Back to Australia with Judy Nunn

Our next novel is Judy Nunn's Spirits of the Ghan.

Karen Hardy wrote this review for the  Sydney Morning Herald.

BTLBC will meet to discuss this book at the Community Meeting Room at Gordon White Library on Thursday 25  at 6.00pm!

Happy reading!

Folks not sure whether 'The Invoice' added up

BTLBCers were generally taken with the novelty of the premise of Jonas Karlsson's book but as conversation ensued, we found that we were all a bit short on the detail. Some readers were happy to go with the general flow of the novel while other readers needed more detail on the functionality of the whole World Resources Division concept. There was much discussion on how people could actually go about taking out such large loans and on what basis and how would this affect the national economy and would this affect their happiness? Would the loan bring them so much 'unhappiness' that their invoice amount would have to be decreased? Questions were asked as to whether this money was gathered in to be re-distributed to less happy people and then 'how would this be done?' and 'what would this actually achieve?' Readers wondered whether WRD was Sweden-wide or world-wide?

There was talk about what really constituted a world resource. One of our readers proposed that emotions need to be included in the world's resources and that's why 'The Invoice' calculation of 'happiness' needed to be considered.

Conversation continued as to what really constituted 'happiness' and how could it be measured? Discussion bounced about on the concept that 'happiness' could be 'universalised' ( I can't think of an appropriate word for this)  and thus 'measured' because most folks considered that happiness varied according to the individual - the 'one person's happiness another's nightmare' idea thus making measurement  rather random and unreliable despite Maud's assurances.

There was discussion about a possible difference between 'happiness' (possibly an outer manifestation of emotion) and 'contentment' (an inner, more private emotion). One of our readers brought in a copy of the current World Happiness Index which told us Scandinavians were the top four happiest countries in the world which might have been a catalyst for a Swedish novelist to write a novel like 'The Invoice'?

Someone noted that we never actually knew the name of the main character and we actually know more about Richard and Maud than the main character. A reader commented about Maud being a model typecast government employee and yet appearing to be available 24/7 which does not fit the '9 till 5' stereotype. This led to conversation about the way digital technology had allowed the encroachment of work into employee's personal lives 24/7 and then onto the possibility that Maud actually worked from home.

There was discussion about how the main character's experience of heartbreak from his perspective would decrease his 'happiness debt' but was considered by the WRD as a positive experience as it developed resilience which was a positive emotional resource and thus increased his debt.


One of our readers who has a great eye for detail was quite cross about the cover displaying a male with an ice-cream cone while our main character in the novel enjoyed his ice-cream in a cup! This brought about much hilarity!

In general it seems this novel certainly raised more questions rather than provide answers. As usual the novel under discussion provided much fodder for conversation which covered a range of topics which were only slightly linked. It's always wonderful to try to solve the problems of the world.

Our next book returns us to Australia. At our next meeting we will be discussing Judy Nunn's Spirits of the Ghan.

Happy reading everyone! (No matter where you are in the world!!)