If I’m honest, all I want to tell you before picking this up is that Angie Kim can tell a story, and can tell a story EXTREMELY well. The fact it’s written by Angie Kim should be enough for you to pick up a copy

Many thanks to Net Galley an Faber and Faber Ltd for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
What happened to Adam Parson? He left the house in the morning with his son Eugene who is autistic and has angelman syndrome, non verbal, they were heading to the park, part of their daily routine. Eugene returns home alone, there is blood on his clothing, he is disheveled and upset. Very soon the police are involved and an investigation is launched. This is difficult for everyone to negotiate as Eugene is non verbal.
Adam is a stay at home father and Eugene has older twin siblings Mia and John. Mia is telling the story, no detail is left out, everything is explained in detail, a lot of facts included and for me this spoiled the book and made it a tedious read in places. I did enjoy some parts of the story and especially Eugene’s triumph at learning to communicate with his family with the help of aids and then his family realising that Eugene has a lot to contribute to their family life, his siblings and mum now seeing him.
I found the footnotes at the end of the long chapters to be boring and rather pointless.
The mystery behind what happened to their father is eventually pieced together somewhat, though open to the readers interpretation..
I did struggle with this book and considering abandoning the read a few times, however, I am glad I persevered.

I thought this was an ok book. Personally for me, it didn't live up to the hype, but I didn't hate it. It started off quite strong but by the halfway mark I was a bit bored and didn't really feel the urge to pick it back up again.

Eugene went for their usual hiking with his dad, Adam Parson, but this time, only Eugene managed to get back home. He arrived home and ran frantically with blood under his fingernails. Mia assumed that their dad arrived home too, when she heard footsteps approaching home not long after Eugene.
 
But no, their dad never arrived home, he was missing, and only Eugene knew what happened to their dad. However, with Eugene's limited communication, he couldn't provide the answer they seek.(Eugene was diagnosed with autism and Angelman syndrome).
In the process of trying to find Adam, the family will find the secret that Adam had been keeping from his family of what he had tried to do together with Eugene.

This book isn't a light read. It's full of philosophy, and it's full of research notes and experiments about Happiness Quotient. Through this book, I also learned about the communication methods for non-verbal children.
This book has a lot of footnotes, I don't usually read footnotes, but I did for this book.

Angie Kim's novel is both a fascinating missing person's mystery and a heartwarming exploration of family, identity and happiness within a biracial family. Her writing is profoundly analytical to the point of slowing down the narrative but her ideas are always engaging and entertaining. I feel that many of her philosophical and psychological musings would be better placed in a collection of essays rather than overwhelming the plot of this novel. On the whole this is an enjoyable, thought-provoking read.
Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy to review

This book started with such promise. I was drawn in from the opening sentence and wanted to read on to see where the narrative would go and what would happen.

Although this is a great book in general, and I've read a lot of reviews from readers who have really enjoyed it, I believe I'm in the minority that found it to be somewhat disappointing.

I thought the scientific speculations on the "Happiness Quotient" that weighed down a large portion of the book overshadowed the remaining plot points.
Likewise, with MFC Mia and her penchant to veer off topic on almost anything. She would constantly have a narrative or scenario about EVERYTHING (it made me think of "This one time at band camp"), which didn't really add to the story and instead pulled you away from the one you were trying to follow. All in all, I found her to be a rather tiresome character.
Towards the end of the book, I also started skimming her footnotes because it seemed like they had nothing to do with the main plot.

If you take out the parts I didn't like, the main plot of the novel remains a good read. It did take me longer to read than usual because it was too slow with all the additional details to make me want to keep reading.

I did think some of the subjects that were focal points of the book were written very well;
Such as the family's experience of being treated differently as a biracial family in both America and Korea.
But most notably, the sections concerning Eugene, the youngest child with autism and Angelman syndrome who is also non-verbal, stand out the most. I felt that this was a really good method to bring attention to it, especially the sections that discussed the many ways that Eugene was treated by strangers, professionals, experts, and members of his own family.

