As the days and weeks wear on, the girls find themselves at home in New York’s nightlife – soon they know everyone and everyone knows of them, with rich men often all too happy to buy them drinks or let them stay the night simply in exchange for their presence. Their differences shine through the pages from the start – where Isa is reserved and quietly incisive, Gala is unapologetic and reckless. The book begins with the girls moving into someone else’s room for the summer, with plans to sell their clothes at a market stall to cover the rent and their living expenses. She is joined by her freshly blonde best friend Gala for a summer of dazzling nights out: from bars to galleries to house parties to late-night bodegas on repeat against the glistening silhouette of New York.
Happy Hour is made up of the meandering diary entries of Isa, who (like Granados herself), is of mixed Filipina and Salvadoran heritage and possesses the aura and charm of someone you definitely want at your party. Isa and Gala have been partying together ever since they were underage now 21 years old, the girls move to New York together with an agenda to do “absolutely nothing.” But it is in this nothingness that Granados’ writing really has a chance to shine. Despite the emphasis on glamour, Happy Hour’s depth and nuance is evident in its protagonists’ view of the world. Happy Hour (2020) is Toronto-based writer and filmmaker Marlowe Granados’ debut novel, an unassuming and intoxicating book about two young, beautiful girls partying their lives away for one sweltering summer in New York City.
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