Happiness, Like Water is a collection of ten short stories, solely written by the author, Chinelo Okparanta.

I had three stories that were my personal favorites: Story, Story!, which told the tale of a barren woman who befriends pregnant women at her church, telling them the story of a deceased friend of hers who was also pregnant. It is revealed by the end of the story that

she killed said friend, and every other pregnant woman she came across afterwards in order to steal their fetuses.

; then, America, which followed a lesbian couple in Nigeria, who become long-distance after one of them takes a job in America. As the other woman remains in Nigeria, she contemplates the decision of moving to the US to be able to freely love her girlfriend, or remain in Nigeria, where she feels she will be forever stagnated. Finally, Tumors and Butterflies, which tells the story of a woman who grew up experiencing physical abuse at the hands of her father. Her mother is also a victim of his abuse, but defends him whenever she can. So, she contemplates whether or not to retain her relationship with her parents.

This is the second book I've read so far from Chinelo—my first one being Under the Udala Trees. That book was written so well that I had to take a look at her other works. Needless to say, I was not disappointed.