Mr. Chapman abhors normalcy, and this is a very very good thing. Over the past few years he’s managed make me terrified of crabs, be very wary of mushrooms, and have some serious PTSD from the Satanic Panic insanity.
What he does in Shiny Happy People appears to be, on the surface, just a classic take on the horror/sci-fi trope of “bodysnatchers,” but, underneath, takes on so much more. For appearing to be a semi-light and pithy YA novel, Shiny Happy People really dives into teen dynamics, trauma, mental health, and peer pressure.
Our protagonist is Kyra, a sixteen-year-old adoptee who has had a lifetime of trauma that has caused her serious anxiety and a deep sense of displacement. Kyra has her tight friend circle, and she relies on them, and her family, a lot.
A Snapchat trend starts popping up around school of kids popping some pill and going into an overdose/seizure type state before recovering and being euphoric, and, increasingly, Kyra is seeing her friends and peers show up in these house party videos.
Strangely, the people around Kyra start to have massive personality changes: all acting oddly similar.
Kyra, and the mysterious “new guy,” Logan, set out to see what is at the bottom of the quickly spreading calamity, and the rest you’re just going to have to find out for yourself.
As I said before, Mr. Chapman deftly tackles some of the classic issues that teens face. Kyra’s support network seems to be what really keeps her together in her strained situation, and, when things start to drastically change, she has to find the inner strength to push forward or just collapse.
This one is a real page-turner. The pacing really moves the story along rapidly, and the twists are not telescoped out as is the weakness in many YA novels. Mr. Chapman could have very easily taken a different tone with this book to make it much more sinister and dark, but I’m very glad he approached it the way he did.