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A review by joyceheinen
Happiness Falls by Angie Kim
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
When Mia’s younger brother Eugene comes back home alone from a walk with their dad, she doesn’t think much of it. He is probably behind. But when her mom and her twin brother John return home, questions start arising. Their dad is clearly missing. And nothing is at it seem. The only person who knows what happened is Eugene, but he has a rare condition called Angelman syndrome, he cannot speak.
“Happiness Falls” is not your standard mystery. The book focuses on the characters, the family we follow in this book.
The story is told through the perspective of twenty-year-old Mia, the daughter of the Korean-American Park family. Mia is not a typical narrator, nor is this a typical family. The building and exploring of these characters is the heart of the book. If you’re not a character driven reader, this book may not be for you. I’m not either, most of the time, but the way this story was told did captivate me. And the mystery is one I wanted to see solved. But still, I would have loved it more when I did enjoy character driven books more.
The novel goes in several different directions, because Mia and her family also do some investigating of their own. And the way Angie Kim treated the character of Eugene was so beautiful. I never heard about Angelman syndrome before. I read, from people who are more familiar with this condition, that Kim was very respectful about it.
I really liked this book, but never got to the point of loving it.
“Happiness Falls” is not your standard mystery. The book focuses on the characters, the family we follow in this book.
The story is told through the perspective of twenty-year-old Mia, the daughter of the Korean-American Park family. Mia is not a typical narrator, nor is this a typical family. The building and exploring of these characters is the heart of the book. If you’re not a character driven reader, this book may not be for you. I’m not either, most of the time, but the way this story was told did captivate me. And the mystery is one I wanted to see solved. But still, I would have loved it more when I did enjoy character driven books more.
The novel goes in several different directions, because Mia and her family also do some investigating of their own. And the way Angie Kim treated the character of Eugene was so beautiful. I never heard about Angelman syndrome before. I read, from people who are more familiar with this condition, that Kim was very respectful about it.
I really liked this book, but never got to the point of loving it.