A review by seventhswan
Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

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

0.75

This book honestly hurt to read. It gets one thing right - that disabled people, including people with intellectual disabilities and nonspeaking people, invariably have thoughts, feelings, and opinions that matter and shouldn't be discounted. If the story had consisted of Eugene learning to use another form of AAC, I'd have no issue with it - but Facilitated Communication is harmful pseudoscience. As soon as I realised that was where this story was going I was hugely put off.

Otherwise, the narrator, Mia, is insufferable, her brother and mother are two-dimensional, and there are so many random plot points that are mentioned once and are never relevant again. There is a totally inexplicable paragraph about the rape of children during war. The criminal justice system works the same way it does in Law and Order. The narrative voice felt very YA despite this being, as far as I can tell, intended as adult fiction. 

I almost never leave a 1* review because it feels unkind and I don't usually finish books I seriously dislike. But after seeing this book promoted so heavily on Goodreads and elsewhere I felt I had to provide a different perspective. 
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