Book Club Pick: July 2019
Title: More Happy Than Not
Author: Adam Silvera
Series: Stand alone novel
Country: United States of America
Publisher: Soho Teen
First Published: 2015
Pages: 300 pages
Publisher Description:
Sixteen-year-old Aaron Soto is struggling to find happiness after a family tragedy leaves him reeling. He’s slowly remembering what happiness might feel like this summer with the support of his girlfriend, Genevieve, but it’s his new best friend, Thomas, who really gets Aaron to open up about his past and confront his future. As Thomas and Aaron get closer, Aaron discovers things about himself that threatens to shatter his newfound contentment. A revolutionary memory-alteration procedure, courtesy of the Leteo Institute, might be the way to straighten himself out. But what if it means forgetting who he truly is?
Review:
16-year-old Puerto Rican Aaron Soto is living in a one-bedroom Bronx apartment with this mother and older brother Eric.
Aaron’s father has committed suicide in the family’s bathtub, and Aaron has attempted suicide himself. Not only is he wracked with guilt over his father’s death, but he is also struggling with an attraction to other boys.
This is where the Leteo Institute comes in, a private medical centre where clients can pay to have their painful and traumatic memories erased. Can the Leteo Institute make him straight?
More Happy Than Not is a science-fiction story that explores issues of memory, race, class and sexual identity.
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Source: I borrowed this book from my public library.