What readers think of Secrets of Happiness, plus links to write your own review.

This book is a novel. I know that because it says so on the cover: "Secrets of Happiness: A Novel." Except it's not a novel. Not really. It's either a very disconnected novel or a closely intertwined collection of short stories.

Either way, it's brilliant.

Written by Joan Silber, this "novel" has seven chapters, each one titled with a character's name. We begin with Ethan, whom we quickly learn is the adult son of Abby and Gil, who have run into a bit of a rough spot in their marriage since Abby found out that Gil has another family on the other side of town. Oops. The story takes off from there.

Each chapter is told from one character's point of view in the first person. This is where the "novel" strays from the norm and becomes more like a short story collection: The character narrating each chapter is someone we readers may or may not have heard about previously. The second chapter is told from Joe's perspective. Joe is Ethan's half-brother—a member of that other family of his dad's. Then we have Mirabel. See if you can follow this: Mirabel is the illicit lover of Schuyler, the husband of Veronica, who was Joe's high school girlfriend. Mirabel is barely mentioned once in passing in the chapter narrated by Joe. Whew! Each of the chapter's narrators is like this, offering some far-fetched, remote connection to the overall story. The story comes full circle with the final chapter told from Ethan's point of view as he did in the first chapter.

But this is all you need to know: It works. And it works magnificently! This is a daring, radical way to write a novel, and I loved it.

While each character is obviously seeking happiness and love (refer back to the title), buried deep inside each story is one connecting theme that isn't in the title: Money. It runs like an underground river throughout the narrative. The good, the bad, the ugly of money. All that it can do. All that it can destroy. Who has it. Who doesn't. Who wants it desperately. Who couldn't care less. And all we will do to get it—even if it's not legal. And even if it hurts those whom we love the most.

The form and function of this unusual literary style shows how we humans—not only the characters in this novel—are so interconnected with one another. It's the "small world" phenomenon or six degrees of separation that comes to life in literature.

This is an unusual novel that is beautifully written and ingeniously plotted with bold, vivid characters who speak in their own voices. Highly recommended.