Though this theme was prevalent in Douglas Kennedy's novel I wouldn't describe it as a political novel. moreĤ.5 stars Before reading The Pursuit of Happiness I had almost no idea about the American political landscape of the 1950's and though I may have heard of McCarthyism I certainly couldn't have said what it was. My first Douglas Kennedy book and I've been hooked on this writer ever since. Just doing this short review years after I first read this makes me decide to read this novel again (for about the tenth time). This is a story I could see done like a black and white movie. It is not a soggy romance, simply a great love story. A gatecrasher Jack, an army journalist looks across the room at Sara, Eric's sister, and so begins a powerful but tragic love story. New Years Eve, a party at struggling playwright Eric's apartment. A wonderful story set in 1940-50s America this novel will teach you something about McCarthyism if you are unaware of that shameful time in USA. There is no insult meant in that comment. It is not a sog Douglas Kennedy writes women so well he writes about how women think, like a female writer does.
Set amidst the dynamic optimism of postwar New York and the subsequent nightmare of the McCarthy witch-hunts, The Pursuit of Happiness is a great tragic love story a tale of divided loyalties, decisive moral choices, and the random workings of destiny.moreĭouglas Kennedy writes women so well he writes about how women think, like a female writer does. Army journalist just back from a defeated Germany, and a man whose world-view did not tally with that of Eric and his friends. And then in walked a gatecrasher, Jack Malone - a U. So too was his sister Sara - an independent, canny young woman, starting to make her way in the big city. All his clever Greenwich Village friends were there.
The war was over, and Eric Smythe's party was in full swing. Army journalist just back from a defeated Germany, and a man w Manhattan, Thanksgiving Eve, 1945.