Otherwise, we are left with Sai, and her sense, which is also the sensation experienced by the reader, of being battered by overlapping stories that drown out her own desire for the reassurance of love: "Never again could she think there was but one narrative and that this narrative belonged only to herself, that she might create her own tiny happiness and live safely within it".
Everything is dark, and then a tiny happiness emerges out of nowhere when you thought it never possibly could.
The book still has her congratulations card pasted in it: May life bring EVERY joy to bless/That tiny "dream of HAPPINESS!" After the book was full (seven years later), writer's life was on the brink of shapelessness, bereft of a unifying principle.
The career police sergeant tells of the tiny bit of happiness he found befriending monkeys, parrots and, finally, Josefo, whom he initially kept alive by feeding him milk with a syringe (and who later got hooked on coffee).
From week one, I knew J.R. was going to be the one to beat, and I couldn't help the sense of pride I felt for him on the dance floor -- and I'll admit it, I felt a tiny bit of happiness when Ricki didn't get the first perfect score.
Without a trace of pathos, but with much warmth, the prize winning author presents these children as great fighters, as those who firmly believe that sooner or later they too will get a tiny grain of happiness.
"But she's able to be open and in the moment, finding joy and happiness in tiny little things".
"All I Want For Christmas Is You" is romance, tiny Santa-themed dresses, happiness, "Love Actually".
I didn't just want (and I still don't) little moments of happiness or tiny snippets that had to last me through the week.
This week, at the United Nations conference on Happiness, the tiny kingdom of Bhutan nestled between India and China will showcase its Gross National Happiness index (GNH) as an alternative to gross national product (GNP).
The secrets of that kind of athletic achievement are the subject of Karen Crouse's book "Norwich: One Tiny Vermont Town's Secret to Happiness and Excellence" (Simon & Schuster).
