The Illicit Happiness of Other People

By: Manu Joseph

Narrated by: Sanjiv Jhaveri

A quirky and darkly comic take on domestic life in southern India.

Ousep Chacko, journalist and failed novelist, prides himself on being "the last of the real men." This includes waking neighbors upon returning late from the pub. His wife Mariamma stretches their money, raises their two boys, and, in her spare time, gleefully fantasizes about Ousep dying. One day, their seemingly happy seventeen-year-old son Unni - an obsessed comic-book artist - falls from the balcony, leaving them to wonder whether it was an accident. Three years later, Ousep receives a package that sends him searching for the answer, hounding his son’s former friends, attending a cartoonists’ meeting, and even accosting a famous neurosurgeon.

Meanwhile, younger son Thoma, missing his brother, falls head over heels for the much older girl who befriended them both. Haughty and beautiful, she has her own secrets. The Illicit Happiness of Other People is a smart, wry, and poignant novel - teases you with its mystery, philosophy, and unlikely love story.

©2012 Manu Joseph (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Wonderful... The Illicit Happiness of Other People... injects dark, rueful laughter into an immensely touching story of loss." (Wall Street Journal)

"The Illicit Happiness of Other People is ambitious. It is the story of a family getting to know itself, of a socialist India that no longer exists and of a society obsessed with grades. It is a plot-driven yarn with themes of morality, sexuality, psychiatry and yet more science and philosophy.... But it does not feel overburdened.... Quite an achievement." (The Economist)

"Starred review. Joseph writes with extraordinary wit, cunning and sympathy about both family relationships and ultimate mysteries." (Kirkus Reviews)

bad narrator

the narrator's Indian accent and enunciation were unconvincing. you could use an Indian narrator instead.

Sharp prose tainted by awful narration!

I was one of the characters, I was every one of them. Terrific prose- sharp, witty, rife with satire, deliciously dark. The specs of philosophy and psychology perfectly rounds this delectable tale.

But why this quality of narration? Why the awful pronunciation and enunciation? A travesty!

Quirky, humorous, sad

What made the experience of listening to The Illicit Happiness of Other People the most enjoyable?

The characters and the structure of the storytelling were enjoyable. The philosophical basis is presumably existentialist. However, the writer does not hit us over the head with any philosophical lecturing. The teenaged character does verbalize opinions about a philosophical perspective on life, we get it as hearsay from his friends and acquaintances - but this is just the sort of stuff about which extremely intelligent adolescents may obsess,

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

One thing I liked about the narrator was that he had a clear Indian accent, and had correct pronunciations for vernacular words. The accent is not accurate for South India, but it is quite acceptable. This was much better that other novels by Indian English authors I have listened to on Audible. Unfortunately, the narrator had very poor phrasing. Most sentences were phrased "Subject [rising tone, audibly long pause] predicate [falling tone]". For most sentences, this injured the meaning of the sentence.

Bad Narration!!!

I didn't like the book only because the narrator was bad. The Indian accent portrayed by the narrator was very un-authentic and bad to listen to.
I paused this book several times before I gathered the courage and decided to just get done with it and it was all because of the narration. I would have enjoyed it more if I were reading the book. My first Audible decision which I regret.