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Happiness Falls: A Novel By Angie Kim

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Happiness Falls by Angie Kim is a "propulsive literary mystery" and family drama about a biracial Korean American family whose lives are upended when the father goes missing, and the only witness is h ...

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim is a "propulsive literary mystery" and family drama about a biracial Korean American family whose lives are upended when the father goes missing, and the only witness is his non-verbal, autistic teenage son. The novel explores themes of communication, bias, and the meaning of happiness as the family searches for the truth behind the disappearance.

Synopsis

The story is narrated by Mia Parkson, a hyper-analytical twenty-year-old home from college during the pandemic. Her life is thrown into chaos when her father, Adam, and fourteen-year-old brother, Eugene, who has Angelman syndrome and cannot speak, do not return from a walk in a nearby park. Eugene eventually runs home alone, bloody and distraught, but unable to communicate what happened. The family struggles to piece together events from fragments of evidence and cryptic notes left by Adam regarding a "Happiness Quotient" project. The investigation becomes a deep dive into family secrets and assumptions, particularly about Eugene's intelligence and ability to communicate, as the police struggle for leads and even view Eugene as a potential suspect.

Key Themes

Communication and Language: A central theme is the nature of communication and the assumption that verbal fluency equals intelligence. The novel challenges these biases, highlighting the struggles of non-speaking individuals and the different ways people connect.
Family Dynamics and Secrets: The crisis forces the family to confront long-held secrets, including the parents' near-divorce and the struggles of raising a neurodiverse child.
Bias and Perception: The narrative, told through Mia's first-person perspective, explores how personal biases and preconceived notions influence how we interpret events and people, including our own family members.
The Nature of Happiness: Adam's notes on "happiness quotients" and related philosophical inquiries run throughout the book, prompting the characters and readers to consider what happiness truly means and how it can be measured.
Disability Justice: The book sheds light on the experiences of individuals with disabilities like Angelman syndrome, advocating for the presumption of competence and challenging ableist assumptions in society and the justice system.

Reviews and Reception

Happiness Falls was an instant New York Times bestseller and a Good Morning America Book Club Pick. Reviewers praise it as a "brilliant, satisfying, compassionate mystery" that is both a gripping thriller and a thought-provoking family drama. Many found the portrayal of the family and the focus on communication to be impactful and unique, though some noted Mia's hyper-analytical narration could be tedious at times. Overall, the book is considered an intelligent and emotionally rich read that "will change the way you think".

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Last updated: 6 months ago

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