Book Review: HAPPINESS FALLS by Angie Kim

 Title: HAPPINESS FALLS

Author:  Angie Kim

Read: September 2023

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

  

"We didn't call the police right away." Those are the first words of this extraordinary novel about a biracial Korean-American family in Virginia whose lives are upended when their beloved father and husband goes missing.

Mia, the irreverent, hyperanalytical twenty-year-old daughter, has an explanation for everything--which is why she isn't initially concerned when her father and younger brother Eugene don't return from a walk in a nearby park. They must have lost their phone. Or stopped for an errand somewhere. But by the time Mia's brother runs through the front door bloody and alone, it becomes clear that the father in this tight-knit family is missing and the only witness is Eugene, who has the rare genetic condition Angelman syndrome and cannot speak.

What follows is both a ticking-clock investigation into the whereabouts of a father and an emotionally rich portrait of a family whose most personal secrets just may be at the heart of his disappearance. Full of shocking twists and fascinating questions of love, language, race, and human connection, Happiness Falls is a mystery, a family drama, and a novel of profound philosophical inquiry. With all the powerful storytelling she brought to her award-winning debut Miracle Creek, Angie Kim turns the missing person story into something wholly original, creating an indelible tale of a family who must go to remarkable lengths to truly understand one another.

My musings:

 

I absolutely adored Angie Kim’s debut novel MIRACLE CREEK and couldn’t wait to read her latest book – and it was wonderful!

 

As in her debut, Kim’s latest story focuses on a Korean-American family whose youngest member is neuro-diverse and non-verbal. It is also a mystery of sorts, revolving around the disappearance of a father, but pigeonholing it into that genre would be a mistake, because it is so much more! Mia, the missing man’s highly intelligent, hyper-analytical 20-year old daughter is the first one to notice that something is wrong when her non-verbal brother Eugene comes running back from a walk with their father, visibly distressed and alone. But because he is unable to communicate, it takes the family a while to work out that Mia’s father Adam is missing. As Mia starts looking for clues that may lead to locating her father, she discovers that he has been keeping secrets from his family for a while – but what exactly was he hiding, and will the answers help them find him?

 

There were so many thought-provoking and intriguing themes in this story. Firstly, I had never heard of Angelman Syndrome, Eugene’s rare neurogenetic disorder that makes him unable to verbally communicate. Secondly, I found Adam’s theories about the happiness quotient simply fascinating – it all made so much sense! I had never thought about happiness and disappointment from such an analytical, logical viewpoint before. The little “experiments” Adam undertook to prove his point opened up endless possibilities and scenarios I pondered long after finishing the book, and I am still intrigued.

 

However, at the centre of the story lies family, and the love that binds us and will make us pull together to protect the weaker of the pack. Sometimes this can work against us, as in the case of Eugene, who is closely protected by his parents and siblings to a point where …. sorry, I can’t go there without giving spoilers! Let’s just say that it’s not until Adam tries something different that things drastically change for Eugene.

 

But I digress. Thirdly, there is the immigrant theme that Kim revisits in her latest book. Mia’s mother, a linguist, explains to her daughter how stupid she felt when she first moved to America, because she couldn’t adequately communicate in the foreign language. Whereas she was regarded as highly intelligent in her own country, her inadequacy in verbal fluency in English automatically marked her as dim-witted. How about people who, like her youngest child, are unable to communicate verbally?

 

Mia’s voice isn’t always an easy one to follow – she often comes across as bristly and abrasive, and her flights of thought can be tiring. And yet she makes the perfect protagonist to tell this story. There are footnotes to give us some background and context, and lots of foreshadowing warning us of things to come, but most compelling were Mia’s own interpretations of the clues her father left behind.

 

 Summary:

 

Thought provoking, emotionally charged and beautifully written, HAPPINESS FALLS kept me enthralled from the beginning to its heart-wrenching, powerful finale. And even though I felt completely emotionally wrung out at the end, I was sorry that it ended! Some of the themes will stay with me for a long time to come and I can’t wait to see what Angie Kim will come up with next.