Book #56: The Happiness Project

Title: The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle and Generally Have More Fun
Author: Gretchen Rubin

It feels kind of mean-spirited to write a critical review of a book called The Happiness Project, which is the account of the year in Gretchen Rubin's life in which she decided to systematically do things to make herself happier. She set goals in areas of her life (like marriage, for example) that she wanted to improve, and then worked toward completing concrete objectives that would, at least in theory, make her feel happier or more competent in each area. Rubin devoted a month to various happiness-inducing subjects (like spirituality and parenthood) and often had three or four objectives to help her along the way.

I listened to the unabridged version of The Happiness Project on my iPod while running. I've gotten three books on my iPod since the beginning of the year, and it's interesting, because every one of them has been a nonfiction book, somewhat sort of a memoir but not exactly a memoir, read by the author. None is exactly what I'd call creative nonfiction. And while I think in my mind when I'm picking out books to order that those are exactly the type of book I'd like to listen to on my iPod, I also have the weird sense after listening to Rubin or Klosterman or Vowell speak directly into my brain for six or eight hours, that they're not a famous author out there somewhere, but more like a friend.

Or, in Rubin's case, a lot like a reflection of my own thoughts, which scares me a little bit. I resemble Gretchen Rubin in a lot of ways-- I'm goal-oriented, I like to write, I have little kids and a certain amount of disposable income and a desire for self-improvement. So in some ways, I feel like I don't really need to have my own Happiness Project (Rubin ends her book by showing people how to do their own projects), because I read about hers and think mine would play out similarly, especially if I had an advance and a book deal prodding me along. I also think she had some really great things to say about motivation and not gossiping and smiling when you don't feel like it and how it's harder to praise than to criticize (and man, that one got me straight in the heart). Overall, I liked the book.

But there was something I didn't like (sorry Gretchen, I can't wear the Pollyanna cap for the whole review). One of the first rules I learned as a writer was "show, don't tell" and Rubin tells and tells and tells. She talks about her goals and tells about how she accomplished them. There's a lot of "and then I did this, and then I did that..." and even though she talks a lot about her husband and daughters, they never really come alive to me in a way that makes me want to read more about them. It was almost like narrating a self-help book, and I think more showing and less telling would have made it a more interesting read.