Thank you PRH Audio for the ALC of Happiness Falls in exchange for my honest review. I purchased the print book for my own collection.
Publisher: Hogarth / Random House Audio
Published: August 29, 2023
Summary:
When a father goes missing, his family’s desperate search leads them to question everything they know about him and one another–both a riveting page-turner and a deeply moving portrait of a family in crisis from the award-winning author of Miracle Creek.
“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 thoughts:
This is the first book I’ve read by Angie Kim, though I do have her debut novel, Miracle Creek sitting on my shelf and after absolutely loving this one, I am moving that other up on my tbr immediately! I can’t believe I waited so long to read this author!!!
From the very first line, “We didn’t call the police right away,” I found myself swept up in this story – a story that is so much more than just about a missing person. Yes, it is about Mia’s father going missing but it is also a complicated family drama and I so love reading these types of stories. I loved how it is told from Mia’s perspective, though in full disclosure it does take a bit to get used to – all the foot notes and streams of consciousness. But once I did, I found myself totally immersed in her world as she struggles to put things right in a world that has just been turned upside down.
This story takes us on an emotional journey, giving us an eye-opening perspective of what it is like to be an immigrant in the US, how it feels to be part of a family with a non-verbal sibling, the question of what happiness is and how we find it all why still keeping the thread of what happened to Mia’s father always at the back of your mind. The twists and turns this one takes kept me completely engaged and I really had no idea where this was headed. It was such a beautifully written, thought-provoking read and I loved it!
I cannot wait to now pick up Miracle Creek and I know without a doubt this is a book I’ll be recommending to all!
Audio thoughts:
I ended up listening to this one and loved the narration. The narrators – Shannon Tyo, Sean Patrick Hopkins, and Thomas Pruyn – did an amazing job bringing this story to life. And I particularly loved hearing that, when listening to the author’s note at the end of the book, read by the author herself, the narrator Thomas Pruyn considers himself a non-speaker or an unreliable speaker – the perfect narrator for Eugune. When I first heard this, I literally got goosebumps. I loved that Thomas was willing to do this narration and I think he did an amazing job!
