{"product_id":"are-you-happy-stories-9781662603020","title":"Are You Happy?: Stories","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"[A] piercing collection . . . These stories will dazzle readers.\" --\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"These nine startling stories capture the subtleties of feeling--and being made to feel--out of place . . .. Ostlund proves herself a master of the form.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review) \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eNine exquisite stories that explore class, desire, identity, and the specter of violence that looms daily over women and the LGBTQ+ community. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn aspiring veterinarian survives a plane crash and starts life over in California. A woman mourns the loss of her childhood friend's innocence and rethinks justice. A queer teacher's sense of safety in the classroom is destroyed. With settings ranging from small-town Minnesota to New Mexico, from bars and bedrooms to a furniture store and a community college, Are You Happy? casts a spotlight on people who try--and often fail--to make peace with their pasts while navigating their present relationships and notions of self. In prose that is evocative and restrained, unpredictable and masterful, Lori Ostlund offers a darkly humorous and compassionate examination of America's preoccupation with loneliness, happiness, guns, and violence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLori Ostlund is the author of the story collection, \u003ci\u003eThe Bigness of the World\u003c\/i\u003e, which won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, the California Book Award for First Fiction, the Edmund White Debut Fiction Award, and was a Lamda finalist. Her second book, a novel, \u003ci\u003eAfter the Parade\u003c\/i\u003e, was a Barnes \u0026amp; Noble Discover Pick and a finalist for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the Ferro-Grumley Award, the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, and was a \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Editor's Choice. Her stories have appeared in \u003ci\u003eBest American Short Stories\u003c\/i\u003e, The \u003ci\u003ePEN\/O.Henry Prize Stories\u003c\/i\u003e, and literary journals such as \u003ci\u003eNew England Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Kenyon Review\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eZYZZYVA\u003c\/i\u003e. Lori is the series editor of the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Astra House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51254210461970,"sku":"9781662603020","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_9b56b007-30f8-48cb-b033-c4c1ac6968cb.jpg?v=1746314886","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/are-you-happy-stories-9781662603020","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}