Angie Kim | Book Chatter

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.

Miracle Creek
By Angie Kim
Sarah Crichton Books, 9780374156022, April 2019, 368pp.

The Short of It:

I do not know what I thought this book was about before reading it but I certainly didn’t think it was about a hyperbaric oxygen therapy accident.

The Rest of It:

I simplified that blurb a little because Miracle Creek opens with a terrible accident but then quickly turns into a court room drama, a mystery, a story with an immigration thread and even a bit of scandal.

Young, Pak, and their teen daughter Mary, run a hyperbaric oxygen therapy business that they call Miracle Submarine. Adults and children, enter the chamber to partake of its healing properties. On this particular day, the normal group enters but there is a terrible explosion which kills one adult and one, autistic child, Henry. The accident leaves several other injured as well.

It’s believed that Elizabeth set the fire which caused the oxygen tanks to explode. Elizabeth being the mother of Henry. The prosecution believes that she wanted her child dead, due to his burdening care. This triggers all kinds of thoughts about the care for special need kids.

The story bounces between characters. Who did it? Who set the fire? Why? Many of the witnesses are lying but for different reasons. In all honesty, this story was difficult to get through. There is a lot of back and forth and even though it revolves around just a handful of characters, I had to keep reminding myself who they were.

However, the ending… the ending was beautiful and sad and left me with thoughts about how hard it would be to care for a special needs child. How hard it is for people from other countries to make a living here. How hard it is to fit in. So I think in the end, I liked it much more than I thought I would.

I read this for my book club discussion which was cancelled due to social distancing but we may try to meet via Zoom so we can discuss it. Have you read it?

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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