Hector and the Search for Happiness
is a pretty big title for such a little book. In another writers hands, the
subject could be grossly over-written. (Is this a thing? Over-written? I'm
going for a book equivalent to over-acted...ridiculously tiresome. I'd love to
hear your thoughts.)
In general, I liked it. The writing
style was an interesting change from what I normally read - childlike, but not
childish. "It was Sunday, but Edouard was at the office because he had
to finish a piece of work for the following day. He was going to show a very
important man how to carry out a merger, and he wanted to do this ahead of
another Edouard from another bank who wanted to show the same very important
man how to do the same thing. And this very important man in turn wanted to
carry out the merger ahead of another very important many who wanted to do the
same thing. Hector had understood that in business everything was always a bit
of a race whereas in psychiatry it wasn't really like that, you just had to be
careful not to let your patients talk too much, otherwise you'd be late for the
next ones, and they wouldn't like it." [page 41]
Also I like lists, and in Hector's
quest, as he goes along he simply lists the 23 lessons in happiness he learns.
It makes them easy to remember, and I suppose, to put them into practice.
What I don't like, is being reminded that for many men
(although in this case it might just be a cultural difference since author
Francois Lelord is from France and practices psychiatry there) infidelity is
not a big deal, and as long as it doesn't make you feel TOO bad, you should
just keep your indiscretions discreet and you can have your cake and it too.
