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.
HAPPINESS FALLS
Angie Kim
I really enjoyed listening to HAPPINESS FALLS this month and highly recommend it!
In HAPPINESS FALLS we are following Mia. Well, we are following Mia’s family but we’re seeing through the eye of our narrator, Mia. Mia’s dad is missing. The last person to see him and the only person who knows where he is cannot bear witness. And truly, that is just the beginning of what we’re talking about in HAPPINESS FALLS. It’s about much more.
As the search begins and time goes on, with Mia’s dad still missing you as the reader, go through level after level of understanding. At first, you know little, and by the end, you know more, but not quite as much as you want.
My first thoughts were…wow- this is easy to read and listen to. The narrator’s performance in HAPPINESS FALLS is flawless. Mia’s character is narrated by Shannon Tyo, who has narrated a plethora of audiobooks. The narrator’s performances were a big part of my enjoyment of the book. I highly recommend the audiobook format if you decide to pick it up.
The suspense for most of the time reading was high. I couldn’t stop listening and several times lost track of time and other responsibilities because I had to keep reading. The concepts in HAPPINESS FALLS were very interesting. I felt like reading this book was lighting up more pathways in my brain than usual.
I was rapidly taking notes, proposing theories to myself, and collecting clues and data to confirm my theories. It was such a fun escape.
Thanks to Penguin Random House Audio for the advanced listening copy!
HAPPINESS FALLS…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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