Like Happiness is wildly out of my comfort zone. Ursula Villarreal-Moura’s debut novel isn’t a book I would typically pick up, but I am so glad I did. Like Happiness mostly takes place in New York City and follows the multi-year friendship between a recent college graduate and a literary legend.

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Synopsis:

A searing debut about the complexities of gender, power, and fame, told through the story of a young woman’s destructive relationship with a legendary writer.

It’s 2015, and Tatum Vega feels that her life is finally falling into place. Living in sunny Chile with her partner, Vera, she spends her days surrounded by art at the museum where she works. More than anything else, she loves this new life for helping her forget the decade she spent in New York City orbiting the brilliant and famous author M. Domínguez.

When a reporter calls from the US asking for an interview, the careful separation Tatum has constructed between her past and present begins to crumble. Domínguez has been accused of assault, and the reporter is looking for corroboration.

As Tatum is forced to reexamine the all-consuming but undefinable relationship that dominated so much of her early adulthood, long-buried questions surface. What did happen between them? And why is she still struggling with the mark the relationship left on her life?

Told in a dual narrative alternating between her present day and a letter from Tatum to Domínguez, recounting and reclaiming the totality of their relationship, Like Happiness explores the nuances of a complicated and imbalanced relationship, catalyzing a reckoning with gender, celebrity, memory, Latinx identity, and power dynamics.

Review:

Like Happiness is a fiery rebuke of fame and a thorough examination of what it’s like to be under the thumb of a cult of personality. While it’s not comfortable to think about, patriarchal men in power sometimes create disposable young women, using and abusing the women in their path. The final twist of the Like Happiness is shocking and couldn’t have been better.

I felt drawn into Tatum’s story, often forgetting it was only fiction. Once, I had to remind myself that M. Domínguez was a fictional character – that he isn’t a best-selling author with decades of dirty secrets. I worked myself up thinking, “How can this author still be so powerful? After all this?” Villarreal-Moura’s writing feels personal and raw. Like Happiness often reads like a memoir, albeit the best-written memoir I’ve ever seen.

Ursula Villarreal-Moura has much to say about power, influence, gender, sexuality, and cultural identity. There’s also great bisexual representation! The narrative structure in Like Happiness also works extremely well, particularly the almost-epistolary sections from Tatum to Mateo. I thoroughly enjoyed Like Happiness and can’t recommend it enough.

Rating and Final Thoughts: 5/5 Stars. The audiobook is an incredible listen and the narrator does a remarkable job. Pick this one up by audiobook if you’re able.

Thanks to Celadon and Macmillan Audio for providing me with arcs of the book! All the above thoughts are my own.