A review by emungai
Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

First of all, I appreciated this book for shedding some light on a topic that I’ve really never heard of or thought about: namely, the experience of “nonspeakers” (people with disabilities that prevent them from expressing their ideas out loud) having a rich inner world but being treated like they aren’t intelligent just because they can’t express their ideas. Even though this book is a work of fiction, the author clearly based the nonspeaker character, Eugene, a fourteen-year old with autism and Angelman’s syndrome, on real-life research and data, and the result was an informative look into a world I’d never really encountered before. At the very least, this book is a valuable read simply due to its unique representation. I also found the novel a fast and compelling read, with the overarching mystery driving me to keep reading, and the philosophical bits pleasant (although fairly intuitive). The characters were endearing and unraveling the mystery was pretty satisfying. The reason why this didn’t get four stars from me, though, (which is my notation for a really good book - five stars are reserved for my very very very top picks) is because the ending felt like a let-down after the tension and suspense built up throughout the whole novel. Thematically, it was clearly appropriate -

having some uncertainty about whether or not Eugene’s version of events was fully true, and then having Mia decide to believe him, choosing to lay aside her habitual skepticism for the sake of the relationship, was a great choice for her character development, especially given her rocky relationship with Eugene and self-reportedly hating “ambiguous endings”

 - but the problem was that, after so much build-up, even the moment of “truth” was undercut by doubts. I would have preferred it if Kim had refrained from injecting doubt until immediately after the “moment of truth” - that way, the reader could experience catharsis, and THEN Mia could step in with her characteristic cynicism, sparking fresh interest.