Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

82 reviews

jialianyang's review

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. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Ableism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Racism, Infidelity, War, Kidnapping, Xenophobia, Cancer, and Panic attacks/disorders

kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Xenophobia, and Racism

sariereads's review

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Ableism, Racism, and Hate crime

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape and Police brutality

noladawnreads's review

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Death of parent, and Ableism

Moderate: Cancer, Car accident, Bullying, and Racism

Minor: Police brutality, Suicide, and Rape

emily_pns's review

emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

Unique perspective on special needs families, a topic I am not at all familiar with. Especially how it can intersect with immigration. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Suicide and Cancer

Minor: Rape and Racism

kimveach's review

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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Ableism, Medical content, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Cursing, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship

evawondergem's review

challenging emotional informative 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism

anniesbookpicks's review

challenging emotional informative mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Bullying

soobooksalot's review

emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective 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

It's somewhat ironic that a book dealing with communication is hard to describe. 
At it's base, Happiness Falls by Angie Kim is a missing-persons story. But it's so, so much more.
The story is uniquely told by 20-year-old Mia, a Korean-American whose father Adam goes missing while in a park with her brother Eugene.
Eugene is nonspeaking, being afflicted with both autism and Angelman syndrome. Gathering information about Adam's disappearance proves a challenge.
We as readers come to know so many details about the Parson-Park family from Mia's perspective - not only of Adam and Eugene, but also her twin brother John and mother Hannah. Their family history, their challenges and backstories.
The story takes place during the height of Covid, which serves as a parallel to being closed off from others, and finding alternate methods of relating and communication. 
While there is a mystery to uncover in Happiness Falls, it's ultimately a story of acceptance, diversity, connection, and what can make us truly happy.
It's a book to be experienced - recommended! (And also her debut Miracle Creek, if you haven't already read it.)

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Bullying, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death of parent, Grief, Ableism, Cancer, and Death

jj_tj's review

emotional mysterious 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Ableism

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Bullying, Suicide, and Cancer