About the book: More Happy Than Not is on the 2016 Best Fiction for Young Adults list by YALSA. Aaron lives in a time that people can go to a clinic and forget painful memories in order to lead a happy life. At the beginning of the story Aaron is dealing with the aftermath of his dad’s suicide and his attempted suicide. He has a girlfriend and decides to have sex with her before she goes away for 3 weeks to art camp. Aaron plays games in his neighborhood with his neighborhood crew. One day he meets Thomas and they become fast best friends. Aaron believes himself to be straight and in love with Genevieve his girlfriend. He starts to develop feelings for Thomas, struggling to understand what that means. Thomas does not return his affections. The neighborhood crew realize he is gay and beat him up really badly. His brain starts to unwind and he realizes he had Leteo wipe his memory of being gay. He picks back up with his boyfriend Collin, but soon realizes something is not right. He develops memory problems and struggles to hold onto reality. He decides to cut all friendships so he can remember the happy past parts and so he does not cause hurt to his friends. His mother and brother support him and try to help him live a happy life. He hopes that one day Leteo will develop technology to help him fix the memory problems.
Readers Response: In Kohlberg’s theory of moral development, he states three levels; preconventional, conventional, and postconventional. In the book More Happy Than Not the moral decision of is it right or wrong for someone to wipe your memories can be contemplated while reading. After reading the class could have a debate about the pros and cons of the reality of Leteo existing on our society. After reading I pondered how many people would participate in Leteo if it was a service today. So many people who are hateful and refuse to accept others for who they are. By discussing a social issue that is not real it gives the students a safe place to work through their thinking and feelings about making choices in a safer climate.
Author's Website: http://www.adamsilvera.com/
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