I didn't see how Angie Kim could do better than her earlier book, MIRACLE CREEK. But I'm happy to tell you she did. I'm amazed with HAPPINESS FALLS and in more ways than one.

Mia tells the story that begins with her missing father. During her family's search for him, they learn many partial truths. Did they really know him as well as they thought?

Even more so, this book is about Eugene, Mia's younger brother. He is autistic and also has Angelman syndrome, which is so misunderstood both in this story and in real life. They did not know Eugene as well as they thought.

HAPPINESS FALLS deals not only with a missing father but, also, a suspect brother who cannot communicate. In so doing it amazes as it takes on many issues and surprising twists.

And in the end, is there really a determination?

This review is of an advanced copy of HAPPINESS FALLS.

I enjoyed how it was written and the exploration of human intetaction.

Happiness Falls, Angie Kim, author; Angie Kim, Shannon Tyo, Sean Patrick Hopkins, Thomas Pruyn, narrators
At first glance, I wondered, is Happiness Falls a place, a waterfall, a tourist attraction? Did the title mean happiness was diminishing or was it a place of happiness? As I began to read, I learned that Adam Parson was conducting experiments to determine happiness levels. Were those with the least expectations, the least stressed, thus, the happiest? Did those with the lowest aspirations ever achieve higher goals or did they reach for the sky anyway? Could low expectations bring greater happiness without the loss of achieving those higher goals? Was it possible to measure happiness and reactions in numerical terms to gauge them?
Adam Parson was a house husband since his wife Hannah had returned to work. Every morning, he would hike to River Falls Park with his son Eugene. Eugene suffered from Angelman Syndrome and Autism. Angelman Syndrome was passed on genetically. Eugene could not speak and was not well coordinated which led to his having uncoordinated movements. He often jumped continuously to relieve his stress. He smiled a lot and sometimes laughed and screamed at inappropriate times while looking very happy. His facial expressions often had nothing to do with his emotional response. How happy was he?
Hannah, Eugene’s mother, was a Korean immigrant. She still spoke with an accent. She was now the major breadwinner and Adam was the major caregiver to the three children, Eugene, fourteen-years-old, and Mia and John who were 20-year-old fraternal twins. The twins were also suspected of having some neurological impairment. John might be suffering from mild ADHD. Mia was suspected of having Aspergers. John was the more conciliatory twin, easier to get along with, and more socially adept. Mia was highly intelligent, had a black boyfriend, Vic, and was always thinking, analyzing, and questioning everything. She was very intelligent, but often jumped to the wrong conclusions. Mia is the narrator of this story.
On June 23, 2020, Mia observed her brother running helter-skelter down the street, oblivious to the traffic, and actually causing a car crash. His sudden appearance startled her. Eugene should not have been alone, because no one thought he would be able to find his way back home. Mia knew that her father would never have left him, and therefore, she assumed he would soon appear behind him. That assumption interfered with the initiation of an investigation into her father’s whereabouts. Adam Parson never came home and was declared officially missing. Because Eugene came home muddy and bloody, but could not tell anyone what had happened, Mia understood he could be a suspect. He would not be able to communicate and explain. Once again, she interfered in the investigation. She told him to clean up and she washed his clothing. She believed she was doing the right thing, but was she? Was she hiding evidence that might have helped to find her dad? Was she protecting her brother at all costs, regardless of the condition of her dad? How far would you go in similar circumstances. Mia’s mom Hannah, and her brother John, also hoped to protect Eugene, believing he was incapable of helping himself. He was the last person to be with his father, and he was panicked. As the only person that could explain what had happened, the situation was difficult and dangerous for him. Did he deliberately harm his father? Was he a danger to himself and others? Did law enforcement and social services behave appropriately when questioning him?
When a video seemed to indicate that Adam, Eugene and Eugene’s new speech therapist, Anjeli Rapari, were at the park together on that fateful day, the conspiracy theories exploded. Who was Anjeli Rapari? She and Adam appeared to be missing together. Were they having an affair? Had Adam run away with her? Would whatever happened in the park on that fateful day point to Eugene‘s involvement in violence, or would it exonerate him? Could Eugene have hurt his father in frustration or anger or disappointment? There were so many uncovered secrets that it was hard to come to a logical answer. Misdirection, misperceptions, misconceptions, misunderstandings, misjudgments, and mistakes, seemed to be the order of the day. Everyone, the family, the detectives, the social services were all jumping to different conclusions. Finally, Shannon, the lawyer, seemed to be able to analyze the situation logically and laid out her ideas on how to proceed to best protect Eugene. They were so concerned about Eugene that they put Adam on the back burner. Would they be happy if he was no longer a suspect? Would they then focus on Adam? How would they feel if he was found? Here was a real-life example of Adam’s very study of the idea of a happiness quotient.
