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by Norman Erikson Pasaribu
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, Mostly introduces "one of the most important Indonesian writers today" (Litro Magazine). 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.
An 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, Happy Stories, Mostly 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."
"Poet Pasaribu makes their English-language debut with a remarkable collection of speculative and absurdist fiction incorporating Batak and Christian culture...The free-spirited and worldly 'A Young Poet's Guide to Surviving a Broken Heart,' written in the second person, suggests funny and vital coping mechanisms for a poet's heartache and loneliness: 'Try contacting your friends to see if they're up for dinner. Not at your place, because your room looks like a Pollock painting'). This is sure to get people talking." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Rendering characters with refreshing nuance and raw honesty, Pasaribu's is a promising new voice. A beautiful collection that refuses to shy away from the often complex and difficult queer experience." —Kirkus Reviews
"An enticing collection, where the smallest pedestrian acts—such as finding a secret journal or getting a cubicle to work in—have the power to force characters to question their internalized biases." —Asymptote Journal
"Cerebral, playful, abrasive yet tender—there are not enough adjectives to describe Happy Stories, Mostly. Every page crackles with energy in Tiffany Tsao's brilliant translation. Norman Erikson Pasaribu takes risks big and small, and somehow, magically, lands them all." —YZ Chin, author of Edge Case
This information about Happy Stories, Mostly was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Norman Erikson Pasaribu is a Toba Batak writer of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.
Tiffany Tsao is a writer and literary translator. She is the author of the novel The Majesties (originally published in Australia as Under Your Wings) and the Oddfits fantasy trilogy (so far, The Oddfits and The More Known World). She has translated five books from Indonesian into English. Her translation of Norman Erikson Pasaribu's Happy Stories, Mostly was the winner of the 2022 Republic of Consciousness Prize and longlisted for the International Booker Prize. Her translation of Pasaribu's poetry collection Sergius Seeks Bacchus was awarded a PEN Translates grant and shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Translation Prize.
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