Happiness Post

I'm about half-way through Will Freguson's novel Happiness and so far, am enjoying the read very much. What I want to discuss in this blog is the character Edwin de Valu. To me each one of the players told in this book are stereotypes of their jobs, age group and social circles. The plucky, and steadfast friend is the publisher/friend/boss/love intersest, May; The horrible, trendy, hippie out-of-touch boss Mr. Mead; also our antagonistic, suck-up GenXer office jerk Nigel. With Edwin however, he seems to stand out by not really standing out at all. The main protagonist, Edwin is what I expect out of the ultimate bookworm. Skinny, lanky, crop of messy hair, snarky, rude, yet completely afraid of everyone (except that prick Nigel.) If only he had horned-rimmed glasses the look would be complete. Edwin is a very unlikable character, (I tried to like him, I really did) one would think that with all the daytime nonsense and idiocy he has to gauntlet through, Edwin would have been a very sympathetic person. In all honesty, he's as much an oblivious asshole as everyone else in the novel and he thinks his meager job places him on a mantle over other people, treats everybody in about the same level of crap as they treat him. What is strange is that in most novels I read, other protagonists have something in them that makes them stand out to the other lesser characters; a certain keenness, sense of adventure, kindness, strength or something. Not good old Edwin. Even though I sound like I'm complaining about the author's choice of character, I have to say it is a little interesting and surprising (and maybe a little refreshing) to read about someone so regular and completely unextraordinary, it's pretty fun to read him flail about in a constant stream of failure.