Hector and the Search for Happiness By Francois Lelord (A Review By Rebecca Leece)

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Gallic Books

£6.99

Hector is a French psychiatrist who is dissatisfied because he’s not able to make people happy. He decides to look into matters by going on a trip around the world to observe what makes people happy—or unhappy. He travels to China, an unnamed African country, the United States, and back to China. While on his trip, he pauses to talk to people about happiness and produces a list of lessons.

This book is less a work of fiction than a slight narrative wrapped around this list—it’s packaged as fiction, but it’s not really engaged in the work that fiction does. Which is interesting, because one of the things that fiction does extremely well is look at how people try, and fail, to be happy. But this isn’t François Lelord’s task—Lelord is a French psychiatrist himself, not a fiction writer, and his task is to deliver up his list of aphorisms about happiness in a cute new way. So let’s take a closer look at these lessons that he offers to his readers. Here’s the first item on the list:

Lesson no. 1:  Making comparisons can spoil your happiness.

Indeed. I was just comparing myself to Lelord, and I’m looking pretty shabby in comparison. That guy is an international bestseller, first of all, and second of all, he’s French. Boom. My happiness just took a nosedive.

Although, there are all times when I am a) fuming over a ridiculous argument, b) wearing shoes that are producing seven or eight blisters on my tender feet, and c) waiting for 30+ minutes on a steamy subway platform. All of which produces acute unhappiness. But then—because my life is a morality play—cue the a) blind man, b) woman in the wheelchair, or c) earthquake in Japan. Comparison made. Suddenly my life, blisters and all, seems awfully cushy—lucky, even.

There are 23 items on the list, and don’t worry—I’m not going to argue with each and every one, but I do want to point out the problems with Lelord’s simplistic approach. Here’s a taste of some of the other lessons:

Lesson no. 2:  Happiness often comes when least expected.

Lesson no. 6: Happiness is a long walk in beautiful, unfamiliar mountains.

Lesson no. 19:  The sun and the sea make everybody happy.

Feel illuminated? Are the lyrics of “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” coming to mind?

This topic—how to be happy—is a great one.  While we don’t often use the word “happy,” this is exactly what I spend most of my time talking about with good friends. What do we want in our lives? How can we balance things in a way that works? What is the content of a good life? Plato was chewing this one over in The Republic, and these questions are at the heart of many of our greatest works of philosophy, religion, literature, and psychiatry. It’s a worthwhile question. And worthwhile answers aren’t that difficult to find—which leaves me with the question: why do we have so many non-worthwhile answers floating around? Hector and the Search for Happiness is a collection of old chestnuts wrapped up in pink and yellow ribbons. This does not make a meaningful contribution to the topic. Innovative and clear thinking makes a contribution; the courage and honesty to take on complexity make a contribution. This dumbed-down, singsong text made me feel like I was chewing on a mouthful of feathers.

It’s clear that I’m in the minority about this book—as its cover will tell you, it’s an international bestseller. Other people use words like “cute” and “charming” to describe it, and apparently these people value cute and charming over clarity and reason. It might seem charming because Lelord uses the cadence and tone of a children’s book—which is utterly appropriate since he has produced a book suitable only for childish minds. Those of us who are adults will want much, much more than this and—happy, happy day!—we’ll be able to find it elsewhere.

~Rebecca Leece was a runner-up in the 2011 Ploughshares Emerging Writers Contest and has been published in Monkeybicycle. She has worked for BOMB Magazine, LIT, and Electric Literature. More of her book reviews can be found at www.rebeccaleece.wordpress.com.~