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kotletka_polina's review
dark
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? It's complicated
4.25
It was not what I expected. This book leaned more towards literally fiction despite the premise being set as a thriller/mystery. The open ending is very anticlimactic giving that the resolution seemed so close.
But I liked this book. Even though it has too much yapping at times, I really sympathised with the characters, feeling what they were feeling at that moment: rage and infuriation at their fathers’s secrets, nervousness and suspicion with each new peace of information revealed. I even found the narrator relatable somehow.
Even though it’s not the vibe I expected to get I still pretty much enjoyed it. Read the entire book in a couple of sittings without getting tired of complicated vocabulary (English isn’t my first language). It brings awareness to numerous important subjects and highlights issues I hadn’t paid enough attention before. I liked this book more than I expected.
But I liked this book. Even though it has too much yapping at times, I really sympathised with the characters, feeling what they were feeling at that moment: rage and infuriation at their fathers’s secrets, nervousness and suspicion with each new peace of information revealed. I even found the narrator relatable somehow.
Even though it’s not the vibe I expected to get I still pretty much enjoyed it. Read the entire book in a couple of sittings without getting tired of complicated vocabulary (English isn’t my first language). It brings awareness to numerous important subjects and highlights issues I hadn’t paid enough attention before. I liked this book more than I expected.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, Ableism, Medical content, Grief, Racism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Rape and War
alexisgarcia's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
3.5
the more i think about this book, the less i like it. i think i like the premise and this was a book i couldn’t really put down. but the writing was definitely pretty clunky and the narrator was pretty irritating. there were a ton of aspects of the characters and plot that didn’t get flushed out. none of the characters felt well-rounded and almost all of them were incredibly unlikable. also i hated the ending. i think it’s hard for authors to get away with an unresolved ending, and this one definitely did not get away with it. also i wasn’t willing to believe that they had no clue that Eugene could spell or have any intelligible thoughts at all. how do you spend all day and night with him without getting an inkling about it. at that point it just feels like blatant negligence and abuse. there were also so many parts of the plot that were convoluted and pretentious. idk, i did like a lot of this but there was also a lot that disappointed me too. also, i am BEGGING authors to stop putting covid in the background of their books when that is not apart of the main plot at all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Racism, Car accident, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Ableism, Death of parent, Cursing, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship
_david_'s review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
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? It's complicated
4.0
The book starts of with a cliché (a witness that cannot speak), but do not worry and stick with it, it's handled very well. I really appreciated the author's sensitive and thoughful portrayal of nonspeaking characters. It's clear that she researched and spoke to people who are nonspeaking themselves about it. This care is also evident in the author's notes and acknowledgments.
The main character shows some bad behavious: making quick assumptions, speaking around a nonspeaking character instead of to them, and just acting as a general teenager. However, the future main character, whose POV we're following, calls her past self out on it and voices her shame. In general I feel like Mia would've made more sense as a teenager than someone in college/uni.
The author's background in philosophy shines through, especially in the exploration of happiness. It's clearly written by someone with an academic background.
The ending left a positive lasting impression. I'm sure I will think back on it often during the rest of my life.
The reason that I'm giving the book 4 stars instead of 5 is because the writer POV often annoyed me with her perspective. I specifically refer to all the moments which said something along the lines of "but with the information I know now, why [odd thing] happened made sense" without any further explanation. It happened too much and sometimes for relatively minor occurrences. It disrupted the flow of the story and was hard to take serious after a while. A small point that I disliked but not enough to affect the score, that only Mia, Adam (the dad) and Eugene were well rounded characters. Hannah (the mother) and especially John were quite flat eventhough they were very important to the story.
The main character shows some bad behavious: making quick assumptions, speaking around a nonspeaking character instead of to them, and just acting as a general teenager. However, the future main character, whose POV we're following, calls her past self out on it and voices her shame. In general I feel like Mia would've made more sense as a teenager than someone in college/uni.
The author's background in philosophy shines through, especially in the exploration of happiness. It's clearly written by someone with an academic background.
The ending left a positive lasting impression. I'm sure I will think back on it often during the rest of my life.
The reason that I'm giving the book 4 stars instead of 5 is because the writer POV often annoyed me with her perspective. I specifically refer to all the moments which said something along the lines of "but with the information I know now, why [odd thing] happened made sense" without any further explanation. It happened too much and sometimes for relatively minor occurrences. It disrupted the flow of the story and was hard to take serious after a while. A small point that I disliked but not enough to affect the score, that only Mia, Adam (the dad) and Eugene were well rounded characters. Hannah (the mother) and especially John were quite flat eventhough they were very important to the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Racism, Violence, War, Death, Police brutality, Ableism, Bullying, Rape, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abandonment, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Car accident, Xenophobia, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Colonisation, and Mental illness
Minor: Dementia, Classism, Toxic relationship, and Cancer
jocelyn62013's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Death of parent, and Ableism
Moderate: Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, and Violence
Minor: War and Rape
katrinarose's review
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
After reading the masterpiece Miracle Creek in 2022, this was my most anticipated book for 2023, and Angie Kim did not disappoint. She has such a skill for writing a mystery that has intrigue and suspense without neglecting great character development, prose, and interesting themes/discussion, which is a problem I have with most mystery books I read. While this book was never scary, the way the narration references things that come later (saying things like “if I only knew at that moment”) builds suspense very effectively.
I have to say my favorite part of this book are the characters, specifically the members of the family. Each one is so unique, and have such dynamic realistic relationships with each other. I love the flashbacks and asides that help us get to know them. Mia is probably the most realistic yet unique 20 year old character I’ve ever read about. So often adult authors seem to forget what young adults act like and Mia is a perfect blend of mature yet impulsive, intensely thoughtful yet still learning how to slow down and apply nuance, hard-headed yet soft. I can see how she may come across as annoying to some readers but I loved her personality. And her parents are given equal nuance which is often left out in young-adult narrated stories.
I don’t have any major complaints but I do think the mystery itself was the weaker part of the book, which doesn’t sound great but everything surrounding it is so well done that it didn’t matter to me. I’m so looking forward to anything else this author publishes!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content and Ableism
Moderate: Racism and Death of parent
Minor: Cancer, Rape, and Blood
hinkleh's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism and Death of parent
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Rape and Medical content
mysterymom40's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Medical content, Grief, Ableism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Racism, and Bullying
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.
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
caseythereader's review against another edition
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.
- 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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death of parent, Police brutality, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, and Grief
Moderate: Cancer and Racism
Minor: Suicide and Rape
ktdakotareads's review
dark
reflective
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Racism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Cancer, and Medical content
Minor: Car accident
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