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Happyland
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Happy Masters is a megalomaniacal entrepreneur, a shrewd negotiator, and procurer of other people’s lives. And she is also the mastermind behind Happy Girls, the phenomenally successful doll company.
With a tenacious grasp on her life’s goals, Happy Masters sets out to make her dream town from scratch. As she sets her sights on Equinox, New York, Happy and her henchmen tra ...more
With a tenacious grasp on her life’s goals, Happy Masters sets out to make her dream town from scratch. As she sets her sights on Equinox, New York, Happy and her henchmen tra ...more
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Author J.Robert Lennon struggled to get Happyland published–astonishing really when you consider just how good an author he is, but apparently publishers feared lawsuits for implied connections between the very fictional Happyland and the real life story of Pleasant Rowland and the town of Aurora, in New York state. In the introduction, Lennon explains his multiple thwarted attempts to get this novel published adding that “if you’d told me in 2003 that this novel wouldn’t be read in its entirety
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I thought it was unusual, and happily so, that Harper's published in serial form this novel in 2006...four installments. About 16 pages per issue. I remember enjoying the book. I still have the book (in loose-leaf from from Harpers).
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With J Robert Lennon's writing, past experience tells you to prepare for the unexpected. Having read both Castle and Familiar, I've become accustomed to his unusual twists and turns, and read HAPPYLAND fully anticipating more of the same.
Will the dolls turn out to be demonic? Will Happy Masters end up slipping into doll-obsessed madness? Will the townsfolk all be turned into dolls?
Amazingly, and a little upsettingly, nothing of the sort happens. HAPPYLAND simply tells the story of a rich, egoti ...more
Will the dolls turn out to be demonic? Will Happy Masters end up slipping into doll-obsessed madness? Will the townsfolk all be turned into dolls?
Amazingly, and a little upsettingly, nothing of the sort happens. HAPPYLAND simply tells the story of a rich, egoti ...more
A 4.5. This is a first-rate novel of the type where an event (in this case, a person) shakes up the lives of a number of people whose lives weren’t going anywhere at all. The genre is more comedy than tragedy, but it can have tragic results. Perhaps we should call the genre the Aufwuhlungsroman.
The prose, the structure, the choreography of character collisions, the balance of satire and drama (with drama becoming dominant as the novel progresses), the ironies, the setpieces — Lennon proves to be ...more
The prose, the structure, the choreography of character collisions, the balance of satire and drama (with drama becoming dominant as the novel progresses), the ironies, the setpieces — Lennon proves to be ...more
I have grown tired of men writing women so poorly it becomes an act of misogyny.
What a great book! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Weirdly enough, I was hooked from the introduction/acknowledgement secrtion. Lennon has been writing this book since 2003, and I was ready to be blown away by this labor of love. I was not disappointed.
The story follows Happy Masters, a take-no-prisoners kind of doll mogul and millionaire. She's middle-aged and yet adorable. It makes for a curious contrast to see her sweet-faced self trample all over people, their lives, their wishes and dreams, and m ...more
The story follows Happy Masters, a take-no-prisoners kind of doll mogul and millionaire. She's middle-aged and yet adorable. It makes for a curious contrast to see her sweet-faced self trample all over people, their lives, their wishes and dreams, and m ...more
This novel caught my attention as I knew something about the real life story that it is loosely based on. In both the real and the fictional stories, a woman who has married into great wealth decides to channel her boredom into a doll-making venture. And these are not just any dolls. These are expensive dolls that each have an identity, a period or ethnic costume and a book to go with them.
Once she has achieved success with this doll-making venture, what does she do? She decides to buy herself a ...more
Once she has achieved success with this doll-making venture, what does she do? She decides to buy herself a ...more
Doll company owner attempts to purchase town and re-make it into a company town for tourists, runs into problems with actual people not buying into her vision. Plus a side of small town humor, planning issues, and historical society reps, and add an all girls college liberal arts campus filled with naive young women exploring their sexuality.
I should have loved this, but I'm sort of meh. I think the author's just trying a bit too hard to be precious, and maybe too hard to try to distance everyt ...more
I should have loved this, but I'm sort of meh. I think the author's just trying a bit too hard to be precious, and maybe too hard to try to distance everyt ...more
J. Robert Lennon's characters are anything but happy in "Happyland," a novel about a tiny town taken over by a egotistic doll creator. As Happy Masters follows a selfish plan to make over Equinox into her own playground, the residents - or least some of them - try to take back their homes.
The narrative is well written, however the plot is predictable. ...more
The narrative is well written, however the plot is predictable. ...more
Happy Masters, head of a doll empire (like American Girls), moves to a small town in the Finger Lakes and spends the book remaking it in her image of what a small town should be. Entertaining and disturbing.
Fans of Shirley Jackson will love this book with the controversial publication history. It's a must-read for fans of dark humor. See the review at The Book Wheel.
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Deliciously dark, and very satirical. Never having been an America Girl owner or fan, I was fine with the sinister side of this story! Terrifically absorbing.
Entertaining, well written.
4.5 stars! A snappy, snarky read.
Loved this.
Read this in Harpers: really interesting, based on the American Girl story.
I really loved this book. It was syndicated in Harper's Magazine, because of some interesting side controversies.
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3.5 stars
Interesting but ultimately feels half baked. This feels like an idea that needed fleshing out further, and I also think the form it’s in could use some editing.
Interesting but ultimately feels half baked. This feels like an idea that needed fleshing out further, and I also think the form it’s in could use some editing.
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J. Robert Lennon is the author of three story collections, Pieces For The Left Hand, See You in Paradise, and Let Me Think, and nine novels, including Mailman, Familiar, Broken River, and Subdivision. He lives in Ithaca, New York.
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