A review by melodyseestrees
Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

mysterious reflective 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? Yes

3.25

There are so many frustrating elements to this story, especially the ending. The character motivations seemingly make sense but the character actions do not necessarily match up quite right. There are many questions in the latter half of the book but don't hold your breath and wait for all the answers.
Mia goes 'eh, I don't care to know' and erases any evidence that was on her presumed deceased father's phone.
The end pacing also did not match up with how the rest of the story had been. A good portion of the dialogue around Eugene felt microaggression level ableist at best, though the surprise therapist at the end had the best dialogue with Eugene. Perhaps this is realistic but something about it felt off. This led to the rating falling from the expected 4 to a 3.25.
The edition I had did 'footnote' information in a jarring and disruptive way to the reading experience. Some whole pages had maybe a paragraph of information to them in an italicized font that was frustrating to read. These thoughts of Mia's surely could have been worked into the actual text as a mark of who she is as a person. 
There were a few characters who appeared, did maybe two actions, and then disappeared never to be seen again
looking at you unhinged lady in the park with pepper spray and supposedly existing band of teenage boys
. There were plot beats that were dropped.
We saw hints and part of the lead officer having seemingly faked one or two injuries in previous cases but this played very little in the hearing against Eugene for hurting her.
The notebook revealing that Mia's father was running experiments on his family, having no exploration done into it. Was he really just writing notes to himself? Was he writing a paper? Was he as unhinged as park pepper spray lady? We'll never know!
The police, having access to the same information as Mia not putting together the unlock code, as all of that info came from the notebook they were scanning and sending to Mia. Can police even do that during an active investigation?
Harmonee's backstory being sort of explained despite her having very little to do with the story. The perspective of familial trauma given was interesting but never really led anywhere. One could argue that whole history didn't need to be spelled out since it amounted to John was special cuz he looked white, Mia was treated like she was dumb because she didn't look white, Eugene witnessed a death firsthand, John and Mia learned how to whisper yell.

This book felt like it was trying to fit several stories into one- Harmonee's story, Mia's dad's story, Eugene's story, and Mia's memoir.
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