Hector and the Search for Happiness

I found the writing in this book insufferable. I found it was too hard to believe that someone with such a childlike view of the world could both succeed in medical school and help people through complex psychological issues. In the end the book seemed to indicate that it was hector's ability I listen that made him a good psychologist. While listening I your patients is an essential component to treatment, treating psychological issues goes much deeper than that, thus all of the schooling. Additionally, the character's internal narrative and understanding of the world seems I be that of a child. And the book actually reads like a children's book. Which might have been cheeky for a short story, but as a novel about a successful adult falls flat. And is annoying. Even the movie was dumb. Skip this. And the movie. And dig a hole, it will be more productive and you will feel better after.

I found the writing in this book insufferable. I found it was too hard to believe that someone with such a childlike view of the world could both succeed in medical school and help people through complex psychological issues. In the end the book seemed to indicate that it was hector's ability I listen that made him a good psychologist. While listening I your patients is an essential component to treatment, treating psychological issues goes much deeper than that, thus all of the schooling. Additionally, the character's internal narrative and understanding of the world seems I be that of a child. And the book actually reads like a children's book. Which might have been cheeky for a short story, but as a novel about a successful adult falls flat. And is annoying. Even the movie was dumb. Skip this. And the movie. And dig a hole, it will be more productive and you will feel better after.

I rarely hate books, but I hated this one. Superficial and poorly-written, like the other books by this author, it seems more about the character (presumably the author)'s sexploits than any sort of meaningful insight into life. This book has no depth. That's fine in an adventure novel, but not in something that presumes to proffer wisdom.

This is awful!!! I am only reading it because someone in my bookclub picked it. This is written at about a fifth grade level. It truly seems as if he wrote the book for someone 10-12 years old. But, since it does contain some adult situations, this is not for children.
One of his "lessons/thoughts" is disturbing if you are a Christian. On page 68 the paragraph reads: "He wondered whether belief in God was a lesson in happiness. No, he couldn't make that a lesson because you don't choose whether to believe in God or not." Really?? Does he think the Tooth Fairy zaps you at birth and you automatically believe in God? What if the Tooth Fairy is too busy that day? Do you go through life not believing in God because "you don't choose whether to believe in God or not"?
He touches on prostitution, infidelity, homosexuality, and other adult topics. And deals with all of them poorly. Again, it's as if he's talking to a five year old.

So, I give it 1 star because... it isn't for young children, it isn't for adults and I don't think teenagers would enjoy it either. 1 star is just for the happiness list. If you are curious, look for the numbered items of happiness throughout the book. A list of 19 of them starts on page 127. The other 4 are on pages 145,147 and 148. You'll get the best of the book like that.

I really would have stopped reading it by now if it were not for the book club.

Francois Lelord describes in an easy manner Hector’s travel and his search for happiness. He is a psychologist, successful at his job, but left with the feeling of lacking happiness in his life. He not only feels dissatisfied with himself, but his inability to make his clients feel very happy also saddens him. So he is starting a journey to discover happiness. The book is an easy read, very recommendable!

To discover your own happiness, I also recommend: "Working on Yourself Doesn’t Work" by Ariel and Shya Kane. The magic of each moment is the key to satisfaction: if you are able to value each moment of your life, happiness will come along. But if your mind is occupied with expectations of what should happen, you cannot appreciate what is given to you in this moment, because you are not there for it. The authors describe in a humorous way how you can “develop” a neutral way of seeing your own behavior and how unexpected ways bring you closer to happiness.

The sappy babymania that made the movie into a trite predictable approval of mommymania led me to read Lelord’s book. I had to find out if it was as sappy and pro-breeder bias.

It was not! There was one brief mention of it. In contrast, the movie was Hollywood-style pandering to the lowest common denominator in the audience. (Even when “Hollywood”-style cliches also come out of Britain, Canada, and Wales.)

I found it funny that people can post online in catspeak, piratespeak, Yodaspeak, Dr. Seuss poetry, acronym speak LOL, among other goofy writing styles, and yet some humorless simpletons objected to the 'children’s book' writing style.

I took it as intentional humor, as people with an intelligent sense of humor do. An example: “And so one morning Hector walked down the street lined with trees and pretty wooden houses, some of them quite old (in this city old meant the same age as an old person).”
I found this to be a gently humorous way of pointing out that what city structures Americans call “old”, especially on the newer west coast, might mean 90 years old, while in Europe “old” might mean 900 years old.

