HappYness

Alright, since I already spent a blog or two in the past hyping up the movie version of The Pursuit of Happyness, I wanted to devote one to the book. I just finished it this morning on my weekly commute via MAX train to a Sunday school that I work out and thouroughly enjoyed every page. If you enjoyed the film even just a little bit, you'll want to pick up the novel. This autobiographical tale of Chris Gardner's journey through life is very poignant and is the classic chasing of the American dream at its best. I won't give away specifics so as not to spoil it, but I will say that the book goes into richer detail and reveals far more than the movie ever could. Hollywood took a little dramatic license with his story and changed a few plot points for whatever reason, but did stay to true overall to the essence of Chris Gardner's struggle from homelessness to Wall Street tycoon. What I found to be an interesting twist, was that the movie, starring Will Smith, only portrays this one portion of Gardner's life. Will Smith did an outstanding job of breathing life into the movie and is among his best ever film roles, but to fully comprehend how far Gardner actually came you'll have to read the book. Two thumbs up and a plug for both the movie and the novel.