Book Reco # 18: Happy Hour by Marlowe Granados
Aptly named, this book is all about having fun in one of the greatest cities in the world - New York.
Hi there!
Happy Hour is so fun, sassy, and unapologetic. I absolutely enjoyed reading this chaotic book set in New York! In my last newsletter I mentioned that I was planning to read Tender is the Flesh that week. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get past 20 pages because it was disturbing and vomit-inducing. I DNF’ed it and picked up Happy Hour instead. Thankfully, all its merriment distracted me from the goriness of Tender is the Flesh.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ⭐5/5 stars
Isa Epley arrives in New York with her best friend, Gala, to live a life of glamour, pleasure and partying albeit little money. By day, they sell clothes in a market stall or accept odd jobs. By night, they navigate the New York night life, meeting various celebrities, artists, entrepreneurs, intellectuals, and more who all want to see and be seen.
Happy Hour is a debut novel by Filipina-Salvadorian author Marlowe Granados. She sprinkles a little bit of her culture in the book, mostly food, which I always have a fondness for. The book is written as kind of Isa’s journal and I feel like I am the one processing her day. Eventually all the partying and little work takes a financial strain on Isa and Gala as well as their friendship. She spends time alone and thinks of her grief for her mother, what really anchors her friendship with Gala, and how to be in the present.
What I love most about this book are its clever observations. These observations are articulated so well you can’t help but become impressed with the writing. Here are some favorites:
“I supposed to savour is to hold something in your mouth for more than a moment, to linger and draw out its details. Sometimes you are far too hungry to wait, and things get lost. Perhaps it is not a coincidence that I write things into remembrance. I like to linger long enough to name pleasurable things and seek out more.”
“It's funny how in a place where everything is an Experience, people see such little value in just living.”
“I am comfortable saying I don’t do anything because that way people are always surprised by me.”
“It’s funny when people think we’re materialistic. Sure, as quickly as things come into our possession, they can be taken away. Was life really that different with or without those things? It wasn’t that Gala was sad about the things in particular; she mourned how happy they made her when she wore them. Because when she wore them, they were decidedly an extension of her. But when someone takes that from you, it cements how illusory that feeling is. When you come around to realizing it, you can never be totally held by objects. It’s the same for money. Money is always coming and going. It’s hard to be attached to it.”
When someone asks, even if I’m feeling particularly anguished, I can’t seem to form the words. Maybe it comes from the fear of what may change. The atmosphere suddenly hardens and from one moment to the next the person feels differently. To be free to communicate without consequence--is that ever a possibility? I want to say, "I don't want you to have feelings about my feelings." I want to be heard without consequence because to be heard is such a novelty.
The book may be 70% partying but there’s sentimentality in it too. There’s this insightful line about grief that I like.
“Grief is a currency I will not use. I would give up all my chips if I could. Why won't anyone take them?”
On the surface level, it may seem that Isa is strictly a good-time party girl. But really she’s just a girl trying to survive in this world. She’s insightful, smart, and is always thinking one step ahead. LOVE HER.
What I’m Reading This Week..
I attended a local literary festival in my city a couple of weeks ago and I was amazed at the life story of one of the speakers that was also a writer. When he was young, he was a political prisoner during the Marcos regime. He was imprisoned three times other than the time he was abducted and disappeared for a week! He is also an environmental activist and an advocate for indigenous groups here in the Philippines. His life was so interesting and I just got to read his books. I bought three and the book above is a fictionalized story of his mother (her life was also interesting!)