The Idea of measuring emotional responses to determine happiness was not the only theme in this novel. Race relations and immigration issues were also front and center since Adam was white and Hannah was Korean. The acceptance of those who were different was also a major theme. Mia, John and Eugene were biracial. They also suffered from various ranges of neurological disorders or learning disabilities and were subject to being bullied. LGBTQ+ issues were also included. Anjeli’s fiancée was Zoe, a female. Interracial relationships were raised since Mia’s boyfriend Vic was black. Then there was the issue of civil rights and freedom of speech, since Eugene’s speech impairment impeded the investigation. How should it be conducted to represent him fairly? In addition, speech was sometimes abused by Mia who spoke too much and often too sharply, putting her foot in her mouth with no way to take back her words or their implications. Hannah spoke with an accent, and was subject to ridicule. Anjeli, who spoke with a gentleness that didn’t threaten was the least stressful of the characters pointing out the importance of the nuances of speech.
Oddly, the Covid pandemic which has caused so much angst in our school system, delaying learning because of mandated isolation, actually worked in Eugene’s favor, which in its own way also illustrated how determining a quotient for happiness was situational. In this case, the isolation was appreciated, not resented. Since no one could socialize and everyone was trapped and locked up within themselves, in their homes or in their facilities, the way Eugene was trapped in his own mind, the investigation was delayed causing great relief. The pandemic actually exposed everyone to the terrible feeling of being lonely and silenced, unable to communicate ideas or feelings, unable to let anyone know that you were, indeed, alive and well inside your body, feeling sad or happy, disappointed or frustrated, in pain or pain-free, comfortable or experiencing discomfort. Intubation of the suffering victims took their ability to speak, as well.
After reading this book, I realized that the people who have difficulty communicating are truly trapped in their own body, but they are also trapped in and by the world around them because of how everyone treats them and because they are wrongfully judged to be less than, to be unfit to function, to lack cognizance. They are looked at as substandard. They are spoken to like children, talked down to if they are mute or non-communicative. The person who is trapped inside their own body may be frustrated, possibly angry, but is unable to explain how they feel, and few people have the patience to try and understand how they feel. They want to be heard. They want to be noticed. The want the world to know that they are here, but is anyone paying attention? Is anyone listening?
Did Eugene hurt his father? He could not say. If he did cause harm, did he understand the situation? Does the system treat disabled people with respect or fairly? I was consumed with questions. For instance, have you ever felt that no one was listening to you or hearing you speak? Did you scream out in frustration? How would that be different from how Eugene felt? Did the screaming diminish the anger? How would you feel if you were ignored or misunderstood constantly? Have you ever felt the need to move, to run from your own thoughts? I thought about how painful it must be to feel as if you are being treated as if you were invisible while those around you engaged in conversation. The emotional pain must be devastating. I thought about stroke victims and those suffering from other disorders that make them appear different, like Cerebral Palsy sufferers, catastrophically wounded warriors, etc. Is the go-to belief that they are incapable of communication and without intelligence? Are they considered to be “less than”? Can this book shine a light on that behavior and bring about change? What if we took the time to hear you, though you are communicating without words, to understand how you feel and stopped treating you like an empty vessel and tried to recognize and accept the thinking being inside your silent body?
Then, there was the question about mind melding. Do twins have that special gift? I am the female half of a set of fraternal twins, and I don’t know if our minds melded, but I do know that there was a connection. My brother and I always seemed to know when one of us was ill or needed help. When my brother was missing, I found him, and to this day, I do not understand how I managed to stop in front of the very building where he, homeless, was allowed to sleep in empty apartments, temporarily, because of the Super’s kindness. Was that a mind meld? Was it ESP? Was it the hand of G-d? Whatever it was, it was unusual. There was definitely a connection between us. Did John and Mia have that connection? Could it have extended to Eugene, as well, enabling him to know their thoughts?
Will the recent Covid pandemic, and the often-catastrophic results of jumping to conclusions for all the wrong reasons, illustrate how frustrating and dangerous loneliness and isolation can be? Will the cancel culture finally come to an end before it destroys society? Is it possible to learn a better way to deal with those who have disabilities or those who are different, or with those who have alternate ideas? Can we be more loving, open and accepting? So far, it doesn’t seem to be the result of all we have suffered. Political views are dominating society and are often harmful to the very people in society the politicians are trying to protect. Will those in social services, the media, the schools, in internet services and law enforcement be more carefully trained to help those who cannot help themselves or will we still be at war with each other in one way or another? We know what is wrong, but are we willing to solve and correct our approach to each other?
The drawback of the book is that it sometimes stretched credulity.