Another: “But that’s science: it isn’t enough just to think a thing, you must try to verify whether it’s true. Otherwise people could think and say what they liked, and if those people were fashionable, then everybody would believe them.”
Excellent social commentary on a problem we have now! I wonder how many simpletons objecting to the writing style “go with their gut feeling”, believe the politicians and television commentators they want, and don’t continually seek strong factual evidence.

And the locations were deliberately kept nonspecific. Descriptions in China were a city between a sea and high mountains.

And the reviewers who point out that Africa is a continent, not a country: get over your obvious self. The locations were nonspecific! The point of this book was not to be a tourist guide telling you where to eat-pray-love.

I can't imagine someone anywhere in Africa reading this book, reading a sentence about a city in America, and self-righteously saying, "Hey! America is a continent, not a country!"
That kind of second-grade feeling of superiority to first-graders must be only an American trait.

Other than not having the wonderful Simon Pegg, the book was better than the movie. His girlfriend still did nearly-useless stuff like come up with names for Big Pharma drugs, but she was less obnoxious, and the blatant pro-breeder babymania was reduced to a line or two about them considering it. Definitely an improvement.

Hector, a French psychiatrist, has spent years treating patients, some unhappy for legitimate reasons, and some unhappy for no reason at all it seems. He’s decided to travel the world to figure out what makes people happy, and to compile a list while on his journey. He has many adventures (and misadventures) over the world while searching for the true meaning of happiness. Note: This book was translated from the French.

This novella was unlike anything I have ever read. The most notable feature is its simplistic and childlike writing. It was written as though intended for a young child, though don’t let that fool you, because Hector finds himself in many adult-like situations, such as spending the night with a prostitute, doing things that “people who are in love do” (see what I mean?). It’s rather charming, actually, this writing style, though I don’t know if I could have tolerated it if the book was much longer than it was (less than 200 pages).

Hector was a very likable character, often finding himself in loads of trouble, unintentionally of course, but always reflecting calmly and rationally, even when he was kidnapped and almost killed. He was naive and childlike himself, it seemed, though maybe it was just the writing surrounding his story.

Anyways, I thought this book was cute, silly and quite charming, but not what I was anticipating. It did have a bit of a storyline and plot, but a lot of the times I felt like I was reading a self-help book, or felt as though I was being taught a lesson. There wasn’t enough length or substance to ever be truly engaging, and I never felt eager to find out what would happen next in Hector’s whimsical, slow little world.

This book is considered a novel, but I don’t feel quite right calling it that. If you’re looking for a quick little read with a dash of self-help, then pick this book up, but don’t expect an engaging story. It’s just a cutesy little read. With all of Hector’s travels though… it would make one hell of a movie!

I enjoyed this book, but I definitely wouldn't say it changed my life or impacted my levels of happiness in any real way.

Hector is a psychiatrist who decides to take a trip around the world to see how happiness is cultivated. Along the way he learns simple lessons from the people he comes in contact with- everyone from the fellow traveler who is no longer happy to fly in business class (a nice upgrade for most of us) because he's flown in first class too many times, the beautiful call girl in Asia who has lovely possessions but is unable to enjoy them because of the work she does, a businessman who is so obsessed with his job that he can't enjoy the fortune it brings him, monks in a temple who share simple philosophies on the every day, etc.

It was a sweet little book, to be sure, but definitely nothing I haven't read before. It's almost written like a children's book (the narrative and tone, *not* the content, although I liked the sly humor in which "adult" situations were described).

It's an interesting twist on the same theories of happiness that are bounced around by virtually every self-help author out there. But Hector was sweet and quirky, as was his travels, so it was all a new approach. Not the best book I have ever read, but I enjoyed joining Hector on his search for happiness.

I overlooked this book more than once, thinking it was a children's book. Thank goodness I finally gave it a go!

From the moment I started reading the first chapter, I was hooked. The language is that of a child's fable, explaining things in simple language. It certainly made it entertaining from the start.

The book itself, a tale about a psychiatrist's search for the meaning of happiness, isn't a new one. Hector's search takes him on many adventures to China, Africa and the country of "More". He meets several people who help him define happiness in different ways.