Thank you to @netgalley and @faberbooks for a #gifted eARC in exchange for my review

Her second novel, Happiness Falls (2024) by Angie Kim is a missing person’s mystery tale and heartfelt family drama. It begins with Eugene, a young nonverbal boy on the spectrum running home and pushing his older sister Mia to the ground, unaware their father has failed to return from their morning walk. It's not until later that afternoon when the police attend the family’s home to investigate a nearby neighbourhood car accident that the father is reported missing. Initially, the police’s focus is on the family dynamics and events leading up to the father’s disappearance. Narrated by Mia the daughter, she reveals how a series of events and choices complicate the family’s life with unintended consequences. An integrated multi-layered story based on a missing father unfolds with insight into family dynamics, disability, biracial culture, policing methods and emotional quotient aspects. A not-to-be-missed, truly engaging and readable crime mystery that is so much more that forms a truly pleasurable five stars rating. With thanks to Faber and Faber Ltd and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without inducement.

I liked this book from the outset but found it lacked pace. This was a crying shame as it showed real promise in setting up a storyline with intrigue and suspense. Disappointed it didn't follow through.

Mia is a 20-year old college student back living at home with her parents, twin brother John and younger brother Eugene, who is considered nonverbal. Then her dad, Adam, goes missing and the only witness is Eugene.

The central plots here are really intriguing and engaging. As the mystery of Adam’s disappearance is unravelled we begin to learn more about the family but especially about Eugene. Eugene has autism and Angelman Syndrome and I thought his arc was beautifully told and absolutely heartbreaking.

There were some things I didn’t really get on with, I found Mia grating as the voice of the book and the constant foreshadowing/interjections wore pretty thin. I also had very little interest in the happiness quotient stuff, I can see how it was used to give another dimension to their dad but I found it dull.

Once I got into this, around the 25% mark, I didn’t want to put it down and read the rest of it over the course of an afternoon. I’m happy (lol) to overlook a few little annoyances because for the most part this was great.

An interesting read. A story that takes place in a 24hr period. When a man goes missing whilst with his young non-verbal son, Mia and her brother Jon must find out what happened. I love the racial themes throughout. Not much happens, I wouldn’t call this a riveting page turner but it’s a beautifully written story packed with character development. I really enjoyed Kim’s writing.

The story line was interesting but delivery was slow. and I could not wait to move on to my next The plot is a based around a non verbal teenager with autism and AS. He returns from his daily walk without his father and due to his medical issues the disappearance takes a long time to be reported. In all honest, I could not wait to move on to my next read.

Angie Kim’s second novel Happiness Falls is a mystery novel revolving around a missing father but it tries to be much more than that. By doing a kind of bait and switch but also going down a few too many rabbit holes, Kim sometimes loses the thread of the actual mystery.
Mia Parkson narrates the story of Happiness Falls from a remove. This allows her to analyse everything that happens to her and her family and point out where things went wrong. This is no more so than in the first chapter when her father Adam goes missing but she does not raise the alarm because of a series of assumptions about what happened that day which she takes the reader through. Mia’s father disappeared while out with her fourteen-year-old brother Eugene. Eugene has autism and a condition called Angleman’s Syndrome and is considered to be “non-verbal” meaning he cannot communicate verbally. Eugene came home on the day that his father disappeared with bloodstained clothes which Mia immediately washed and then experiences misunderstanding from the police who misunderstand his attempts to communicate with them. As part of the investigation, Mia is given access to her father’s notebook in which he chronicles experiments on his family to determine a way of measuring relative ‘happiness’.
At its core, Happiness Falls is a call for greater understanding of disability and in particular conditions that impact on the ability to communicate. Mia herself slowly comes to the realisation that her brother understands much more than she believed and that he might be frustrated and angry about the fact that she does not realise this or appreciate his attempts to communicate with her. And part of the driver of the plot is the actions of a charlatan who took the family’s money while faking that communication. This aspect also leads the novel into some very ambiguous and potentially dark places.
The problem is that Happiness Falls tries to do much more than this. The focus on Adam’s research into happiness while interesting detract from the overall story. And at best it throws Adam into a particularly poor light given he was actively experimenting on his children.
Happiness Falls is an ambitious novel that does not quite meet those ambitions. The mystery set-up gives the whole enterprise some narrative drive but it is not quite enough to overcome the amount of analysis and exposition on communication techniques with young people with autism and research into how to measure happiness. But what Kim does extremely well is put a strong case for having high expectations of children who need to communicate in a non-standard way. That people should not assume that an inability to communicate is commensurate with an inability to understand or to reason. And while with this realisation comes some uncomfortable suspicions in this story, that just makes it seem more believable.

