some of her history. However, a few pages more had me wondering why Holly would choose to spend time with many of the other characters, especially her best friend Amanda. I found the majority of the characters in this book to be self-centered egoists who treated Holly as a quaint little country girl because she sometimes voiced a moral qualm with regards to the consequences of destructive behavior, like adultery. The character of Amanda particularly had me wanting to hurl the book out of the window. I think it was partly because I was still enjoying the post-reading high from Everyone is Beautiful, and suddenly, here was a character who drugged her infant with Benadryl so that she could enjoy uninterrupted sexual fantasies about a man she met at a park.
  
  I am giving this book two stars because I really mean it when I say that Dunn impressed me with her ability to turn a phrase. As much as I disliked this novel, I still found myself wishing I could write like she does.
  
• 
  Kristi

  I almost didn't finish the book because it was about a bunch of New Yorkers doing drugs and having casual sex and affairs, desperately dating people they actually despise based on superficial characteristics, and spending outrageous amounts of money on really stupid stuff.
  
  However, it turns out it is a good story and a good bit of the book is about the protagonist, Holly Frick, and how she doesn't approve of the garbage. She even tells people she doesn't approve.
  
  And the cover is adorable.
• 
  Anika

  I just reviewed this novel. I didn't realize until after I read the whole thing that I had read her earlier novel, Big Love. This one has a similarly confused ex-evangelical main character. A love story, sort of. Chick lit, sort of. Drama, sort of. Comedy, sort of. Nice.
• 
  Miriam

  This made me laugh out loud. So it gets 5 stars.
• 
  Deborah

  A quite funny, big-hearted look at the romantic entanglements of a group of 30-something New Yorkers, chiefly novelist Holly Frick and her friends and their lovers, as well as Holly’s lovers and exes. I enjoyed it, but I freely admit the reason I picked it up was the cover image of the most blissed-out little beagle, on his back, paws up, ears flopped back, eyes closed and ready for a tummy rub. If that’s not a secret to happiness, I don’t know what is!
• 
  Leah

  Holly Frick just went through the worst kind of divorce: the one where you’re still in love with the person divorcing you. Facing up to life on her own, she needs a distraction to keep her mind off her own non-existent love life. Like Jane Austen’s Emma Woodhouse, Holly is intimately involved in the lives of those closest to her, and now she feels compelled to give advice with unwavering moral certainty. And, like Emma, she is often completely off the mark. Soon she’s in over her head, advising her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend while at the same time falling for her married friend’s new lover. Until, happiness arrives from a very unexpected source …With a contemporary twist on Woody Allen’s Manhattan, Secrets to Happiness is a hilarious look at the things people will do to be happy.
  
  For a while now I’ve been wanting to read Secrets To Happiness by Sarah Dunn. The American cover shows a dog lying on its back in grass and as soon as I saw it I fell in love and wanted to read the book. Thankfully for me the book was released in the UK in November and despite a different cover (a really horrible one, actually), I was thrilled to receive a copy to review. Unfortunately, the cover is the only good thing about the book.
  
  I’ve been thinking for quite a few hours how to go about writing my review for the book because, frankly, I just didn’t like it. At all. So I’m going to keep it as short and sweet as I can possibly manage. Firstly the book wasn’t what I was expecting, at all. I was expecting a story about a girl falling in love with a dog, but the fact of the matter is, the dog in question barely even features. And, even worse, I don’t truly know what the book was about. It begins well enough, introducing us to Holly, but after that it just all goes wrong. The narrative moves all over the place – it focuses on Holly, on her best friend Amanda, on her ex-ex-boyfriend Spencer, on her writing partner Conrad and it all just seems muddled up.
  
  There’s nothing that ties them all together, not really. It’s just a jumble of narratives stuck together in the hope of making a story, but for the most part, I had no idea what was going on. There was just no focus whatsoever, and it might just be me – this book could be some sort of literary masterpiece, but I just want a story I can make sense of and Secrets To Happiness is not such a book and I ended up skimming the last half of the book in a desperate bid to ‘finish’ it. Although, to be honest, to finish a book you have to have a satisfactory beginning, middle, and end and I got nothing.
  
