Angie Kim's Happiness Falls (2023) follows a biracial Korean family living in Virginia. Initially, their life seems picture-perfect. They are a seemingly happy family with a lot going for them; however, when the beloved patriarch of the family goes missing, their world is turned upside down. The family's children, especially Mia (whose perspective the novel is told from), have created a fantasy for why their father suddenly disappeared—namely, her father lost her phone, thus preventing him and her brother from coming home. However, her world is further shattered when her little brother comes home, bloodied and alone. They try to talk to him and ask him where he has been and where the family's patriarch has gone, but he has a rare condition that prevents him from speaking. Together with the police, Mia and her family try to piece together what happened to their father before it is too late and he dies.
Happiness Falls is Kim's second novel; much like her first novel, Miracle Creek, her sophomore effort received largely positive reviews from critics and audiences alike. The book, in fact, was named a Good Morning America book club selection and a bestseller. The New York Times wrote warmly about the novel in their review. They said that the novel is an "engaging read" but said that Mia was an "overbearing narrator." Kirkus Reviews was much more effusive in their praise of the novel. In their review, they said, "The claim that a book will change your life often seems like [an] exaggeration. Here, the potential is real."
