More Happy than Not

More Happy than Not is by Adam Silvera.

In the months after his father's suicide, it's been tough for 16-year-old Aaron Soto to find happiness again--but he's still gunning for it. With the support of his girlfriend Genevieve and his overworked mom, he's slowly remembering what that might feel like. But grief and the smile-shaped scar on his wrist prevent him from forgetting completely. 

When Genevieve leaves for a couple of weeks, Aaron spends all his time hanging out with this new guy, Thomas. Aaron's crew notices, and they're not exactly thrilled. But Aaron can't deny the happiness Thomas brings or how Thomas makes him feel safe from himself, despite the tensions their friendship is stirring with his girlfriend and friends. Since Aaron can't stay away from Thomas or turn off his newfound feelings for him, he considers turning to the Leteo Institute's revolutionary memory-alteration procedure to straighten himself out, even if it means forgetting who he truly is. 

Why does happiness have to be so hard?

The Breakdown:
1. I liked the ideas presented by Silvera in this novel. The idea of struggling with your identity and if you erase parts of your memory, are you still you?  It is a great coming of age story, dealing with being gay in area that is not gay friendly.  The idea of the Leteo Institute reminded me of the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Erasing/suppressing the things you don't want to remember.

2.  While I don't really have anything common with Aaron, I understood his struggle with his identity, and wanting to forget/change parts of yourself.  I liked how the book was in first person from his perspective, so it made the ending much more interesting because of what happens (don't want to spoil it for you, just a hint it is involves Leteo).

3. So being someone who grew up in a suburbs, the dynamics of the city neighbors in this book was interesting to me.  The games they played and rivalries between the different buildings made it easy to picture life there.

To Read or Not to Read:
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