The Riviera Beach Library is currently closed.

Happiness Is a Chemical in the Brain: Stories

Book Cover
Average Rating
Publisher:
Blackstone Publishing
Pub. Date:
Varies, see individual formats and editions
Language:
English
Description

A stunning debut from an award-winning poet

Populating a small town in the Pacific Northwest, the characters in Lucia Perillo's story collection all resist giving the world what it expects of them—and are surprised when the world comes roaring back. An addict trapped in a country house becomes obsessed with vacuum cleaners and the people who sell them door-to-door. An abandoned woman seeks consolation in tales of armed robbery told by one of her fellow suburban housewives. An accidental mother struggles to answer her daughter's badgering about her paternity. And in three stories readers meet Louisa, a woman with Down syndrome who serves as an accomplice to her younger sister's sexual exploits and her aging mother's fantasies of revenge. Together, Happiness Is a Chemical in the Brain is a sharp-edged, witty testament to the ambivalence of emotions, the way they pull in directions that often cancel one another out or twist their subjects into knots. In lyrical prose, Perillo draws on her training as a naturalist and a poet to map the terrain of the comic and the tragic, asking how we mark the boundaries between these two zones. What's funny, what's heartbreaking, and who gets to decide?

Also in This Series
More Like This
More Details
ISBN:
9781481574259
Staff View

Grouping Information

Grouped Work IDc7644d7f-2399-1758-eb41-ca3722c1388f
Grouping Titlehappiness is a chemical in the brain
Grouping Authorlucia perillo
Grouping Categorybook
Grouping LanguageEnglish (eng)
Last Grouping Update2023-11-29 04:09:06AM
Last Indexed2023-11-29 04:42:00AM

Solr Fields

accelerated_reader_point_value
0
accelerated_reader_reading_level
0
author
Perillo, Lucia
author_display
Perillo, Lucia
available_at_aacpl
Online OverDrive Collection
detailed_location_aacpl
Online OverDrive Collection
display_description

A stunning debut from an award-winning poet

Populating a small town in the Pacific Northwest, the characters in Lucia Perillo's story collection all resist giving the world what it expects of them—and are surprised when the world comes roaring back. An addict trapped in a country house becomes obsessed with vacuum cleaners and the people who sell them door-to-door. An abandoned woman seeks consolation in tales of armed robbery told by one of her fellow suburban housewives. An accidental mother struggles to answer her daughter's badgering about her paternity. And in three stories readers meet Louisa, a woman with Down syndrome who serves as an accomplice to her younger sister's sexual exploits and her aging mother's fantasies of revenge. Together, Happiness Is a Chemical in the Brain is a sharp-edged, witty testament to the ambivalence of emotions, the way they pull in directions that often cancel one another out or twist their subjects into knots. In lyrical prose, Perillo draws on her training as a naturalist and a poet to map the terrain of the comic and the tragic, asking how we mark the boundaries between these two zones. What's funny, what's heartbreaking, and who gets to decide?

format_aacpl
eAudiobook
format_category_aacpl
Audio Books
eBook
id
c7644d7f-2399-1758-eb41-ca3722c1388f
isbn
9781481574259
last_indexed
2023-11-29T09:42:00.556Z
lexile_score
-1
literary_form
Fiction
literary_form_full
Fiction
Short Stories
local_callnumber_aacpl
Online OverDrive
owning_library_aacpl
Anne Arundel County Public Library Online
owning_location_aacpl
Online OverDrive Collection
primary_isbn
9781481574259
publisher
Blackstone Publishing
recordtype
grouped_work
title_display
Happiness Is a Chemical in the Brain Stories
title_full
Happiness Is a Chemical in the Brain Stories
title_short
Happiness Is a Chemical in the Brain
title_sub
Stories
topic_facet
Fiction
Literature
Short Stories

Solr Details Tables

item_details

Bib IdItem IdShelf LocCall NumFormatFormat CategoryNum CopiesIs Order ItemIs eContenteContent SourceeContent URLDetailed StatusLast CheckinLocation
overdrive:7387dbfc-6f3e-4b6f-b8b0-6b4dae20dc851Online OverDrive CollectionOnline OverDriveeAudiobookAudio Books1falsetrueOverDriveAvailable Online

record_details

Bib IdFormatFormat CategoryEditionLanguagePublisherPublication DatePhysical DescriptionAbridged
overdrive:7387dbfc-6f3e-4b6f-b8b0-6b4dae20dc85eAudiobookAudio BooksEnglishBlackstone Publishing

scoping_details_aacpl

Bib IdItem IdGrouped StatusStatusLocally OwnedAvailableHoldableBookableIn Library Use OnlyLibrary OwnedHoldable PTypesBookable PTypesLocal Url
overdrive:7387dbfc-6f3e-4b6f-b8b0-6b4dae20dc851Available OnlineAvailable Onlinefalsetruetruefalsefalsetrue