  Basically, this book just didn’t work for me. I didn’t care for the characters, I found them vapid and annoying, I couldn’t make sense of the story and I just wanted it to end. I had such high hopes for the book, and most of them came from the very misleading book cover and I feel a bit cheated, actually. I get that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but a book cover should at least represent the book it covers. So no, I wouldn’t recommend Secrets To Happiness, not unless you like a book that leaves you incredibly confused.
• 
  Jess

  I have heard numerous female authors complain about the fact that any book about a woman by a woman gets unfairly ghettoized into the "pink section" of the bookstore. Sarah Dunn's author protagonist complains about this very thing in this book, in fact. While I've never seen Dunn make this complaint directly about her own work, she's perhaps the "women's fiction" author whose complaints in this direction would be most justified. This oddly philosophical foray into the complicated relationships of a handful of New Yorkers is as memorable, thought-provoking, and well-written a book as I've read in at least six months.
  
  Dunn's first novel, "The Big Love," also explored a formerly devout Christian's attempts to fit into the world of cynical, aggressively agnostic urbanites, but she wasn't nearly as sure of herself as a writer or as a spiritual thinker. "Secrets to Happiness" takes the same philosophical bent and applies it to better-drawn characters and a more even narrative.
  
  I would give it five stars but for an egregious misstep involving a few borderline racist jokes around a Native American character. I honestly think the author was well-intentioned, but it's also clear that she has never actually known a Native American.
• 
  Krista

  Oh my goodness, these people were annoying. I thought it would be a book about a woman adopting a dog, rebuilding her life and finding love after divorce. Instead it was a bunch of self-absorbed people making horrible choices and then complaining about them. After the main character started falling for her married, best friend's lover (yep, you read that correctly), I gave up. I kept waiting for the dog story to start, but halfway through he was mentioned twice. The only good thing about this book was the cover.
• 
  Jonathan Karmel

  Really liked it. Good story about married couples who consider having affairs and getting divorced. I think Sarah Dunn's books are fun and funny, not fluff but not too deep either.
  
  In this one, the main character is from a religious upbringing. Many of the other characters are modern, NYC sophisticates who are in therapy. People with religious values ask what people "should" do when faced with a dilemma. Therapists try not to be judgmental about the choices people make and are more interested in helping people feel okay about doing what they "want" to do. Two different ways to think about the choice to have an affair, get divorced and then marry the person you're having an affair with.
  
  The one character who talks directly about the title of the book offers the opinion that the best way to find a good partner is to look for someone who is already happy. That way, you won't spend the rest of your life in a vein attempt to make the other person happy. The idea is that no matter how happy you are during courtship, after some period of time you just return to your temperamental set point.
• 
  Annette Theobald

  Meh. Characters didnt totally entwine so was a bit difficult to follow. But the characters voices were really fun and quirky conversationalist convos. That part was enjoyable and obviously unique to the author. I liked Dunn's The Arrangement so so much, though written years past this one.
• 
  Susan Liston

  This is essentially chick-lit-ish romance, everyone pairs up and lives happily ever after, which I really just do not read, but I so liked her newest book that I tried this one, too. I didn't like it as much, but for what it was it was well written and did make me laugh out loud several times, so I think she could write in any genre she wanted...here's hoping she branches out more in the future.
• 
  Kelly

  This book was a total treat to read. Seriously, my husband had to leave the room, because I had to stop quite often in order to read him a passage. When something is that good, I have to share. I would compare this work to one of my all time favorites "Heartburn" by Nora Ephron, because like Heartburn, it had moments that just cracked me up and were completely impossible to not share. Also I totally could not put this book down! Sarah Dunn has an absolute powerful way of bringing her characters to life in a way that is almost beyond belief. They live and breathe and cause feelings of love and hate.
  
  I enjoyed how the story centered on Holly Frick but also gave us smaller stories to enjoy along the way in the lives of those who were close to Holly. There were little lessons on lives in each and every one. Choices were made throughout this book, and many of them I didn't agree with and neither did Holly, but I am surrounded by that in my own life, and that is what made this story real.
  
  In order to totally avoid spoilers, I am going to keep certain things out of this review and throw myself into a discussion group somewhere, because this is definitely a book you want to share.
  
  Here is what I loved: Each and every character was REAL. Sometimes so real that you wanted to hit them. I loved how Holly had moments where she was faced with her friends failings and expected them to do the right thing. I loved how Holly herself had to make some decisions that were right even though they were painful.
  
  Here is what I didn't like: I felt like Holly did and wanted people to behave in the way that was appropriate. Of course that is just not the way life is always going to be. You can only control yourself, and you have to let that be enough. So really I liked that too. That is what is good about this book. You are not going to like some of the decisions that are made, but it is true to life.
  
