Happiness Falls
By Angie Kim
Hogarth, 9780593448205, August 2023, 400 pp.
The Short of It:
Unfortunately, this one didn’t pull me in.
The Rest of It:
It started off very strong. A close-knit family with a special needs son. A brother, a sister and mom and dad. All, trying hard to find some way to communicate with fourteen year old Eugene after he returns home in a panicked state without his father.
What happened? Calls are immediately made but go unanswered. What about their possessions? Eugene is completely unable to provide an explanation.
The family immediately contacts the police. Was there an accident? After some preliminary search some items are found but in water and damaged. How did it get to the bottom of a stream? What about the notebook they found with the words Happiness Quotient? What was dad working on?
The author does a good job of presenting enough information to keep it interesting. But the communication research that takes place in preparation to communicate with Eugene pulled me out of the story.
There are cause and effect charts, and just a lot of small findings that lead up to the surprising conclusion. I felt that the story lost its way mid-point. The family’s frustration and their inability to really get along make it a tense reading experience.
Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.
Book Chatter 
I liked this authors first book butIvstruggled with this one a bit.
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It seems like this one couldn’t decide if it was a novel or a nonfiction study on happiness. Maybe it needed to pick one.
I was pulled in by the story as I had an autistic nephew who died a long time ago. At the time the research on autism was minimal and I was devastated after reading this book on new research to think that he might have been cognizant of things around him all along, even though he couldn’t communicate with us and seemed out of it. For this reason, this was one of my favorite books of the year. Have a great new year of books that you enjoy.
Harvee at https://bookdilettante.blogspot.com/
I haven’t read anything by this author, but had this marked as one that I want to try. I think I’ll skip it, having read your thoughts. Thanks for your honest review, Ti.
I read the author’s previous book and liked it. She does tackle some interesting issues. I’m fairly certain that I already have it on my Kindle, but haven’t checked. Will likely try it and if it’s not for me, I’ll move on. Enjoyed your thoughts, Ti. Happy New Year – been thinking about you and praying.
I haven’t read this but I can see how you could be pulled out of the story.
I guess I didn’t like her first novel so I decided not to go for her second novel either. I’m in the minority I’m sure.
I didn’t love her first one either.