I listened to Tell the Machine Goodnight, and I adored it. From the gorgeous literary imagery to the little details of the near-future world in which the characters live, it was a treat. Each character is fully developed, and I quite like how we get to see their world from different perspectives, personalities, and histories.

Generally, the book is about a mom, Pearl, her anorexic teenage son, Rhett, and his dad, Elliot. Pearl works as happiness pathologist, helping people learn what will actually make them happy - results taken from an easy DNA test. Rhett is recovering from a life-threatening bout of an eating disorder and navigates school and relationships.

It's a book about their relationships with one another and away from one another. It's a book whose characters orbit happiness but rarely land. It's a book about boundaries and secrets and how everyone's past and current self-development shape them. 

If you had access to a machine that told you how to be happy, would you use it? And is happiness what we should all aim to achieve?