The Book Depository Hector and the Search for Happiness by Francois Lelord
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Price: £14.35
Brand: The Book Depository
Description: Hector and the Search for Happiness : Paperback : Penguin Putnam Inc : 9780143118398 : 0143118390 : 31 Aug 2010 : For fans of The Elegance of the Hedgehog and The Alchemist comes this international bestseller--a charming fable about modern life and the quest for the secret of happiness. The Book Depository Hector and the Search for Happiness by Francois Lelord - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk
Category: Books
Merchant: The Book Depository
Product ID: 9780143118398
MPN: 0143118390
GTIN: 9780143118398
Author: Damaskcat
Rating: 5
Review: Hector is a psychiatrist and a very good one as he likes listening to people. He has noticed that he has an increasing number of patients who seem to have everything they could possibly want in life - good jobs they enjoy, loving families, good health and plenty of money but who are somehow just not happy with their lives. He decides to set out on a quest to find out what makes people happy. In the process he compiles a list of the rules of happiness. On his journey he meets all sorts of people and falls in love more than once but he starts with a Chinese monk and then visits him again at the end of his quest. This is an amusing, quirky story with a lot of useful insights into life in general and happiness in particular. If you prefer reading novels to self help books but would like some insight into what makes you - and other people - happy then try this one. I'm not always keen on literature in translation but this book is very well done and Hector comes over as a thoroughly likeable character with an offbeat sense of humour and an ability to analyse the world around him. I liked the simple style in which the book is written and I loved all the characters he met. I really enjoyed this and recommend it to anyone who would like to read something entertaining and insightful. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review.
Author: Fiona
Rating: 1
Review: As someone has mentioned, this book tends to read at a young level and may come across as patronising. Especially when the author uses the term 'what people do when they're in love' instead of 'sex'. Along with this, there is a lot of places where there are brackets explaining things that don't need explaining and parts where the author has put phrases such as 'but you know what that means' and it seems that they couldn't be bothered to explain it so left it to the readers imagination. Both of these infuriated me and encouraged me less and less to read on. However, i did, and yes, it gets worse. It may just be me but i thought this book may be slightly deeper and philosophical in terms of the 'search for happiness' whereas the storyline is complicated on a simple basis and fairly pointless. The lessons that 'Hector' learns, a three year old could probably figure out and i found with each one i thought 'well that's obvious'. It flits back and forth in some parts and frankly, towards the end i just wanted the book to finish. Thankfully the last 10% on a kindle are acknowledgements etc and the book doesn't drag on to 99%. I saw the preview for the film of this whilst i was reading the book that is coming out in cinema soon. It looks equally as bad and i will make sure to avoid that one. I don't normally take this much effort and time to write a negative review but felt this was necessary for other potential readers of this book.