What is your happiness quotient? Do you think it is better to be happy or unhappy? In the world of this book, one must pay a price for experiencing happiness. It is not a tax; it is simply the cost one must absorb for how one deals with life. The amount is figured out using elaborate formulas in which all of one’s activities are calculated. It is a formulaic, one-size-fits all method. It is redistribution as an art form!
This is a tale in which big brother is watching every moment of your life from insignificant to significant. Your relationships with others are measured and evaluated. You have let the watchers in by not taking their actions seriously enough, by not paying enough attention to what is happening in the world around you, even as you innocently enjoy what the world around you has to offer, by answering questionnaires about your life and not paying enough attention to the answers you provide, sometimes exaggerating a bit to make yourself seem more important. There is no privacy from the powers that be. Every aspect of your life has a dollar value attached to it. All of your property is inventoried. If you enjoy more, you must give more, but it does not pertain to monetary wealth. You simply must give back for what you have received, so it can be shared, even if in fact, you received little or nothing because you were content with what little you had. You have a debt to society, and it must be paid.
This book takes place in Sweden. It is brief, barely 200 pages, but not a word is wasted. It is about an ordinary man with no name who has no possessions of value, who works in an ordinary part-time job. When this ordinary man discovers that he has an enormous debt to society to the tune of millions of kroner, he has no idea why. What could he have bought that would have cost millions? Wouldn’t he remember such large purchases? Why does he owe so much money? Surely, he thinks, it must be a mistake and he tosses his first bill. After first ignoring the invoice, he follows up when he receives a second notice. He calls the help number provided and is put on hold. He roams the voicemail corridors for hours as the hold time increases rather than decreases. He is trapped in the voicemail tunnel. Soon, though, he discovers that no, it is not a mistake. He owes the money. He is a happy man and happiness has a price. He faces adversity with cheerfulness, and consistently turns negatives into positives. Isn't that a good thing? Well, not for him. He is an anomaly. He is a happy man who has nothing in a world of fairly miserable people, even though some have more than enough money to provide for their every need. His positivity has a very substantial cost, not only for himself but for others around him as well. Relationships are tracked. Just knowing him, a satisfied person, could raise someone else’s debt to society because his happiness might be contagious.
Sometimes the neediest were forced to pay more while those in far better circumstances were given lower invoices. In a way, they were penalized for being happy as those who made more money were penalized for being successful. Everything apparently had a price. Was this a reverse Socialism working in the background or a spoof about the redistribution of wealth? Being rich did not guarantee peace of mind or contentment. One's attitude governed that. The rich often had a lower debt to society because the rate applied depended on enjoyment derived.
As he navigated the labyrinthine world of W. R. D., the company (or cold hearted corporation responsible for monitoring the enjoyment quotient and preparing and collecting payment of the invoices), he met face to face with supervisors. Each time his bill grew enormously. In the end, he demanded to meet Maud, the counselor handling his file. Their telephone conversations had gown increasingly friendly. It had to be kept secret or she would lose her job. So even in his investigation, he found a silver lining, romance. He began to like Maud more and more. If their friendship was known, how would it affect her invoice? If positive living led to higher invoices, which was a negative outcome that upset most people, would he become anathema to everyone with whom he fraternized. He did little and was happy. He took little from society materially, but he was on overload with how he took pleasure from his simple, modest existence. Does he represent the perfect citizen in a perfect world of socialism? Should everyone, therefore, be like him and be content with less, less desire, less ambition, less of everything material and even less intelligence? According to those that monitored him, he was imperfect because he was perfect, capable of being perfectly upbeat at all times. This author has designed a story that outlines a society by subtly pointing out its failures. The system seemed to grow more and more unfair as human emotion and computation was left out or removed from the process, and mechanical formulae were used for evaluation. It seemed as if actuarial results left no room for adjustment. The lack of human compassion caused errors. It would seem that a person's good life was rated by those who didn't fully understand the good life? Positivity was a negative!
One has to wonder if he will ultimately reverse and become an unhappy pariah, avoided by others, forced into a place of unhappiness because of his being penalized for being happy. Will his frustration deepen? Will his ability to shrug off adversity end? For sure he was caught in a bureaucratic nightmare. Had society become a maze with no way out? Would he still be consistently happy, creating rainbows with a pot of "happiness", at the end?
***I won this book as part of the Early Reviewer program on Library Thing in return for a review.