Latest news with #IHopeYou'reHappy
Irish Examiner
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Book review: Distorted view of reality is a common theme
In Marni Appleton's short story Positive Vibes, Lia sees girls sitting at the tables outside the café where she works 'phones in hands, hunched over themselves as though they'd like to fold up flat and slip away entirely'. The scene encapsulates how technology dominates and diminishes the characters throughout Appleton's promising short story collection, I Hope You're Happy. On a school tour, girls ostracise a classmate by cropping her from a group photo so that 'only her arm remained, strung up in thin air like a dead thing'. A woman who becomes obsessed with a work colleague after a sexual encounter checks his Facebook page and Twitter feed every day to forge a sense of closeness with him. In the title story, Chloe intentionally doesn't block her estranged confidant Ana from her social media profiles because Chloe wants her posts to demonstrate that the dissolution of their friendship hasn't dented the vivacity of her life — and knows Ana is addicted to using the apps. The collection's 11 stories are mostly populated by millennials (those born between 1981 and 1996) and Gen Zers (born between 1997 and 2012). All Appleton's protagonists are female. The English author presents us with a glimpse of sexually fluid, uncertain, and hedonistic characters. Some snort cocaine off the back of their iPhones while others engage in threesomes. They're often in precarious employment, overwhelmed ('Doing nothing…no longer seemed an option'), and tentatively trying to negotiate the complications of strained relationships and rapidly-evolving social mores. They believe in manifesting and, perhaps inevitably, one of the book's epigraphs is from Taylor Swift ('Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first'). Appleton's writing has appeared in the Irish literary journal Banshee, among others. Shifting between the first and third person, her stories forensically dissect the subtle power dynamics of relationships and are frequently embossed with striking images. For instance, a teenager waiting outside a station sees her mother's white Toyota Prius among a cluster of black cabs as a 'swan in a huddle of ducklings'. That observation comes from the narrator, Allie, of Road Trip, a story that illuminates an important theme in the collection: Appleton's depiction of outsiders at the centre of her stories. In a frightening chronicle of neglect, Allie's irascible mother punishes Allie by shoving her out of a stationary car onto the side of the road and then drives away. 'No one is expecting me anywhere,' the narrator believes as she walks towards home. 'No one is expecting anything from me.' If the men in this collection are portrayed as, at best, virtue signallers and, at worst, perpetrators of coercive control, some of the female characters are equally adept at sabotaging one of their own. Female friends turn 'inward' to exclude a disloyal classmate for kissing the boyfriend of a group member before they deliver their misogynistic judgement on the betrayal: 'it's so much worse when a girl does it.' Body image is a recurring anxiety in the book and receives its most articulate expression in The Mirror Test. Melissa concedes she is always looking at herself in any available surface — a phone screen, a mirror, a train window — but doesn't recognise the person in the reflection. 'She is cruel and detached … It is true people hate her — that's the price she pays — but their envy, a weight, also lights her up.' The stories anatomise how technology and, particularly, social media distort its characters' view of themselves, but the collection also emphasises their culpability in this degradation. 'I know that anything I've lost,' one character suggests, 'has been given away freely.' Read More Book review: Do not put this book on hold
Fox News
30-03-2025
- Health
- Fox News
Country singer Carly Pearce says doctors ‘dismissed' heart condition symptoms: What to watch for
Country music star Carly Pearce is shedding light on her health. The 34-year-old shared a health update after she was diagnosed with an "intense" heart condition called pericarditis. "I'm doing a lot better," Pearce told Fox News Digital. "I'm still … on a health journey in general … to continue to hope that this recurrent pericarditis isn't recurrent." Pericarditis is an inflammation of the pericardium, a sac-like structure with two thin layers of tissue that surround the heart to hold it in place and help protect it from damage from infection and malignancy, according to the American Heart Association. Although Pearce's health condition was initially "dismissed" by medical professionals, she continued to press doctors until she received answers. WATCH: CARLY PEARCE PRESSED DOCTORS ABOUT CHRONIC HEART CONDITION AFTER REPEATEDLY BEING 'DISMISSED' "My biggest piece of advice for anybody is: Listen to your body, and be your own advocate … a lot of doctors dismissed me, and I was persistent until I got a diagnosis." While country music star Carly Pearce's health journey has been nothing short of challenging, she aimed to spread awareness in hopes of saving other people's lives who may be experiencing similar medical conditions. "My biggest piece of advice for anybody is: Listen to your body and be your own advocate … a lot of doctors dismissed me, and I was persistent until I got a diagnosis." Earlier this year, the "I Hope You're Happy" singer detailed her "intense" symptoms. "I had a really debilitating chest pain that was only relieved if I bent over like this (leaning forward), and that's a classic symptom of pericarditis," she explained on Today. "And then when you lay back, it gets way worse, because that wall is kind of inflamed around your heart." Pearce, who's on her "Hummingbird" tour, added at the time, "I just had a really intense shortness of breath." The country star has been living with the heart condition for nearly five years, and she had previously mentioned that she has had "several flares" since 2020. Her family has a history of heart issues. Her father survived a widowmaker heart attack when she was 19. Pearce initially revealed her health battle in May 2024 on social media. At the time, she told her fans that things had taken a more serious turn. "I had a really debilitating chest pain that was only relieved if I bent over like this (leaning forward), and that's a classic symptom of pericarditis. And then when you lay back, it gets way worse, because that wall is kind of inflamed around your heart." "Hey ya'll I have always been transparent and honest about every part of my life, so I feel like this deserves the same honesty," Pearce said on Instagram. "You guys know that I've been dealing with some health issues and through that I have developed something called pericarditis, which is a heart issue." "I've been working with doctors and talking to my cardiologist, and I still want to be out on the road; it's really important to me, but we have all decided that it is in my best interest as I am healing to alter my shows a little bit," she said. Pearce was on the road touring with Tim McGraw when she revealed her heart condition. The "We Don't Fight Anymore" crooner is also good friends with fellow country star Trisha Yearwood and honored her at her Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony. Pearce told Fox News Digital that Yearwood's music was the "soundtrack to my childhood" and had inspired her to start her career in the industry. WATCH: CARLY PEARCE ON THE IMPACT TRISHA YEARWOOD HAS MADE ON HER MUSIC CAREER "She has been one of those true country artists that has continued to evolve over decades, all while remaining so classic … true and timeless," Pearce sweetly remarked. Pearce said Yearwood has made a lasting impact on the music industry over several generations. "She's one of the most down-to-earth people that I've ever met. She says hello to everybody. She's everybody's friend, and she's everybody's sister … I think that's a true testament to who she is." WATCH: TRISHA YEARWOOD PRAISES HUSBAND GARTH BROOKS AT HER OWN HOLLYWOOD STAR CEREMONY On Monday, Yearwood, 60, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The "How Do I Live" singer was surrounded by loved ones, including her husband of 20 years, Garth Brooks, and fellow country star Reba McEntire. Pearce gave a speech at the ceremony, speaking about how kind Yearwood has been throughout the years and noted that she had inducted her as a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Pearce said she's come a long way since she first started out in the music industry. When Pearce she 16, the Kentucky native convinced her parents to allow her to pursue a job singing at Dollywood. "I think somewhere in there that 16-year-old believed that she would get here, but it's exceeded any of my wildest dreams in the whole world," Pearce told Fox News Digital.
