More happy than not
Readers rate it 4.0 (159 on Hardcover)
295 pages · Released 2015 · Soho Press, Incorporated
Content report card
More happy than not parent’s guide: what’s inside
What it offers
Educational value
A note for parents
More Happy Than Not is a thoughtful contemporary YA novel centered on a Bronx teenager grappling with depression, identity, and a love story with another boy. The book handles serious themes—parental suicide, homophobia, poverty, and mental health—with emotional depth and nuance. While the LGBTQ+ themes are central and affirming, the heavy subject matter, references to suicide, and exploration of self-harm through the memory-alteration premise make this best suited for mature teens who can process these complex issues.
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From the publisher
When it first gets announced, the Leteo Institute's memory-alteration procedure seems too good to be true to Aaron Soto-miracle cure-alls don't tend to pop up in the Bronx projects. Aaron can't forget how he's grown up poor, how his friends all seem to shrug him off, and how his father committed suicide in their one be... When it first gets announced, the Leteo Institute's memory-alteration procedure seems too good to be true to Aaron Soto-miracle cure-alls don't tend to pop up in the Bronx projects. Aaron can't forget how he's grown up poor, how his friends all seem to shrug him off, and how his father committed suicide in their one bedroom apartment. He has the support of his patient girlfriend, if not necessarily his distant brother and overworked mother, but it's not enough. Then Thomas shows up. He doesn't mind Aaron's obsession over the Scorpius Hawthorne books and has a sweet movie set-up on his roof. There are nicknames. Aaron's not only able to be himself, but happiness feels easy with Thomas. The love Aaron discovers may cost him what's left of his life, but since Aaron can't suddenly stop being gay Leteo may be the only way out.
Shelved under
- Dating (Social customs)
- Memory
- Gays
- Youths' writings
- Fiction
- Single-parent families
- Coming out (Sexual orientation)
- Children's fiction
- Dating (social customs), fiction
- Homosexuality, fiction
- Single-parent families, fiction
- New york (n.y.), fiction
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ISBN 9781616955601 · Soho Press, Incorporated