If you are looking for an end of the book heart swelling moment, you will be disappointed. It does not take away, however, from the joy of reading this tale. Simply written, simple story, wonderful experience.

I picked up this book in anticipation for the film adapation, starring Simon Pegg. Also after watching the trailer, it reminded me of the film, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, which I really liked. Thinking I would get the same satisfaction, I decided to pick up this book.

This book will probably pick up more attention once the movie is out.

The book is a surprisingly easy read. It can be finished within one lazy afternoon. The book provides a very approachable way of understanding happiness, complete with a list that one can easily refer back to. Very general, but easily relatable. I liked the overall message and intentions of the story, but I have to agree with the other reviewers who gave this book a less than stellar feedback because of the language used and lack of remorse of infidelity of the main character. Hector (or the author) mentioned only the Chinese prostitute he slept with in practically after chapter thereafter, and more times than he ever mentioned his own girlfriend and that African girl he slept with.

On a very personal note, perhaps I am a bit sensitive, but I sometimes get this vibe that Hector has yellow fever.

I was pretty dissatisfied with Hector because of his immoral actions from around 1/3 into the book. By the end of the book, I let that all go when I referred back to Hector's list of happiness: Lesson No. 1: Making comparisons can spoil your happiness. Just because I didn't agree with the actions of Hector in the book doesn't mean I should ruin my satisfication over the intentions of the book itself. Humans aren't perfect creatures.

There was a lot of unnecessary verbiage which felt like a student paper using convoluted phrases just to meet a word count requirement. The author would say that Hector is in China, but never specified which country he's from, which African country he's in and the United States. He kept referring to the United States as the "country that has more..." of pretty much everything and called it the country of More several times. I can only guess that the African country he went to was a former French colony since Hector is from France. It felt very unnecessary and sometimes detracted the reader's focus.

The book is nevertheless a light-hearted read. I am not entirely pleased with it, but decent enough to help pass time. Hopefully, the movie will be more satisfying than the book. Will I read the other Hector books? I'll have to think about it.

"Hector and the Search for Happiness" is one of the most enjoyable little books I've read in ages. It is hard to come up with the best adjective to describe it: "charming" works, as does "delightful," "thought-provoking," "unique," and even "timeless." Already a best-seller in Europe, the book has now been translated into English. And what a book it is. Hector is a psychiatrist who is baffled by all his patients who had no real disorders nor had suffered any genuine misfortunes yet were miserable and dissatisfied with their lives. Their predicament, and Hector's inability to help them much, leads Hector to go on a holiday around the world where he could ask people what made them happy and unhappy and, thus, understand what happiness is and how to find it.

The remainder of the book is a romp around the globe, where Hector alternates between recording his observations and lessons learned about happiness (e.g., Lesson no. 3: Many people see happiness only in their future), falling in and out of love, and undergoing a number of hair-raising adventures. Hector seeks insight from the people he meets on planes and in hotel bars, as well as a wise monk and not-so-wise famous Professor of Happiness Studies. At the end of the novel, Hector has garnered a list of 23 lessons regarding happiness (more accurately 22, because he ultimately decides to delete Lesson no. 18: "Happiness could be the freedom to love more than one woman at the same time"), along with a considerable amount of self-insight.

What makes this book so appealing, in my mind, is its wonderfully droll and witty writing style. For this reason I commend the translator, Lorenza Garcia, for capturing so perfectly the original tone of the manuscript. Perhaps the best way to describe the style of this book is to say that it reminds me strongly of the movie "Amelie" (albeit in written form, of course). From the very first sentence ("Once upon a time there was a young psychiatrist called Hector who was not very satisfied with himself"), the book unfolds much as a fable or children's story, replete with delightful turns of phrase. The United States, for example, is never mentioned by name but referred to as "the country where there are more psychiatrists than anywhere else in the world."

The back cover of the book states that a movie based on the novel is in production, and I think it would make a perfect movie--but only if the screenwriter incorporates a narrator to capture this inimitable writing style. I'm picturing George Clooney as Edouard and Julianne Moore as Agnes; Hector himself would be harder to cast--it needs to be an actor with a slightly vulnerable, innocent, and ineffably sad air. John Cusack, maybe?

