The Answer is No

I actually really loved this one. There were moments I wasn't sure about it but it surprised me. The mid portion is what made me think I was going to just consider this as okay, and made me wish the author had pushed more on that type of humor present in the first part of the book. Wasn't a fan of the other characters either, at first. But then Purple Dress and Green Shirt won me over, and I almost audibly went "awww" when Purple Dress found the kitten. Same when Lucas got the postcard from Green Shirt.

I think this is a love it or hate it kind of deal, it's pretty clear from the fact that the first chapter is two sentences long. Really nice read.

Lucas is happy. This is a very provoking thing to the world. Because people aren’t supposed to be happy, they’re only supposed to want to be happy, because how otherwise are you supposed to be able to sell things to them?

I absolutely adored this. It was my first time reading anything from Fredrik Backman after years of having his books on my TBR and hearing people rave about him, and now, I can understand why. This story made me laugh, and then it made me cry, because it so succinctly nailed down several elements of loneliness, grief, personal growth, letting your walls down, and just... the human existence in general. I never expected this funny, odd little story with its incredibly bizarre premise to leave me weeping into my pillow near the end (in a good way, somehow?), but here we are.

Lucas is happy. It’s not as hard as one might think to become, the hard part is just to keep being it. It’s hard because it’s so easy to get in your head that if you are to be happy, you have to be happy exactly all of the time. And who in the world has the energy for that? Happiness can be exhausting. Honestly, it’s most often enough to just not be the opposite. So, Lucas isn’t unhappy. That’s the secret.