Reviews with content warning for Police brutality - Happiness Falls

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Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

20 reviews

rainbowfairie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring 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

4.75

I have so much I want to write about this book. This is one of the best literary fiction novels I've read, packaged in an informative and digestible story. The author is very societally aware and presents a wealth of information to readers on various concepts that may very well be new to them. The author's note at the end references any real-life resources or info the reader may want to check out. Very science-y with vocab and concepts, so beware there will be lots of new language and it's not a light read. As an autistic person myself, who struggles with spoken communication, this was an enlightening and empowering read that touches on many important issues. I'd read it again in a heartbeat and appreciate Angie for writing this book.

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wanderlustsleeping's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

5.0

This was amazing.

I will read everything Angie Kim writes. I absolutely adored all of the siblings, and loved that it’s from Mia’s point of view. Her voice is just excellent. It’s never explicitly stated,

I don’t think, if the twins are also autistic, or just exceptional in particular ways, but amidst the stress and chaos, any and all things with the siblings made me smile.

Their relationships with their parents also was so wonderful to read. They felt real and special, and Kim’s ability to dive into the very real dilemmas neurotypical kids, and their families face, but most importantly those kids struggles and joys, and valid frustrations if they need other ways to communicate besides verbal, is illuminating.

Thankful this novel is out there, and is being read by many.

The mystery elements? My lips are sealed on those, but I hope people continue to protect vulnerable people from less than empathetic law enforcement because these things do happen.

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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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sariereads's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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noladawnreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

I was very excited to picked up this book because I read and really enjoyed "Miracle Creek" by Angie Kim a few years ago.
"Happiness Falls" is an exploration of family, and about truly accepting everything about a person. When Mia's father does not come home with her autistic brother after hiking, the family is not too concerned. But, when they have not heard from him and cannot get ahold of him, they quickly begin to worry. Unfortunately, the only witness to what happened on the hiking trail is Eugene, and he is nonverbal. When the family bans together to try to find this father, they uncover years of secrets that may end up explaining where he went.
This was such an exceptional story about family and accepting people as they are. Eugene is nonverbal, and has been his whole life, but that does not mean he has nothing to say. He as a beautiful mind and is capable of great things, he just needs the right tools and support to encourage him to communicate. I think this is such a profound message. Communication is often what connects human beings to one another, and it is so important to encourage any and all ways of communicating.
This family, like many others, has secrets they are all keeping from one another. I think this book highlights the good that sharing the burden of your thoughts with those closest to you can bring.
I really enjoyed that this book was about more than the disappearance. Their father disappearing was just the catalyst to uncover more important thoughts and feelings.
I will definitely be reading more from Angie Kim in the future.

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lilawsahar's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

God I learned so much from this book. I am destroyed that Eugene lived for 14 years without being able to communicate because he doesn’t have fine motor skills and his disability enables him to speak. How did he wake up each day knowing that he was going to be treated like an idiot and he had to continue on? The realization that people live like this in real life is gut wrenching. And how I contributed to this idea. Not treating people with disabilities as equals. Makes me sick. Everyone needs to read this book. It blew me away with that insight alone.

I am also utterly sick that we will never know what happened to their dad. Did Eugene kill him? We will never know especially since she put the wrong passcode in the cell phone. I wouldn’t have done that. They don’t know who Eugene is because he wasn’t able to communicate with them. But Eugene knows them. That’s gut wrenching to me. What happened to him??

Tbh I think the happiness quotient part was unneeded in the story. That’s just my take.

He just wanted his daughter to have a good life. But the story isn’t able her. It’s able Eugene and him.

Also ACAB.

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annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective slow-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

i loved the narration. i understand why it isn't for everyone, but my brain works in the same way so i felt at home. i also appreciated how this book advocated much more strongly for the humanity of its characters with disabilities than Miracle Creek (Angie Kim's debut novel) did. and that it took place during covid times. my main issues were that, compared to Miracle Creek, the plot:

wasn't as gripping. it started to drag three-fourths of the way through, and i got fed up with all the cheap foreshadowing of the form "looking back, i wish [x] hadn't happened".
didn't feel as expertly-crafted. though i recognize that's kind of the point—
not all mysteries, especially missing person cases, have neat solutions; that's life
—it was still somewhat disappointing. i'm trying to
learn the lesson Mia did and
accept an open ending—
i choose to believe that her and John's mind-meld recreating the accident was a display of fraternal jeong, just the tiniest bit of magical realism.

nonetheless, this has cemented Angie Kim as an author on my radar, and i'm looking forward to her next book.

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caseythereader's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.75

Thanks to Hogarth Books for the free copy of this book.

- With HAPPINESS FALLS, Angie Kim once again gives us a page turner, this one a legal drama, missing person case and possible murder mystery all wrapped up together.
- I was so intrigued by Mia as the narrator of this story. She's bratty and bitter and thinks she knows everything (at first, at least). Her unique voice and the frequent detours to tell us important backstory made the book feel like a friend was relaying the story to the reader personally.
- There are some aspects of the book I wish were different - the pacing slowed way down in the second half, the footnotes felt mostly extraneous, etc. - but overall I was invested in the mystery.
- A through line of Kim's work is to make clear that disabled people are people, not childlike burdens to be pitied, which is sadly often rare in novels, especially mysteries and thrillers. I will be interested to see what disabled and neurodivergent readers have to say about this book, since I am neither of those things and neither is Kim, though she is the parent of a disabled child.

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savvyrosereads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

Out September 5, 2023! [Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!]

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

When her father unexpectedly goes missing and the only witness is her non-speaking teenage brother, Mia must confront secrets within her family in order to find out the truth.

I loved Angie Kim’s debut novel Miracle Creek, so Happiness Falls is one of my most anticipated releases of the year, and it did not let me down. If I had to pick one word to describe this book it would be “beautiful”—the storyline and character relationships are beautifully rendered, the prose is beautifully written, and the overall message of respect, autonomy, personal fulfillment, and happiness is beautifully communicated.

This is also one of those books that is so thought-provoking I am positive it will sit with me for a long while, and I am already looking forward to an inevitable reread and everything I will glean from a second look. For now, I thoroughly enjoyed the reflections on happiness and expectations we place on ourselves and others, as well as the frank and thoughtful look at disability and the lives and rights and intrinsic personhood of non-speaking individuals. I also loved Mia, and the infusion of humor into what is otherwise a very serious novel was unexpected but brilliantly (at risk of sounding like a broken record, *beautifully*) done. And finally, while I’m still skeptical of the use of the COVID-19 pandemic in novels, I thought this one infused the feeling of early-to-mid 2020 exceptionally well, and wove the pandemic into the plot line in a realistic and interesting way.

In short, if you are a fan of literary mysteries, reflections on family, immigration, neurodivergence and disability, and so much more, pick this one up as soon as you possibly can!

CW: Ableism; xenophobia; discussions of the pandemic; grief/loss (literally) of a parent; some police brutality (both on page and referenced)

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