Denis Robert, Happiness

Happiness

Denis Robert

Serpents Tail, Jul 2010, $14.95

ISBN: 9781852429591

He is a thirty nine years old writer with a wife and three children. She is a reader of his work with a much older husband and his adult son. They meet and are instantly attracted to one another. Since he writes in hotel rooms because they are quiet and her spouse is totally preoccupied with his work, they easily begin a tryst. Both somewhat conceal their real everyday lives from one another while enjoying their fantasy trysts that enable them to escape reality though sexual encounters.

Using the odd numbered pages to tell his side and even numbered pages to tell her side, Happiness is a strange he said, she said look at an affair as each of the leads tell their side on events. None of their trysts last more than a page and a few are left blank. Thus the audience knows almost nothing about the "real" lives of the fantasy lovers. This lack of knowledge reduces the impact as the pair lacks depth beyond their hedonistic encounters. Still different and gimmicky, fans who enjoy an intimate passionate relationship that ironically never truly becomes intimate and compassionate beyond sex will want to read the intriguing look at Happiness.

Harriet Klausner