  Honestly, I loved this book. This book is a keeper and it is a book I will share. Mind you, I will have my address label inside this book, because I want it back.
• 
  treehugger

  I am so completely ambivalent about this book, it's kinda nuts. There were a couple of times in the first half of the book where I found myself snorting or chuckling out loud (in public!), but it quickly devolved into a confusing, chaotic collection of personal stories and problems that I could care less about.
  
  I read some other reviews about the book before finishing it, but I don't think they actually affected my opinion of the book - some people are upset about the undercurrent of religious rigidity, some about the unlikable characters, blahblahblah. All of it - the "single girl tries to find love in the big city while wearing ____ brand shoes and carrying a $3000 purse"...gag me. It's like sex in the city, but worse somehow.
  
  I totally checked this book out of the library because of the adorbs puppy on the cover, and if he could have played a SMALLER role in the book at large, I don't know how author could have managed it. I like the occasional chicklit - don't get me wrong. But this? There's probably something that is trying less hard to be "intelligent" chicklit (and failing less miserably), if that's what you're after.
• 
  Wendy

  Despite the adorable beagle on this book, it was incredibly difficult to get through. This story is about Holly Frick and her friends/acquanitances in New York City. Each of them seems to be having their own sort of issues from the woman who think she is bad in bed to the best friend who is cheating on her husband to the ex-boyfriend who is trying to have a serious relationship but can't help messing it up. Then there is Holly, recently divorced and very righteous, who is sleeping with a man 12 years her junior and trying to write a horrible tween sitcom with her writing partner Leonard who has people move all of his stuff down two floors in the same apartment building and place it exactly the same way so he doesn't have to do it or deal with the stress of moving. In allr eality, I am unsure what the point of this book was except to hear about these very dysfunctional lives that kind of end up okay at the end. I think it might have been better if the beagle was a main character.
• 
  Jane

  Well, I've just read Room and Never Let Me Go, two pretty intense books. I picked this one up from the library because I like that "Happiness" is in the title and I needed a break from abuse/rape/genocide. It was funny. I laughed more than most of the people who reviewed this book. I loved the dogs in the book. The protagonist, Holly, was sort of pathetic, but in an "I've felt this sorry for myself," kind of way. The cover on my book isn't half so wonderful as the cover on the copy that arose when I clicked on the title--happy dog laying back in the grass. Mostly I want wonderful sentences when I read. Reading this, I felt like I was taking a nice hot bath. I felt--happy. Yes there are self-involved people, yes, some of the characters take drugs and are a bit materialistic and sexist. But I was glad that no one was raped, no one died and so many people were on the road to some kind of (temporary?) relationship.
• 
  Jessica

  Read this book in one sitting. I liked it and it gave me a lot to think about. I LOVED The Big Love, really admired it, but this one seems more sophisticated. My least favorite parts were the Leonard parts. I loved the Betsy storyline and even the Spencer storyline. I wish I could have a discussion with someone about the points in this book--I found myself understanding Spence's point of view at times and that scares me! Hopefully I'm not the only one. I liked Holly a lot, really interesting. I love that she talks Lucas out of law school and everything comes together in the end--for everyone else! The end seems kind of unfair to Holly, but maybe that's what she needs to experience. I love Sarah Dunn!
• 
  Karen

  As I first started reading this book I thought the writing was funny and clever. In fact, I laughed out loud a few times which is unusual for me when I am reading a book. But by about page 100 I started to get weary of the whining and lack of integrity of most of the characters. The protagonist Holly, I found especially annoying and it's hard to read a book when you find the lead character annoying. It finished nicely and redeemed itself somewhat- Enough that I am curious to read the author's first novel which boasts publication in 26 languages worldwide. I can't say I hated this book and at times enjoyed it. But it also is not a book that I would really recommend or think back on. It was an easy beach read I guess.
• 
  amyextradot

  While the synopsis lets you believe that this is going to be a character study about the main character, Holly, and her quest for love, it ends up being a snapshot into the lives of Holly and various people in her life. However, the characters are not fleshed out enough to care about them, in fact, I found myself having a hard time identifying, let alone, liking any of them.
• 
  Melissa

  I know this is chick lit but it's smarter than normal chick lit. I was able to read the entire book on the flight from New York to Seattle and it was a welcome distraction since I hate flying. One of the best parts was the NYC setting and the fact that I could recognize some of the places mentioned.
• 
  Britany