As a professor of social psychology, I was tickled to see the chapter where Hector discusses "Happiness Studies" with the famous professor. As a human being, I quickly realized that Hector's 23 lessons tell us more about the nature of happiness than all the scholarly journal articles put together.

For a novel that totes such a weighty prose, `Hector and the Search for Happiness' doesn't really seem to say much, which serves as its biggest detractor. In fact, when putting the book down for the last time I didn't seem fazed or changed or moved in the least bit, and this is supposed to be a novel about finding the root of all happiness. Instead, the novel feels very anticlimactic, which only dampens the weight of the `concept' presented by Francois Lelord.

And yet, there are things about this book that I genuinely adore.

The structure to the book is something that will either turn you off or draw you in. I actually found the childlike simplicity of it all rather endearing. Sure, it can seem amateurish and I think in the end it kind of killed the poignancy that Lelord was going for, but as far as creating something that seemed fresh and exciting, he nailed that for me. I think too, in a way, it aided in the nature of happiness (which is more often than not wrapped up in the innocence we lose as we get older) so in a way it was a beautiful compliment to the concept, even if it wound up detracting from its importance (and it did have a tendency to make our protagonist seem a tad dense). It also crafted a very breezy read. This is a very easy book to plow through. Because it is written at such an `empty' pace almost, it flies by, with the action (if you can call it that) never really stopping. The chapters are barely three pages long, and so it makes continuing with your reading a less daunting task than starting a chapter than drags on for twenty-plus pages.

Conceptually, I like this book. The basic premise is that of a disillusioned psychiatrist who wants to better understand why people are happy and or unhappy. He himself is unhappy but doesn't really understand that fact. While his adventures seem to have no real stability or grounded purpose (why does he go where he goes other than that it gives the author room to develop underdeveloped ideas?) it still flows in such a way where it doesn't really matter. Lelard may fail to fully explain himself or his concept, but saying that the concept isn't present would be a blind statement. He presents us with something that will at least provoke us into `thinking', even it we'll wind up with more profound sentiments on our own time.

This novel gets the juices flowing so-to-speak.

In the end I give this a B. It is far from the book it could have been, but part of me feels that this is exactly the book it set out to be. It is a simplified variation of an intellectual stimulant and it will, without fail, stimulate you.

I finished reading this book somewhere around the border of the Czech Republic and Austria. Each story Hector learns along his journey was perfectly timed with my adventure, which was quite serendipitous. Each page, even the sad ones, you couldn't help but feel for Hector and hopeful for him to learn his next lesson of happiness. He's a dry sponge at the start of the journey in hopes of soaking in what makes people happy. You cannot argue with someone who seeks happiness, and I wouldn't want to. I can't wait to read it again, and Lelord's other novels.

The advance publicity for this book compares it with "The Little Prince" by Antoine de St. Exupery. Which it is nothing like, except, perhaps, that they were both French. The other thing in common has to do with style. Minimalist, almost. Simple, so much so that the PR calls this book a "parable". One expects something very universal, which it starts out as. It quickly gets specific, and particular, which is all to the good, and why the cover reads "A novel". Specifically, the book concerns a trip from Paris (although it's never called Paris) to China, Africa, and America (although this last is merely called "The Country of More".

Hector, the main character, is also not an everyman: he's a psychiatrist (as is the author). He has a method, which is to question people he meets. A couple pages in, you want to pass the book on to your kids, and then a couple more pages on you decide not to do that, as it is decidedly not a kids' book, even though the simple tone and vocabulary make it seem like one. It seems like the story doesn't develop in the sense of a novel, but by the end there is what the French call a denoumont, even if the development is mostly told as an aside.

Realized as a film, the story could retain the subtlety of the book, or given Hector's affairs, which make the book seem very French, could be filled with steamy bedroom scenes. I hope it's the former, and I think of "Mr. Bean's Holiday" as an example of an incredibly good--and very French--film that was amazingly yet rated "G". But that is a very rare example. At the end of the book, Hector applies his criteria for happiness to the personnel he has met, and whose lives his has become entwined with. The narrator, who looks a lot like Hector, seems to drop the mask and say with a wink, "Oh ho ho, mon ami, but you knew all along Henri--he was happy!

Along the way, we gain insights into the methods of one psychiatrist, Hector, AKA Francois, as he compiles his list of what constitutes happiness, and the reader is led to consider his or her own.

