We Happy Few

In the tragicomic novel, We Happy Few, internationally recognized author Rolando Hinojosa takes us inside the politics of a tumultuous university campus set in a quiet university town on the Texas-Mexico border.

The chaotic politics of faculty promotions and tenure, the zany protests of a student group representing the majority Mexican-American ethnic group on campus, and the complex work of a search committee to replace a high-level university administrator unfold at Belken State University in Klail City, Texas. From the offices of deans and professors to those of familiar power brokers such as banker Arnold “Noddy” Perkins and police chief Rafe Buenrostro, and even to the State House in Austin, Hinojosa sets up a beguiling game of life—and death.

Racism and political machinations raise the stakes in the battle for the future of the university, the outcome of which will decide the fate of the faculty, staff, and especially the students, who place their hope for advancement in education. With We Happy Few, Hinojosa once again invites readers to observe the goings-on in his quixotic literary landscape, which the New York Times compared to Gabriel García Márquez’s Macondo and William Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha.

Click here to listen to an interview with Rolando Hinojosa about his book, We Happy Few.