The Answer Is No

by Fredrik Backman

Because people aren’t supposed to be happy, they’re only supposed to want to be happy, because how otherwise are you supposed to be able to sell things to them?

people are supposed to pretend to be happy on the internet so that other people are reminded of how unhappy they themselves are by comparison.

Absolutely zero people go to therapy because yesterday they were sitting in a comfortable chair, eating a perfect pizza, drinking a good glass of red wine, watching a really funny movie. So that’s how Lucas lives, all the time.

Lucas is giving most of his thoughts to his pad thai. He ordered it through an app on his phone, it’s been cooked and transported and delivered to his doorstep without him having to talk to a single person, and that’s really the peak of how a civilization should work, if you ask Lucas.

cruelest form of interpersonal terrorism: small talk.

He has found that the easiest way to be happy is to think about time in about eight-hour increments, and to always have something to look forward to at the end of those hours: pad thai, video games, wine. Small, great things.