Hector is a French psychiatrist (as is the author) who is searching for the cause of happiness. He has many patients who do not have a psychiatric diagnosis and have not suffered any losses or traumas but are still not happy and this causes him to ponder on the cause of their unhappiness and how he can make them happier. He travels the world to explore how other people find happiness. He visits China, Africa, America . He does not name these countries perhaps because he thinks that it is irrelevant and people may have preconceived opinions about these countries.
He is a very non-judgemental and inquisitive person who is very interested in other people. His writing is very simple and child-like at times with his explanations, but perhaps this is because he is viewing the people and the world with the openness of the child.
There are no amazing revelations in the book but it makes a pleasant read, and reminder.

I know that Dr. Lelord is considered a happiness guru in Europe these days, and I know that I will sound exceedingly grumpy in this review. But part of being happy is to not care about what others think.

The story kept my interest for the first 100 pages but then I kept wondering about and looking for the substance behind the story. The narrator maintains a light tone, and the search for happiness doesn't probe very deeply below the surface. I found the whole book to be unsatisfying-- like a light salad or fluffy angel food cake when this topic needs more gravity. The narration style like a children's book made the reader feel like an idiot, as if we were too stupid to understand the complexity and the depth of the situation.

I was also offended by the inaccurate stereotypes of the U.S., specifically of my hometown Los Angeles. Hector had a rather condescending tone toward the U.S., aka the land of More. Hector's first contact with America consisted of nurses at the airport demanding to know whether the ill airline passenger had the proper health insurance coverage to pay for treatment. Then Hector went on to say that American doctors were afraid to volunteer their services on the airplane due to fear of malpractice lawsuit. Only in the Acknowledgements section at the end of the book did Dr. Delord state that the Aviation Medical Assistance Act of 1998 protected physician passengers from lawsuits when they rendered good samaritan care on a flight. I think that an asterisk in the text of the novel would be a more appropriate correction. Presenting Hector's first impression of Americans as money hungry and lawyer fearing was inaccurate and offensive. There are other inaccuracies in the portrayal of the U.S. and Los Angeles-- how the rich can buy their own private beach, which is NOT true. The beach is required by law to be accessible to the public. I know that superwealthy beachfront landowners try to keep the public away through illegal means, but the beaches are still public.

This is going to be a short review because Hector and the Search for Happiness is a quick and enjoyable read. I picked this book up because of the simplistic cover. I loved the art and the color scheme. Just under 200 pages, you travel the world with Hector (a psychiatrist who has noticed that many of his well-off, successful patients are not happy) as he attempts to find the meaning of happiness. It is an interesting journey told in short chapters and while his findings are by no means definitive they do hold some truth.

What he attempts to teach the reader is that there are many ways to be happy. Most importantly, being happy shouldn't always be something you aim for in the future...you should be happy in your present life and not when you accomplish your next goal, get promoted to a higher paying position, start a family, etc.

I really enjoyed this short story, following Hector as he questions his current life; as he decides on a radical change of pace; and as he begins his quest around the world to find the real meaning of happiness. The emotions he feels along the way are easily recognizable in your own life, even if the settings and contexts may be different. the writing is charming in an open and simple sort of way, and, it has a feel-good happy ending. -highly recommend!

After reading this little book, which is quite humorous, especially if you've ever been seen by a psychiatrist, I decided to find out if there was, indeed, a college or university somewhere that actually has a Happiness Studies Department like the one Hector visits on his quest in "the country of More" (aka the USA, though the author calls some countries by their name and makes up different names for others). I mean, we've all heard about ridiculous courses offered at Institutions of Higher Learning, like the old joke about students being able to take "Basket Weaving" for credit, or a college course being offered at the University of South Carolina called "Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame". But there are other real programs of study that make you wonder where all the money is going that you shell out to send your child to such a school. I know first hand how incredibly expensive a college education is today, as my son's college is siphoning money out of my bank account as I write this. Anyway, there actually is a Happiness Studies Department at Harvard. It's part of their medical school and they've followed something like 5,000 people over the course of twenty years to find out what makes people happy. It seems that happy people associating with other happy people can make them happy. Having happy friends, who have happy friends, who have happy friends, on and on exponentially, leads to happiness all around, I guess. Thankfully, or should I say "happily", the study showed that sadness cannot be passed on from person to person like the flu.

