Summary:
Once upon a time, Max the billionaire invited David to his private island where whiz kid golden boys zip around the globe in private jets making millions and living the dream. But all may not be as golden as it seems. Max wants happiness. David wants his girlfriend back. Marcie just wants to avoid getting fired from her cashier job at Walmart. And the Guru knows the answers—or does he? Follow them on a wild rollercoaster ride through offshore paradises, out into space, over the Himalayas, across the Russian tundra, and through an evolutionary quantum shift to a final showdown in the Texas desert.
The Secret of Happiness is a fast-paced, offbeat, fairytale thriller charged with suspense until the final word.
Review:
This was a wild ride of a book. The main charecter is David, a whiz kid who is headed to Wall Street after graduation, where he will join the ranks of the working man. He has a great girl named Dot and his future is pretty well mapped out. Then he meets Mr. Singh, who makes him an offer he can't refuse. Go to a private island and work for a billionaire named Max and essentially live the dream. David goes into it with the confidence that comes with youth, and soon finds himself up against a task that he thinks will be easy, but proves to be anything but: make Max happy. Truly happy for one moment. Accomplishing this task leads both David and Max on an adventure that spans the globe.
Parts of this book were slightly overwrought and complicated, but I think the point is that sometimes life is overwrought and complicated. there were moments that I thought the book was a bit silly, and I wished that we got more of the parts where Max was going on the initial adventure that David set up for him to make him happy.
Some of the stuff I loved (without giving too many spoilers away) were the parts where you weren't sure if it was all a set up, all part of som big game to reach the end goal of making Max happy. Was everything David did after taking over part of some master plan? I really enjoyed the fact that you were allowed to make your own assumptions for a large chunk of the book before Armeniades let you in on the secret. I also really liked the epilogue, which revealed the book to be a letter from David to Dot, an explaination of why he left, what he did and what he learned.
It's hard to tell if Armeniades is actually trying to impart a message in the end. He definitly has a point, that everything can become corrupt (like Max's life), and how you have to get back to basics to find that true happiness. That money can buy alot, but it can't buy happiness. Overall a really fun book, that takes alot of sterotypical themes and turns them on their heads. I thought it was a great read if you want suspense and a good time!
About Demosthenes Armeniades:
Website: http://www.armeniades.com/
The Secret (of happiness) website: http://www.the-secret-of-happiness.com/
Rating:
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I received this book as a review copy from The Cadence Group.
