"Wake Up Happy Every Day" by Stephen May

“Wake Up Happy Every Day” is an astonishing achievement. Stephen May’s third novel centres around Nicky Fisher’s opportunistic decision to assume the identity of his dead friend Russell, and the catastrophic implications of this sudden choice. It is a brave and ambitious story which weaves together five narrative strands that slowly become connected. Often when an author attempts such a feat the potential danger is an epic fail; as a reader you only want to follow one thread and quickly become irritated by the other voices or the other stories. However May’s skill is to create an entire cast of characters that you care about, from the central protagonist and his immediate family through to even the most minor supporting character. As I was reading the novel I was trying to work out just how he achieves this, and my feeling is that it’s down to the individual voices, each distinct, yet each imbued with May’s own quirky observations. It’s quite a skill.

The novel is full of great little gems. I particularly enjoyed “I don’t understand why more people don’t embrace doubt, when it generally works so much better than the alternative.”

May’s tone is acerbic, belligerent and angry as he riffs on topics as diverse as loss, longing and cake. Indeed his views on the importance of cake in maintaining successful office dynamics struck a particular chord (probably a C# diminished!).

The plot structure is wonderfully, bizarrely left-field with an ambitious mix between first person narration and third person segments. The pace is relentless and the pages simply fly by before you can draw breath. It’s a novel that you read with a wide grin on your face, revelling in the complexity of the plot, and trying to determine just how the entire tangled mess can possibly be resolved.

Overall I found the novel daring, original and beautifully judged. I now keep recommending it to friends and feel certain I’ll be buying numerous copies to give as gifts (I’ve lost track of how many copies of “Life! Death! Prizes!” I’ve given as Birthday presents).

In the words of some marketing guru somewhere “if you only buy one book this year, make sure it’s this one”. What am I saying? If you do only buy one book this year you probably need to reassess your purchasing priorities!