Are You Happy Now?

A Novel

By: Richard Babcock

Narrated by: Jeff Cummings

John Lincoln needs a hot best seller, and finds his salvation in Amy O’Malley, a recent University of Chicago grad who’s worked on the school’s famous sex survey. With Lincoln’s prodding, Amy writes an erotic thriller that draws on her research experience. Her book indeed opens doors for Lincoln—but not in the way he imagined.

Meanwhile, Tony Buford, a “professor of happiness studies” at a local college, gently blackmails him into publishing his fantastically mundane poetry.

Reminiscent of Richard Russo at his wittiest, Are You Happy Now? is a comic novel about the hard work of understanding what it is you want.

©2012 Richard Babcock (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Whiny is as whiny does; but read if you've thought

of writing a novel .The story is clever though I think it gets a little lost in the ~second half. I don't know if it portrays the publishing world accurately; if so, not such a great place to work. Chicago is shown as a generally unpleasant place and John Lincoln has only occasional episodes of happiness there. I did NOT laugh out loud at anything.
Jeff Cummings was probably an appropriate choice for narrator channeling the whininess and near-swooning of John Lincoln but I can't say it was all that pleasant a listen.