My American Unhappiness

Why are you so unhappy Thats the question that Zeke Pappas a thirty-three-year-old scholar asks almost everybody he meets as part of an obsessive project The Inventory of American Unhappiness The answers he receivesa mix of true sadness and absurd complaintcreate a collage of woe Zeke meanwhile remains delightfully oblivious to the increasingly harsh realities that threaten his daily routine opting instead to focus his energy on finding the perfect mate so that he can gain custody of his orphaned nieces Following steps outlined in a womens magazine the ever-optimistic Zeke identifies some prospects a newly divorced neighbor a coffeehouse barista his administrative assistant and Sofia Coppola Why not aim highA clairvoyant when it comes to the Starbucks orders of strangers a quixotic renegade when it comes to the federal bureaucracy and a devoted believer in the afternoon cocktail and the evening binge Zeke has an irreverent voice that is a marvel of lacerating wit and heart-on-sleeve emotion underscored by a creeping paranoia and made more urgent by the hope that if he can only find a wife he might have a second chance at life.