Book Review

The Age of Absurdity: why modern life makes it hard to be happy

by Michael Foley

Simon and Shuster, 2010

‘People once opened the backs of television sets and raised the bonnets of cars and understood the technology well enough to carry out repairs [….] now if it breaks down, just dump it and get the new model,’ says writer, poet and lecturer Michael Foley. He adds that the repairs to our ‘stuff’ are out there in the ether – a machine fixes your computer remotely, with workings that are ‘as intangible and mysterious as the mind of God.’

Foley’s far more than a mere grumpy old man, however. His book casts an ironic look at the sense of dissatisfaction and general feeling of disappointment we can feel and see all around us – and he’s occasionally ‘laugh out loud funny’ as one of the reviews put it.

The book challenges the way we lead our lives today, in particular our expectations, our tendency to absolve ourselves of responsibility, and the modern notion that achievements should come easily without hard work.

It describes how desire breeds more desire and a lower sense of satisfaction, and how our drive for ‘more of everything’ is in itself a reason for high levels of depression. Foley has had his own brush with depression in mid-life and brings his experiences and insights to bear on ‘the midlife crisis’ - as he puts it, ‘all the surveys seem to agree the middle years are a crock of shit.’

House therapist Julie Lockyer says she finds the most interesting notion is ‘how we tend to discount ideas that do not seem the right ‘fit’ for us, and how much more strongly we experience negative experiences and emotions, compared to positive ones.’

More controversially, the book suggests that happiness is at least partly something pre-programmed and genetic, and that our response to life events is likely to be determined by our own inborn characteristics, rather than any attempts we might make to become happy. In fact, strenuous efforts to be happy can backfire on us – and while the book makes some suggestions on what we might do to be less unhappy, it’s far from being a self-help book. Read it, and find yourself nodding along, and saying, ‘yes – I’ve thought that, too!’