{"product_id":"happy-stories-mostly-9781952177057-new","title":"Happy Stories, Mostly","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIn their stunning fiction debut, queer Indonesian writer Norman Erikson Pasaribu blends together speculative fiction and dark absurdism, drawing from Batak and Christian cultural elements.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eLonglisted for the International Booker Prize, \u003cem\u003eHappy Stories, Mostly\u003c\/em\u003e introduces \"one of the most important Indonesian writers today\" (\u003cem\u003eLitro Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e). These twelve short stories ask what it means to be almost happy--to nearly find joy, to sort-of be accepted, but to never fully grasp one's desire. Joy shimmers on the horizon, just out of reach.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn employee navigates their new workplace, a department of Heaven devoted to archiving unanswered prayers; a tourist in Vietnam seeks solace following her son's suicide; a young student befriends a classmate obsessed with verifying the existence of a mythical hundred-foot-tall man. A tragicomic collection that probes the miraculous, melancholy nature of survival amid loneliness, \u003cem\u003eHappy Stories, Mostly\u003c\/em\u003e considers an oblique approach to human life: In the words of one of the stories' narrators, \"I work in the dark. Like mushrooms. I don't need light to thrive.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"FEMINIST PR","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":67603398951202,"sku":"9781952177057-new","price":16.86,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0893\/4755\/5618\/files\/9781952177057.jpg?v=1792989348","url":"https:\/\/www.albakireads.com\/products\/happy-stories-mostly-9781952177057-new","provider":"AlbakiReads","version":"1.0","type":"link"}