The Pursuit of Happiness: A Novel

Great book. Well written, great language, historical backdrop, moral dilemmas, and a great love story. You can never judge the characters because everyone is a product of their environment and you never know what you will do until you are in their shoes. This book is huge but it never gets boring. The only disappointment was actually finishing it. You want to live in the story forever. The author shows humanity in every character. There are happy times and there are sad times.

An engaging, interesting novel with many twists and turns. I enjoyed it and passed my copy on to a friend.

This is my fourth Douglas Kennedy novel and as usual it did not disappoint. The characters are vivid - especially Sara Smythe and her brother. This author creates strong female characters who are far short of perfect but whom the reader can identify with and cheer for. There are really several love stories in this book, not just the central one . . or two. There are a few mysteries as well, one of which doesn't get cleared up until just before the book ends. What has particularly stayed with me though is the lesson that I got about McCarthyism and the House UnAmerican Activities Committee of Congress. I was born long after the 1950s and although I know what HUAC did, I never grasped how pervasive was the fear and intimidation it caused and how many people's careers or lives were ruined by it. It was quite scary to experience HUAC in the "present tense" through the lives of these characters that I became invested in. In all, this was a terrific read that I was sorry to finish.

It was a truly memorable read. Douglas Kennedy tends to build up his stories to the degree that it is very disappointingWhen The book is ended. Such an interesting plot.

I never wanted this book to end.I so enjoyed these characters.They were incredibly well developed and you felt everything happening to them as if it were happening to a dear friend.Loved it a lot

Like always in Kennedy's books( I read five of them) there is room left for speculation and imagination. It make me remember them longer, think of them more often.

'The Pursuit of Happiness' kept me reading well into the night (and through 'snatched time' during during the day! I look forward to reading many more of his books - and I see that he has written many! I recommend Douglas Kennedy to anyone who likes to know the characters in a book, and is kept guessing as to the eventual outcome of the story.

It's an epic tale, with historical insights, which I didn't mind, and, of course, it's a good love story. What's more, it's a story that makes you think about choices, decisions, life. I really enjoyed it.

I just didn't get this book. I found Sara and Eric really unlikeable. Eric had an instant dislike for someone because their surname was Grey,even though he had never met him. Sara seemed to believe she was better than everyone, her horror if people who lived normal lives was ok but her patronising voice about them grated. The acronym WASP turned up far too regularly as a negative as if the author believed it made the characters who were 'WASP' lesser people who must be unkind, unfeeling and certainly not equal to Sara and Eric. So many people love this book I am at a loss as to why, for me very unlikeable main characters, everyone else written as weak people and the whole book stands on the impact of a one night stand.

This is the 2nd time I have read this book (first time was many years ago). I am always amazed by how Douglas Kennedy can write from a woman's perspective so accurately. This book is a definite must read as are his other books too! The books whilst centred sympathetically around the mai. Characters are also really interesting from historical perspectives - making this story in particular an engaging historical account with the impact on ordinary people outlined in an effective and often heart rending way.

this is the second Douglas Kennedy book I have read having loved A Special Relationship this one had me hooked straight away starting at the funeral of Kate's mother Dorothy Malone we meet Sara Smythe who is in the shadows of the funeral, a manuscript is left for Kate to read from Sara Smythe and then we are taken back to 1952 and the meeting if Sara and Jack Malone he could not have been more real to me and indeed Sara who I felt every up and down she went through the love she felt for Jack and her brother Eric and the background if Manhatten and Maine were so real I felt like I was there with them, I stayed up very late unabke to stop reading and was left thinking where I was up to desperate to get back to see what happened next, the story is about choices fate and destiny and although it is a tragic one so we see how Sara triumphs through being able to forgive and keep moving forwards she is a feisty woman and I will always remember her I have ordered 4 more douglas Kennedy books as I am having withdrawal symptoms now this book has ended

I want to start off by saying - I don't love Douglas Kennedy, I ADORE Douglas Kennedy. This man is one of my all-time favourite writers and there isn't a single book of his that I haven't devoured and thrown myself into 110%. 'The Pursuit of Happiness' was no exception.This book focuses on the life of Sara Smythe and her journey from flying the nest to New York in 1945 and meeting the love of her life and all the ups and downs from then til' now. There isn't a plot as such - instead we are taken on a beautiful, tragic, exciting, sometimes shocking and traumatic yet thoroughly gripping journey. I found myself being transported into Sara's mind and I just didn't want this to end. Shocking bereavements, brutally honest descriptions and a whole load of intelligent insights - this is an addictive and frankly, fantastic book. Five very easy stars!

Half way through the book I'd have given it four stars but after that it seemed to drag on and become rather repetitive. I found the two main characters/narrators, Sara and Kate, too similar, though Sara seemed to have an amazing propensity to acquire money!