Happy Stories, Mostly

In their stunning fiction debut, queer Indonesian writer Norman Erikson Pasaribu blends together speculative fiction and dark absurdism, drawing from Batak and Christian cultural elements.Longlisted for the International Booker Prize,Happy Stories, Mostlyintroduces one of the most important Indonesian writers today (Litro Magazine).These twelve short stories ask what it means to be almost happyto 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.An employee navigates their new workplace, a department of Heaven devoted to archiving unanswered prayers; a tourist in Vietnam seeks solace following her sons 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,Happy Stories, Mostlyconsiders an oblique approach to human life: In the words of one of the stories narrators, I work in the dark. Like mushrooms. I dont need light to thrive.