West Branch Book Club

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

We read a variety of contemporary fiction and nonfiction and meet monthly in person at the West Branch and virtually via Zoom. March's book: Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

The West Branch Book Discussion Group reads a variety of contemporary fiction and nonfiction and meets the last Thursday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at the West Branch or on Zoom. Books are available for checkout at the West Branch. For more information, contact discussion facilitator Becky Clark at rclark@aurorapubliclibrary.org or call 630-264-4262.

Join us here on Zoom.

Book description: Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

“We didn’t call the police right away.” Those are the electric first words of this extraordinary novel about a biracial Korean American family in Virginia whose lives are upended when their beloved father and husband goes missing. Mia, the irreverent, hyper-analytical twenty-year-old daughter, has an explanation for everything—which is why she isn’t initially concerned when her father and younger brother Eugene don’t return from a walk in a nearby park. They must have lost their phone. Or stopped for an errand somewhere. But by the time Mia’s brother runs through the front door bloody and alone, it becomes clear that the father in this tight-knit family is missing and the only witness is Eugene, who has the rare genetic condition Angelman syndrome and cannot speak. What follows is both a ticking-clock investigation into the whereabouts of a father and an emotionally rich portrait of a family whose most personal secrets just may be at the heart of his disappearance. Full of shocking twists and fascinating questions of love, language, and human connection, Happiness Falls is a mystery, a family drama, and a novel of profound philosophical inquiry. With all the powerful storytelling she brought to her award-winning debut, Miracle Creek, Angie Kim turns the missing-person story into something wholly original, creating an indelible tale of a family who must go to remarkable lengths to truly understand one another.

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