Changes

Will Ferguson's novel is a what-if exercise based on a question more fascinating than it might seem at the first sight: what would happen if self-help books really worked? It is a clever, funny and gleeful satire on the publishing world and the self-help industry. It also has a bit of a love story and a thriller to it, and on top of that it attacks - even if it wasn't the author's intention- not only the self-help industry as such but the underlying mindset, the concept of ideal person and perfect happiness (or bliss, as some would have it) as removal of all external and internal conflict and excess. And in doing so, Happiness TM also asks rather serious questions about who we are, and what makes us human. The answers provided are not exactly of great depth, but never mind that: after all , it's a funny novel, not a philosophy treaty.

Edwin de Valu, a cynical Gen-X-er works as an editor of help-help at Panderic, a B-rate American publishing house. He's married to an ex-prom queen turned financial analyst, a self-help junkie with a penchant for post-it notes and lusting not so secretly after his boss and only friend at Panderic, May Weatherhill. We also have Mr Mead, an aging ageing baby-boomer and MD of Panderic and Dr Ethics, an ex-pillar of Panderic's self-help list, now in prison for homicide.