{"product_id":"why-be-happy-when-you-jeanette-winterson-9780802120878","title":"Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"Magnificent . . . A tour de force of literature and love.\"--\u003ci\u003eVogue\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eWhy Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?\u003c\/i\u003e is raucous. It hums with a dark refulgence from its first pages. . . . Singular and electric . . . [Winterson's] life with her adoptive parents was often appalling, but it made her the writer she is.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"[Winterson is] one of the most daring and inventive writers of our time--searingly honest yet effortlessly lithe as she slides between forms, exuberant and unerring, demanding emotional and intellectual expansion of herself and of us. . . . In\u003ci\u003e Why Be Happy, \u003c\/i\u003e, [Winterson's] emotional life is laid bare . . . [in] a bravely frank narrative of truly coming undone. For someone in love with disguises, Winterson's openness is all the more moving; there's nothing left to hide, and nothing left to hide behind.\"--\u003ci\u003eElle\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eJeanette Winterson's bold and revelatory novels have earned her widespread acclaim, establishing her as a major figure in world literature. She has written some of the most admired books of the past few decades, including her internationally best-selling first novel, \u003ci\u003eOranges Are Not the Only Fruit\u003c\/i\u003e, the story of a young girl adopted by Pentecostal parents, that is now often required reading in contemporary fiction classes. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhy Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? \u003c\/i\u003eis a memoir about a life's work to find happiness. It is a book full of stories: about a girl locked out of her home, sitting on the doorstep all night; about a religious zealot disguised as a mother who has two sets of false teeth and a revolver in the dresser, waiting for Armageddon; about growing up in a north England industrial town now changed beyond recognition; about the universe as a cosmic dustbin. It is the story of how a painful past, which Winterson thought she had written over and repainted, rose to haunt her later in life, sending her on a journey into madness and out again, in search of her biological mother. It is also a book about other people's literature, one that shows how fiction and poetry can form a string of guiding lights, a life raft that supports us when we are sinking. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWitty, acute, fierce, and celebratory, \u003ci\u003e Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?\u003c\/i\u003e is a tough-minded search for belonging--for love, identity, home, and a mother.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Jeanette Winterson\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0802120873\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780802120878\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Grove Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/12\/2013\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 240\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.65lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.10h x 5.50w x 0.90d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/28\/2013 pg. 28\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 03\/01\/2014 pg. 48","brand":"Jeanette Winterson","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44050354241791,"sku":"9780802120878","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_6551f5a2-6f7e-448f-8e09-81f159e0c526.jpg?v=1685006737","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/why-be-happy-when-you-jeanette-winterson-9780802120878","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}