Happy Stories, Mostly

BY Norman Erikson Pasaribu / TRanslated from indonesian BY Tiffany Tsao

Finalist, 2024 Gregg Barrios Book in Translation Prize

Finalist, 2023 Cercador Prize

Winner, 2022 Republic of Consciousness Prize

Longlisted, 2022 Booker International Prize

Longlisted, 2023 ALTA Translation Award

Playful, shape-shifting and emotionally charged, Happy Stories, Mostly is a collection of twelve stories that queer the norm. Inspired by Simone Weil’s concept of ‘decreation’, and often drawing on Batak and Christian cultural elements, these tales put queer characters in situations and plots conventionally filled by hetero characters.

The stories talk to each other, echo phrases and themes, and even shards of stories within other stories, passing between airports, stacks of men’s lifestyle magazines and memories of Toy Story 3, such that each one almost feels like a puzzle piece of a larger whole, but with crucial facts – the saddest ones, the happiest ones – omitted, forgotten, unbearable.

A blend of science fiction, absurdism and alternative-historical realism, Happy Stories, Mostly is a powerful puff of fresh air, aimed at destabilising the heteronormative world and exposing its underlying absences.

PRAISE

“For its playfulness, its ambition, and the way it builds its sorrow-bricks into stories that confront head-on challenging situations and emotions, this is a collection that deserves to be read and re-read.” - Rosie Milne, Asian Review of Books

“Though Happy Stories, Mostly is a relatively slim volume, it is wide-reaching in scope and integrates mythical, religious and cultural elements in a way that is inventive and powerful, “queering the norm” in manifold ways.” - Arbnora Selmani, Asymptote

“Resisting the idea of being ignored and consequently erased is constantly present in Pasaribu’s narratives. He defies conventions in a shape-shifting, playful way that has dramatic undertones.” - Carla Scarano D’Antonio, Litro Magazine

“A ‘bittersweet symphony’ if there ever was one, Happy Stories, Mostly is a choral collection around a resonant heart, as across different stories and settings, characters misunderstand, misapprehend and plain just miss the gay men who are their friends, family, colleagues, lovers, and even worshippers. Faith runs throughout in melodic variations, sometimes discordant but always palpable, as Pasaribu’s stories are always attuned to listening and listeners. “Come on. Is there such a thing? Really? Really? A prayer that must be answered?” Maybe not, but – supported by Tiffany Tsao’s dynamic, pacy translation – these are stories that must be heard.” - So Mayer, Author of “Political Animals: The New Feminist Cinema”

MORE INFORMATION

• Publication date: 2 December 2021

• Extent: 161pp

• Format: B-format paperback (198mm × 127mm)

• Rights held: UK

• ISBNs: 978-1-911284-63-5 (paperback) / 978-1-911284-62-8 (ebook)