How many stories have you read that gave you a glimpse into the struggles of immigration and starting a new life in a new country? Miracle Creek is a beautiful book about a family’s endeavor to give their daughter a better life in the USA than what they had in Korea. However, life and circumstances do not always grant our deepest desires and this story unravels all that can go wrong in an attempt to do better. Take a look at the book blurb and content notes below and then I will share my thoughts. The reading experience graphic is at the end of the post – you will find I have made some changes to it and you can read a shorter review there now!
How far will you go to protect your family? Will you keep their secrets? Ignore their lies?
In a small town in Virginia, a group of people know each other because they’re part of a special treatment center, a hyperbaric chamber that may cure a range of conditions from infertility to autism. But then the chamber explodes, two people die, and it’s clear the explosion wasn’t an accident.
A showdown unfolds as the story moves across characters who are all maybe keeping secrets, hiding betrayals. Was it the careless mother of a patient? Was it the owners, hoping to cash in on a big insurance payment and send their daughter to college? Could it have been a protester, trying to prove the treatment isn’t safe?
Content Notes: Suicide, Smoking, Death, Fire and Explosion.
Themes for Thought from Miracle Creek
It’s been a while since I have read a courtroom drama. Jodi Picoult is my go-to for that setting and it was nice to find another author that does it well! Miracle Creek tells the story of the Yoo family. Pak Yoo started a business known as Miracle Submarine where people could get treatment in a highly oxygenated chamber. The story focuses on a group of special needs kids and their mothers and a man who formed a little cohort to do the dives together. On a fateful night, the oxygen tank exploded and one child and mother were killed while the others were injured. A year later, Elizabeth, the mother of Henry, the decreased child, is on trial for setting the fire.
On Motherhood
Miracle Creek touches on motherhood from various angles. We have Young who moved with her daughter, Mary, to the US to give her a better life but in the process, the two have disconnected. As an angsty teenger, Mary wants nothing to do with her mother. Elizabeth, Kit and Teresa were in the cohort together with their kids. While Eliabeth and Kit’s kids were on the autism spectrum, Teresa’s daughter has cerebral palsy. Their conversations about doing the best for their children, giving them every single treatment that they can ford, as well as the intricacies of being part of groups of mothers with similar situations was heartbreaking. There is so much judgement and what-will-people-think in their lives that being saying something in confidence to someone can come backfire and make a mother look like she never wanted her child in the first place.
I found Elizabeth’s side of the story, her relationship with her son Henry, and her epiphany about his treatments really sad. She just wanted her child to be better and as his sole caretaker, she spent the most time with him and took everyone’s advice – whether they were a specialist, doctor, nurse, a peer – with caution and in context of Henry. Yet, these very qualities were questioned by the police and the prosecutor!
On Truth
Who set the fire? Who was to blame for the flame that killed two people? There are so many facets of the story and Miracle Creek, with its multiple Point of Views, gives us many of the puzzle pieces one at a time. There are many little mysteries but at the heart of it, every parents’ desire to do the best for their children is whatever the cost stands out. The logistics of money, investment and insurance are also interwoven in this situation.
Miracle Creek also does a great job at emphasizing the influence that we have on others around us. As friends and regular acquaintances, we do not always realize what we say, who we say it to and how we say it will be interpreted without the right context. Teresa’s struggle to choose where to put her loyalty, between Young or Elizabeth, portrayed how important each layer of the truth is and how it contributes to the final decision which is made.
On Lessons
This is not a happy story, by any means. It is about confronting our demons, standing by what we believe in and having the courage to accept our mistakes. The characters were well throughout and the way Angie wrote them, it was easy to sympathize with some over the others. How people perceive immigrants, for a child, the challenges of integrating into a school system where they are perceived to be different, the unfulfilled hopes that parents of special needs kids in this story hold on to and strive to achieve… These are the realities of living. Not something we ask for, but what we work through.
Overall, I enjoyed Miracle Creek! It was a thought provoking story and it moved me to tears at some points. Depicting the four days of a murder and arson trial, this book is fast paced and has a lot to offer. Check out a summary of my reading experience below (this is book number 27.1 because it is the first one I have read since I turned 27! 🙂 ).
** Miracle Creek is now out in stores and available at your local library so get a copy and let me know what you think! **
Amazon Print
Amazon Kindle
I hope you enjoyed this review! Be sure to check the Book Review Index for other recommendations! Tomorrow, I’ll be back with an interview with Dennis Bock, the author of The Good German.
Cover image: Photo by David McCumskay on Unsplash
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