{"product_id":"happy-happy-9781604894349","title":"Happy Happy","description":"\u003cp\u003eI wrote \u003cem\u003eHappy, Happy\u003c\/em\u003e as a novel after trying for years to write a memoir about my own \"lunatic lightning.\" I failed at the memoir because every day that I worked on it I became more and more morose. I could not handle rehashing the worst days of my life. By turning it into fiction I was able to play with it; by using humor and imagination I found a distance from the more woeful aspects of my debility. I found I could mix truth and invention and find actual joy in my story. Hence the title, which is both ironic and not. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe narrator\/protagonist of \u003cem\u003eHappy, Happy\u003c\/em\u003e, Col Merrysee, through luck and love, stumbles into joy with a woman perfectly suited to him. Her name is Cara Bedwell. Both work in a bookstore, which they eventually end up. They marry. have kids, travel. Life is good and Col never takes it for granted that he is blessed; he is agog at the sweet serendipity of his adult life. Then Col is struck by what he labels, \"lunatic lightning.\" He experiences a physical anomaly, coupled with irrational fear, merely from being in public.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e The simple act of leaving the house becomes a challenge. He feels as if he's leaving the human plane, and a queerness takes over that is beyond his control. He assumes he's going crazy. He thinks his panic attacks are outside the human ken, the product of a faulty brain. He tries to carry on at work and at home. But making it to the bookstore becomes increasingly difficult. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e His family doctor gives the malady a name, agoraphobia, and assures Col that he is not alone; his category of suffering is well-documented. Col is sent to a clinic that specializes in the disorder, and he is assigned to a Jungian analyst. Their conversations transform Col and their sometimes contentious back-and-forth makes up a large part of the latter portions of the novel. Eventually, Col finds pockets of peace in what many neurotics before him have found peace: creativity. Col begins to write about his predicament, with hard-won self-love and even humor.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Corey Mesler\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Livingston Press at the University of West Al\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/02\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 302\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.89lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.68d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781604894349","brand":"Livingston Press at the University of West Al","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48738244722825,"sku":"9781604894349","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0636\/9240\/6921\/files\/img_13f1771b-9a90-4eba-9c5b-075c34423b6b.jpg?v=1792523936","url":"https:\/\/sonsanddaughtersbooks.com\/products\/happy-happy-9781604894349","provider":"Sons and Daughters Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}