I bought Secrets of Happiness by Joan Silber after reading @bazfiction’s review of it. This is the first book I’ve read by Silber. It’s one of my favorite types of books - interconnected stories.

This type of book always leaves me struck by the way something that is so monumental in one person’s life might go unnoticed by another, until something happens to reveal the connection. While reading I wondered if this degree of connectedness (is that a word? lol) only happens in books, but I’ve experienced enough “small world” moments to know that isn’t true. I loved the way Silber tied all of the stories together. I also really appreciate that we get to know so much of a character’s story - it’s not just a quick glimpse. Somehow, with concise writing, we get to know so much about the characters in a relatively short amount of pages.

It’s interesting to think about the impact we make on other people’s lives and whether that’s reciprocated to a similar degree. Something like that from my own experience was having my appendix out last year - it was such a stressful, scary time for me, but it was just one of many surgeries that same day for my doctor. And the surgery took about 30 minutes in the operating room. I’m sure she wouldn’t remember me today, (a mere blip on her radar - 30 minutes!) but I’ll always remember her. Weird! But not!

This book is good! Wish it had picked up a little more steam here on booksta. Highly recommend!