I honestly don’t think I’ve ever read a book and just thought, Wow. The stand out for me is the writing, which is great. The story is a rollercoaster, ups and downs with enough twists and turns to keep the pacing tight. This tale of a family unravelling, coupled with all the meticulous research into the medical conditions used in the story, was just breathtaking. These felt like fully formed real characters. The ending is just perfect and I can’t wait to read from this author again.

This book is utterly mind-blowing, I devoured it, page by page, as it told its story, taught me things, made me question things, and pulled at my heartstrings.

I’m not going to summarise what this book is about because any summary would do a disservice to it. Please just trust me when I tell you that you won’t regret reading it. It is, without a doubt, the best thing I’ve read in a long time.

Mia’s father fails to return from a hike with her brother, Eugene, who has autism and Angelman syndrome and is non-verbal. There is a delay in calling the police due to a misunderstanding, and Eugene is unable to tell anyone what happened. Has there been an accident, perhaps invoving Eugene, or had their father planned to disappear, and if so why? As Mia, her twin brother and her mother struggle to find out what happened, they come to a deeper understanding of themselves and each other, but also come under threat as suspicions grow. I have mixed feelings about this book. The mystery was intriguing and the characters well drawn. I enjoyed the insight into living with a special needs child and how not being able to communicate with others, in this case particularly through language, can have a huge psychological impact, whether this is through disability or through coming from a different country. I enjoyed the academic/philosophical approach much less, and actually found the musings on measuring happiness a distraction from the main story. I also found the constant foreshadowing of things and hints of conspiracy amongst the police and other witnesses a bit annoying. Overall though, an interesting story that got me thinking.

Instantly absorbing - I loved the writing style, connected with the characters, and was gripped by the story as it unfolded. The neurodiversity information too was genuinely fascinating - I’m also guilty of judging humans by their perceived intelligence, and hadn’t considered this might be down to physical skills rather than mental ability. Really thought provoking

I was hooked from the first to the last page, a very interesting little novel and i can't review it without talking about that gorgeous GORGEOUS COVER !

Like in Miracle Creek, Angie Kim uses Happiness Falls for social commentary – this time with a focus on happiness, language, oral fluency and intelligence. Mia Parkson is our narrator: her father has gone missing and the last person to see him is Eugene, her younger teenage brother who is ‘non-verbal’ and has autism and mosaic Angelman's Syndrome, rendering him unable to speak and thus making it more difficult to communicate. When she discovers Eugene’s blood-stained clothing and dried blood under his fingernails, thus begins a mystery of what happened to their father. The only person who might know what really happened is Eugene, but how can they get him to tell what happened to his father?

I enjoyed Happiness Falls for the social commentary and engaging characters. Mia is a little annoying, but serves as an excellent protagonist for displaying common human traits. Her innermost thoughts ruminate what it means to be a daughter, sister, twin, and questioner of her own family. There’s a running conversation on happiness and, more specifically, the ‘Happiness Quotient’, something Mia’s father was researching before his disappearance. Personally, this added an extra science-y layer to the book that kept taking me out of the main narrative and ultimately I found this to get in the way of my overall enjoyment.

I often request books based on other people’s reviews or if it has appeared on multiple best of lists. Such is the case with this book. Unfortunately it didn’t gel with me and I am not sure whether it’s because I took so long to read it, or I took so long to read it because it didn’t grab me.
The story centres around the disappearance of Mia’s father. The only witness to what happened is her younger brother, Eugene, who is non verbal and has Autism and Angel man syndrome, As the family look for their father and husband, cracks begin to appear when they uncover new truths about him, for one he had had a cancer diagnosis and not told them and the big one he had been able to communicate with Eugene via letters board.
With all the glowing reviews of this novel it is left me feeling a bit stupid. There apparently was a twist too which I didn’t and still don’t see?

I absolutely LOVED this book and I am so happy this is my last read of the year. What a way to finish 365 days of amazing literature. I was completely gripped from the first line and couldn't stop reading until the very end. Elements of mystery / thriller atmosphere but also a lot on languages, immigration, communication, identity, selfhood, sense of belonging, family. I learnt so much and yet reading Happiness Falls was the purest experience of escapism. Can't wait to have it on our shelves at the bookshop to put it in everyone's hands.