  This was a very cute, quick read. The characters were all very defined and relatable. The topics were surface level and were also things that most people have dealt with or heard about from their friends. I felt like the characters were all my friends and we were catching up over starbucks. Would recommend for those who enjoy chick lit.
• 
  Just - The romance reader

  I really just couldn't get into this book. I got through maybe a forth of the book. I'm not even going to give the book a rating because I don't feel that would be fair. Maybe it is actually a good book, just slow to start off?
• 
  Shelleyrae at Book'd Out

  Surface characters with a surface plot, I just couldnt find it in myself to care about the main protaganist, Holly, and there just seemed to be no point at all. There were some good lines but otherwise a bland self indulgent feel that didn't appeal at all.
• 
  Mandy

  Charming, funny and a good read.
• 
  Thought Bottle

  I've been trying to find this book again for years. All I could remember about it was the cover, how much I loved it and the first page having a line about pills that hooked me in immediately. You'd be surprised how many book covers have a dog on grass. The look inside feature on amazon confirmed the fist line about pills. Sublime happiness. I found it. To be sure I never lose it again, I logged in to add it here.
  
  When I noticed the star rating and first few reviews on here I start wondering if my reunion with this book was going to turn out to be disappointment at my former self's taste. Most readers probably know the pain of finding out that an old love isn't what it was after a few more years of life experience and brain development.
  
  I finished my audible copy this morning. There are a few honorable mentions for what ages the book. But I'm impressed with how well it's stood the test of time, particularly with its viewpoints. Being published the year Brad Pitt cheated on his wife and the media decided the problem was either Angelina Jolie being a home-wrecker or Jennifer Aniston being found lacking in her wifely duties, the year before Ricky Martin dared to come out as gay, the era Gisele was the uncompromising beauty standard and texting was still new... the attitudes and perspectives in this book are shockingly modern.
  
  The jarring sentence in this book is a comment about life's hardships that likened having cancer to having an autistic child. I think we can all agree this isn't kosher by today's standards. It's in the context of talking about swapping your life problems for someone else's. It's not a direct comparison, but the comparison remains. Consider this your trigger warning. But the rest passes the vibe check perspective-wise in the modern day.
  
  The featured relationships, characters and attitudes were noticeably inclusive and progressive for the time, but are hilariously quaint by today's standards. One of the main characters is a gay man with ADHD, one of the women is having a moral panic about no-commitment dating 2 men at once, another woman is cheating on her husband nonchalantly and the male role model playboy character is featured in a distinctively unglamorous light. See the 3rd paragraph of this review.
  
  The first-person narration and inner dialogue from each of these characters is masterful. A total shift in perspective and tone rather than a continual voice with different faces attached to it is noticeable and a big part of what makes this story so absorbing. Personally, the included thought process between dialogue and what's happening externally is what gives a story its soul rather than just being a recording of events. These characters have life.
  
  But maybe the most satisfying aspect of this book is the lack of moralistic high drama. There is no dish throwing, life ruining, zero sum game of winners and losers to illustrate the consequence of not making "the right choices" in this book. There are individuals using their experiences to make the best choice possible for themselves. You can see their reasoning, their own particular life lessons and take aways, their demeanor, how they wound up here and what their best path forward seems to be for them given the circumstances.
  
  As the story unfolds, you see these people being honest with themselves. Then lying to themselves. Lying to others. Coming clean. Then coming cleaner when met with damning evidence. Keeping secrets to protect themselves. Keeping secrets to protect their friends. Keeping secrets to protect feelings when the truth won't be of any use to anyone. Making resolutions. How those resolutions are failing them. Letting their standards go when it doesn't serve them. Keeping their standards when it doesn't serve them. And all of them being exposed to the different perspectives and choices of others as it affects them in real time.
  
  There's a narrative progressing undertow of self-discovery, maturity and growth towards what actually suits each character as the story goes along. The one size fits most narrative of life stages, their progression and how it "should be" is ultimately challenged in this book. Each character is in a different position starting out and each is unhappy for various reasons: being married, not being married, being divorced, being single. By the end, they all find a place best positioned for their own happiness realistically, if unexpectedly.
  
  So what is the secret of happiness? This book seems to say it's finding your own way to the best of your ability and experience given the circumstances you find yourself in. And there's a dog.