So maybe Hector's search for happiness is not that strange after all. Perhaps Dr. Francois Lelord, the author, started out writing what he thought would be a funny book and ended up with a serious position paper on that very subject, or vice versa. Who knows?

I do wonder, though, about the two million people who bought this book and turned it into an international bestseller. (I borrowed my copy from the local library.) Are they all seeking the meaning of happiness and how to get it...just like Hector? All I can say is, "Good luck." At any rate, I enjoyed this book and give it 4 Stars.

I absolutely loved this book. The writing style reminds me of the film Amelie, I could practically hear the narrator's voice in my head as I read. It presents a detailed, not always very happy, story in a sweet, simple way that is kind of a statement in itself: even the most tragic situations need not be so complicated that we can't sum them up simply and sweetly and get past them somehow. Beyond the style of the prose, it really is a very interesting novel that I couldn't put down. If you don't like the "fable" style of writing then it might not be for you, but I absolutely adored it.

I usually like to read my books once and pass them on to someone who might like them, but I'm going to have to keep this one to read again in the future. I'll buy my friends their own copy!

"Hector and the Search for Happiness" felt a little like Roger Hargreaves was telling me the story of "The Catcher in the Rye" through the eyes of Mr. Bounce. The naïveté, which was refreshing at first, gradually wears out its welcome.

A psychiatrist takes time off from his practice to do some traveling and tries to find what makes people happy. Pretty general, right? So are the realizations he comes to. His intercontinental hops are occasionally punctuated with observations on happiness that are so banal, so pedestrian, that I almost cringed when reading a few of them (being with the ones you love...really?).

Hector the psychiatrist takes this big no-duh list to two "experts" on happiness; a Chinese monk and an American professor, both of whom more or less validate his findings. Is it really that easy? The author, a psychiatrist himself, seems to think so. But I've always hated it when others set up happiness as something so easily attainable, like falling off a log.

Painting life and the outside world in a simplistic way is one thing. Reducing the struggle for happiness to an act as simple as grabbing a physical object in front of you is another. Putting them together is what gets you "Hector and the Search for Happiness."

a psychiatrist takes a much needed vacation, reconnects with friends on various continents, makes a few love connections and discovers, in between adventures, what he believes happiness is. pleasant protagonist. 2 and 3/4 stars rounded up to 3.

Is this book supposed to be written for adults? The writing is charming for the first three pages and then becomes increasingly irritating. I found the light-hearted way in which some very real issues were addressed to be trivializing and even moderately demeaning. There are no new ideas presented in this book, only a new way of presenting them. I feel as if the 'lessons' Hector learns are just common sense, nothing new or enlightened. The approach to this book was novel and could have been an interesting way to go about addressing one's search for happiness but the author fails so miserably that I can only really see this book being suitable for adolescents. It is a quick read, very light, and could be enjoyable for someone for a summer afternoon as long as the reader goes into the book without the expectation of learning anything new or having any major epiphanies.

I have totally mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, you have to really give some love to someone who writes a book about happiness. There seemed to be a lot of thought put into this book, genuine research with real scientists at UCLA who study what makes people happy, because it is somewhat of an art and skill that can be learned. So kudos to the author for writing a book that tries to share with us his the formula for happiness. And really, there are some good reminders in there for us. If you write down the list (that Hector keeps), which is a pretty simple list, you can pretty much keep remind yourself of when you are straying from thoughts and behaviors that keep you happy. Though some are intagible, like "Living in a country where the government treats you well." So, I compliment the author on his good intentions.

Ok, so why only three stars? I found the whimsical parable-like children's book style of writing to be completely inconsistent with the character's behavior. It seemed kind of charming and adorable at first, but then it got totally annoying. Especially since you'd be skimming along quite nicely, thinking it was a Universal tale with Universal themes (and thus the parable-like narration)and then next thing you know the author is sleeping with a prostitute. Of course, the character writes in such a naive tone that he didn't realize it was a prostitute - Oops! But I thought that was really jarring - especially since the main character, Hector, had a girlfriend at home when he did this. He went off and slept with another woman too, just because he could. I realize that he is a young French man, and that is what young boys can do in their quest for happiness, but it really didn't fit in with the tone of the book at all. The character didn't show any remorse or regret about cheating on his girlfriend at all. It was just part of his experiment. Mind you, this wouldn't annoy me in another book, with a more complicated character, but that is not what this book was trying to pull off. He would describe these one night stands as "we did what people do when they are in love". It was pretty annoying.

