If It Makes You Happy

If It Makes You Happy is set in 1997; it largely takes place in Copper Run, Vermont, but features references to urban life in Seattle and New York City, too. To authenticate the novel’s temporal setting, Olivia peppers the narrative with cultural references that gesture to 1990s popular culture, but without substantial emphasis on politics or other more serious concerns.

As Shelby Lofgren posits, “The 1990s had everything. Wild fashion, catchy music, cool gadgets, and new ways to have fun. From flannel shirts to floppy disks, every part of life had its own style” (Lofgren, Shelby. “1990s Fashion & Trends: What Was Popular in the 90s?” Capture, 5 Apr. 2025). Such cultural trends are reflected in Olivia’s novel, which features the music of Mazzy Star, the TV show Friends, movies on VHS tapes, Nora Ephron romantic comedies, and fashion elements like flannel shirts and crop tops.

Olivia also steeps the narrative in a sense of pre-technological nostalgia. It was the era before cell phones, as “[h]ome phones had cords, and everyone fought over who got to use the internet.