Reviews with content warning for Grief - Happiness Falls

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

52 reviews

arayo's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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astoriareader's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

SYNOPSIS

One morning, Adam goes missing. Adam took Eugene, his teenage son with a dual diagnosis of autism and Angelman’s syndrome, to the park, and Adam never returned home. Rather, Eugene returned home by himself, and he’s in a bit of an unusual state. Due to Eugene’s condition, he is nonverbal, and he has some motor difficulties as well. Thus, the family cannot simply ask what happened.
The remainder of the Korean American family consists of two college-aged twins, Mia and John, and the mother/wife.
What happened to Adam? Did Eugene have anything to do with it?

MY THOUGHTS

This was pretty good overall.
It is told from Mia’s perspective, which I enjoyed.
This felt less like a thriller to me, and it was more a thought-provoking, contemporary fiction & about family. All the family members slowly start to really understand each other.
There were some parts that dragged a bit, and in my opinion, it could’ve been trimmed down a bit.
I enjoyed how the book challenges readers to defy the notion that lack of verbal communication skills means someone is not intelligent. I liked seeing a nonverbal character, Eugene, shown to have so much more to him than the world, including his own family, has given him credit for over the last 14 years.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️worthwhile read & a great one to discuss with others.

Thanks to Random House Publishing and Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book is out now.

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dixiecarroll's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

this was such a surprise to me because I could NOT PUT THIS DOWN. It isn’t a thriller or all mystery, but it was a page turner. A father goes missing and only his non verbal son witnesses what happens… mystery ensues! Except so much more because it’s a portrait of grief, general family dynamics, etc. I loved it so much.

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jkpiowa's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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maijanou's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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cc_shelflove's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Literary fiction (one of my favorites 🖤) + missing father + police investigation + legal proceedings + ANGIE FREAKIN' KIM.... you know you're getting a good book before you even start reading. Dad is missing, and we must find him. But what if the last person who saw Dad is our little brother, Eugene, who is nonspeaking due to his dual diagnosis of autism and mosaic Angelman syndrome. That's right. Our only witness to Dad's disappearance cannot even tell us what happened. Like that in Miracle Creek, the writing here is truly incredible. I can understand why it took four years for Kim to release another book, as you can tell this novel was a labor of love. It is packed with facts and experiences; Rome was not built in a day. There is a loose end that is never revealed, and although Kim clearly explains to the reader the reason for this conclusion, damn it, I wanted to know the truth! Hopefully we don't have to wait another four years for her next book, but I will if I have to. My overall thoughts: impressive and informational without being the least bit boring.

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booksbeyondthebinary's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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mysterymom40's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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jialianyang's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I see why this book is a bestseller! The narration is at times cerebral and fully in a teen voice, but eventually the character and plot developments twist and turn so rapidly that you can't help but flip page after page. This is a story about family, loyalty, secrets, respect, ableism, the limits of our public safety system, language, philosophy and more.

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kimveach's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Wow! This is a hard book to rate. By the end of it, I wanted to give it five stars, but at the beginning, I wasn't sure I would even finish it. Compared to "Miracle Creek," this book is overly wordy. I understand the artistic choice as the narrator is hyperlexic (I didn't even know that was a thing.) It is like listening to a young adult/teen girl speak stream-of-consciousness. Annoying and too much. I think it would have been better if this book was from multiple points of view (like Miracle Creek.) Then, we would have pauses/breaths between all of Mia's thoughts.

As the book went on, I became increasingly interested in the ongoing story of her non-speaking brother, Eugene. Even though I have a son with ASD, I know very little about the world of non-speakers. Learning about the progress of therapies since the turn of this century was fascinating. The ramifications of trying to defend a child who can't tell their side of the story in our legal system were frightening. And with all this, we still had the mystery of what happened to the father.

Reading the reviews, I can see that some people could not get past their dislike of Mia and her wordiness. However, I'm glad I did. I hope the author's next book will be a bit easier to read.

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