In 'Happiness Falls,' a father gone missing brings family tensions to the surface

NPR's Book of the Day

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 5 September 2023

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

Adam Parson goes on a morning hike with his son, Eugene, and the boy returns home alone. Eugene is autistic and nonverbal, so he can't explain what happened. This is how Angie Kim sets up Happiness Falls, which chronicles how the Korean-American family tries to make sense of Adam's disappearance. Kim tells NPR's Scott Simon about the complicated relationship between Eugene and his siblings, and why she wanted to emphasize that a lack of verbal communication does not equal a lack of thought and feeling.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. Something my wife and I talk about a lot
0:06.9	these days while we're looking at the new baby is how frustrating it must be to not be able to
0:13.2	communicate that something is wrong. You know, like if you're hungry or tired or uncomfortable for
0:18.7	any reason and you're trying to tell the people
0:20.8	in charge, hey, I'm in need of assistance here and they just go about their day, it's got to feel
0:27.6	awful. I thought about that when I was listening to today's interview. It's with Angie Kim. Her new
0:32.9	book is a thriller called Happiness Falls and one of these central characters is a teenager
0:37.3	named Eugene,
0:38.4	who is autistic and non-speaking. But that doesn't mean he isn't aware of what's going on around him.
0:44.8	And Angie tells NPR Scott Simon that part of this book is disabusing the notion that oral fluency
0:51.3	equals intelligence. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe.
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1:09.6	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
1:14.2	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.
1:18.7	On our new show, Sources and Methods.
1:20.7	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people, helping you understand why distant
1:25.7	events matter here at home.
1:28.3	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:33.7	Adam Parson is missing at the opening of Angie Kim's new novel, Happiness Falls.
1:39.4	He's married to Hannah, a linguist, born in Korea.
1:42.6	Their children are Mia and John, 20-year-old twins,
	...

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