2023-07-26
As their wedding approaches, a young couple—and their friends and family—wonder if they are making the right decision.
Celine and Luke are a newly engaged couple who are happy enough, though not exactly happy, in Dolan’s deeply Irish sophomore novel. Quietly introspective and dryly funny, the novel is broken up into six parts, with each of the first five narrated by a different character: Celine (“The Bride”), Phoebe (“The Bridesmaid”), Archie (“The Best Man”), Luke (“The Groom”), and Vivian (“The Guest”). In the last part, “Wedding Day,” Dolan begins to fasten off all the narrative threads she has been weaving throughout the novel. These unique viewpoints offer a bricolage of not only Celine and Luke’s relationship but also their relationships with their friends and family. Celine is a talented pianist whose first love is music; she tends to ignore Luke’s faults, which include his penchant for lying, disappearing, and being ambivalent. Phoebe would rather spend her time tracking down Luke than on bridesmaid duties, whereas Archie is loath to be best man because he’s in love with the groom. To round it all out, Vivian, a friend and ex-fling of Luke’s, offers a fairly objective perspective on the state of the couple's relationship on the morning of their wedding. Dolan’s characters feel irritatingly real in both their indecisiveness and their propensity for making poor decisions. The novel’s formal playfulness—which includes having Luke narrate through drafts of his unfinished wedding speech and showing Vivian’s past through her “encounters with paintings”—offers a fuller picture not only of the characters, but all of the social and cultural dynamics at play. Dolan writes beautifully about yearning and unhappiness: “Loneliness wasn’t having no one. Loneliness was the gap between what you hoped for and what you got.” Ultimately, Celine and Luke’s happiness depends on whether what they got is better than what they hoped for—and if loving one another is more important than being in love.
A quiet novel that questions and upends the traditional marriage plot.
"Using daring, exciting sentences and close, sharp observation, The Happy Couple is a brilliant contemporary novel." — Colm Tóibín
"A fun, addictive read laced with astute observations about modern romance." — Vogue (UK)
"A warm and sympathetic novel...funny and direct." — Guardian
"A sophisticated character study of a young couple coming to terms with their relationship, in this biting, whip-smart look at modern love and the tangled messes we leave behind us. I am fully in awe of Dolan's talent. And so glad my twenties are over." — Douglas Stuart, author of Young Mungo and Shuggie Bain
"Sensational." — Daily Mail (UK)
"I pure LOVED The Happy Couple. So witty, observant, wise and funny. Nihilistic about heteronormative relationships but so charmingly done I barely noticed. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed it." — Marian Keyes
"The Happy Couple is a dazzling follow-up to Exciting Times. Dolan spins her magic again with humor and insight and the sharpest of prose. Not a word out of place." — Katherine Heiny, author of Standard Deviation and Early Morning Riser
"We predict a hit." — The Times
"Dolan’s precisely observed writing about human interactions is matched by her acute takes on everything from Irish emigration to Goldman Sachs...This novel is a joy to read." — Literary Review
"Dolan, whose debut novel Exciting Times was a storming success, is sure to bring her sparkling wit and insightful understanding of human relationships to this second outing." — Irish Independent
"This book confirms her as an artful comic novelist with a distinctive signature style." — The Telegraph
"A thrilling acerbic take on relationships." — Irish Times, The Gloss
"I loved The Happy Couple. So well observed, absolutely fizzes with wit and intelligence, gallops along, amazing dialogue - read it!" — Kate Davies, author of In at the Deep End
"The Happy Couple hooked me the way that heternormativity hooks its ambivalent protagonists. Dolan's prose absolutely crackles with wit, humor, and empathy, and her plotting carefully reveals a complex web of desire that turns the 'will they/won't they question' into something fresh and unfamiliar." — Clare Fisher, author of All the Good Things
"I loved The Happy Couple, which reminded me of Muriel Spark in its precision of language and emotion." — Emma Forrest, author of Busy Being Free
“Reading Dolan is like watching your favorite dramedy: the gossip is juicy, the stakes are ordinary yet elevated, and you’re in a little bit in love with everyone.” — LitHub
“Quietly introspective and dryly funny. . . . Dolan writes beautifully about yearning.” — Kirkus Reviews
“In Dolan's clever second novel, the will-they-or-won't-they, modern marriage plot and hard deadline make for a very enjoyable rush of a read.” — Booklist
"Naoise Dolan's droll exploration of the lead-up to a London wedding peers into the entwining life of a young couple, from her beautiful ex to his initial reluctance to wed." — Vanity Fair
“In Naoise Dolan’s addictive, rubbernecking disaster story about love, engaged 20-something Dubliners wrestle with intimacy and commitment as their wedding day approaches. . . . Its wry voice and cleverly executed Rashomon-like structure . . . make it a standout. Bit by bit, in lean, ironic prose that packs powerful insight, Dolan reveals the humanity and vulnerability of all parties involved . . . . Dolan’s challenging and well-crafted rewriting of the marriage plot has much to reveal about love and perspective.” — BookPage
“Dolan tackles modern love as she did in her wonderful 2020 story collection, Exciting Times, gathering five characters as a wedding day approaches. From the hilarious opening scene between Luke, a communications strategist, and Celine, a professional pianist, that leads to an engagement, through the year to the actual wedding, Dolan gets the conundrum of commitment just right. . . . There are no guarantees in love, but following this group of friends is as entertaining as watching a '90s Hugh Grant movie.” — Center for Fiction, Bookstore Recommendations