Another totally annoying aspect of the book (as another reviewer pointed out) is that he would say he was in China but would refer to his own country as "the country where Hector is from", and never said France. Why the mystery? He referred to America as "the Big Place with the most psychiatrists". He would say he was in Africa but not what part, and would describe in these childish phrases some countries but could name others. I saw no reason why the author and editors chose to keep the names of these places a secret. Additionally, they kept referring to him and his comrades as speaking English when that didn't make sense either. So many inconsistencies.

So, if you are expecting a mystical travel book with insights into different people in different countries, you are not going to find that here. If you are looking for a whimsical way to pass the time, and want something completely light that gives you a little bit to ponder about happiness perhaps you might give this a go.

An intriguing construct, but one can't help feeling Hector never quite comes outside of himself. He never has to outwardly confront his hang ups and whether his actions, in fact, have hurt people too.

Hector is a French psychiatrist (as is the author) who is searching for the cause of happiness. He has many patients who do not have a psychiatric diagnosis and have not suffered any losses or traumas but are still not happy and this causes him to ponder on the cause of their unhappiness and how he can make them happier. He travels the world to explore how other people find happiness. He visits China, Africa, America . He does not name these countries perhaps because he thinks that it is irrelevant and people may have preconceived opinions about these countries.
He is a very non-judgemental and inquisitive person who is very interested in other people. His writing is very simple and child-like at times with his explanations, but perhaps this is because he is viewing the people and the world with the openness of the child.
There are no amazing revelations in the book but it makes a pleasant read, and reminder.

"Hector and the Search for Happiness" is one of the most enjoyable little books I've read in ages. It is hard to come up with the best adjective to describe it: "charming" works, as does "delightful," "thought-provoking," "unique," and even "timeless." Already a best-seller in Europe, the book has now been translated into English. And what a book it is. Hector is a psychiatrist who is baffled by all his patients who had no real disorders nor had suffered any genuine misfortunes yet were miserable and dissatisfied with their lives. Their predicament, and Hector's inability to help them much, leads Hector to go on a holiday around the world where he could ask people what made them happy and unhappy and, thus, understand what happiness is and how to find it.

The remainder of the book is a romp around the globe, where Hector alternates between recording his observations and lessons learned about happiness (e.g., Lesson no. 3: Many people see happiness only in their future), falling in and out of love, and undergoing a number of hair-raising adventures. Hector seeks insight from the people he meets on planes and in hotel bars, as well as a wise monk and not-so-wise famous Professor of Happiness Studies. At the end of the novel, Hector has garnered a list of 23 lessons regarding happiness (more accurately 22, because he ultimately decides to delete Lesson no. 18: "Happiness could be the freedom to love more than one woman at the same time"), along with a considerable amount of self-insight.

What makes this book so appealing, in my mind, is its wonderfully droll and witty writing style. For this reason I commend the translator, Lorenza Garcia, for capturing so perfectly the original tone of the manuscript. Perhaps the best way to describe the style of this book is to say that it reminds me strongly of the movie "Amelie" (albeit in written form, of course). From the very first sentence ("Once upon a time there was a young psychiatrist called Hector who was not very satisfied with himself"), the book unfolds much as a fable or children's story, replete with delightful turns of phrase. The United States, for example, is never mentioned by name but referred to as "the country where there are more psychiatrists than anywhere else in the world."

The back cover of the book states that a movie based on the novel is in production, and I think it would make a perfect movie--but only if the screenwriter incorporates a narrator to capture this inimitable writing style. I'm picturing George Clooney as Edouard and Julianne Moore as Agnes; Hector himself would be harder to cast--it needs to be an actor with a slightly vulnerable, innocent, and ineffably sad air. John Cusack, maybe?

As a professor of social psychology, I was tickled to see the chapter where Hector discusses "Happiness Studies" with the famous professor. As a human being, I quickly realized that Hector's 23 lessons tell us more about the nature of happiness than all the scholarly journal articles put together.