The book is short but the review is not. That's the beauty of a web-based review journal. Instead of the usual dreary summary of the book followed by a few quick lines of judgement, I dragged in all sorts of topics. I had fun with discussing how Why Be Happy is a palimpsest of her first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit; Winterson's discovery that books are extra-somatic culture; why constraint is necessary for all forms of literature; the way poetry works emotionally; why narrative grammar is every writer's friend, and more.
I'd love to know what you think, either at LARB or in the comments here.