Happy are the Happy

Happy are the Happy (2013) is a novel by French author Yasmina Reza, translated into English by John Cullen. Told in 21 short chapters, each narrated by a different character, the novel explores the social circle of Parisian journalist Robert Toscano and his wife, Odile, focusing on the things they hide from others, their marital frustrations and painful secrets. The novel’s title is taken from a poem by Jorge Luis Borges.

The novel opens in a Paris supermarket, where journalist Robert Toscano is arguing with his wife, Odile, a lawyer. Robert has a deadline to meet, but Odile wants to rejoin the long line for the cheese counter. She disapproves of the Morbier he has chosen and wants to exchange it for Gruyère.

Their argument fractures into digressive rants, revealing deep cracks in the foundation of their marriage. Finally, Robert tries to seize Odile’s purse, which contains the keys to their car. She resists, and he shoves her against the cheese counter. Still, she clutches the bag, so he seizes her again, pulling both Odile and the cart to the checkout, continuing to “haul” her even though “she’s not putting up any resistance.” They leave the store in “mutual silence.” In the car, Robert puts on a CD and they drive home.

The next chapter is narrated by Marguerite Blot, Odile’s aunt. She recalls an older woman whom she knew as a child, a lesbian whose younger girlfriend was described to her as a “dame de compagnie,” a paid companion. In this light, Marguerite begins to wonder if she, too, is becoming the kind of older woman who must pay if she wants company.

Chapter 3 returns to Robert and Odile, now in Odile’s point of view. They are fighting again, this time as they go to bed after a dinner party. As the fight escalates, Robert starts dressing, threatening to leave Odile, but he is prevented from carrying out his threat by their son, Simon, who can’t sleep because he has lost his stuffed toy. As they seek the lost toy and attempt to soothe Simon, they forget their argument, and the chapter ends as they cuddle up to each other in bed.

During their argument, the Toscanos compare themselves unfavorably to another couple, Lionel and Pascaline Hutner, who seem to Robert and Odile to be madly in love and infuriatingly content. The Toscanos—and others in their social circle— enviously mock the Hutners for their habit of calling each other “my own.”

However, from Pascaline’s point of view, we learn that the Hutners have a sad secret. We follow the couple to the psychiatric institution where their son, Jacob, is a long-term resident. The teenager believes he is Celine Dion. As the couple leaves, Pascaline calls to Lionel, “Wait for me, my own,” and the reader recognizes that the couple insists on this pet-name because all they have is each other.

A flurry of shorter chapters introduces a wide array of characters, each of them a minor character in one of the previous chapters. We meet a teacher, a famous actor, a government minister, and many more. Each is embroiled in a different story, some weighty and others comically banal. A medical secretary thinks longingly of the son of a patient, with whom she once shared a cigarette. Two friends go fishing. An elderly man struggles with his computer and declares that there should be a law banning the leaflets that accompany boxes of medication. One story reaches its climax as a woman embarrasses herself in public and her lover protects her. In another, a husband gives up his racing tips to repair a rift with his wife by accompanying her to a museum.

The men in these stories are frequently adulterers. The government minister is seeing several women. Wondering why she puts up with it, one of his mistresses, Chantal, declares: “Couples disgust me.” A woman named Paola visits the home of her married lover Luc. The home’s décor convinces her that Luc will never leave his wife.

There are female adulterers too, mostly prominently Odile. She and her lover, Rémi, travel far from Paris so they can be together in public. Rémi finds he cannot enjoy himself because he is already anxious about their parting. To soothe himself, he texts his other lovers under the dinner table.

Many of the novel’s characters come together for the final chapter, narrated by Odile’s mother, Jeanette. She hates Odile’s father, Ernest, a retired financial executive. She reflects that hating him at least gives her something to chew over, as she used to worry in her youth about making herself attractive to men. When Ernest dies suddenly, Jeanette is shocked to feel loss. She, Odile, Robert, and the rest of the family travel to Ernest’s hometown for his funeral. Odile and Robert are still together, still carefully maintaining the appearance of a happy couple. Jeanette is appalled when she reads Ernest’s obituary: “Not a word about his wife.”