Review | Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

The Yoo family has worked hard to build a life in the United States after immigrating from Seoul, Korea. As owners of Miracle Submarine, an experimental medical treatment using a pressurised oxygen chamber, they are important members of the community in Miracle Creek, Virginia. But when the chamber explodes and kills two people, they find themselves in an unimaginable situation. Soon, the mother of one of their patients is on trial for murdering her child. But as the trial goes on, the Yoo family will discover that nothing is what it seems.

She didn’t understand people saying, “I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy”; no matter how much she told herself she wouldn’t, shouldn’t, wish her life on anyone, there were moments when she wanted every parent alive to go through what she did.

I’m torn about this book. I thought the writing is captivating. I love the scenes set in the courtroom, they’re fast-paced and entertaining. The book tackles the theme of immigration really well. Questions about cultural identity, the awkwardness of dating someone from a different race, the crack in the core family, it all felt authentic. I liked that this book focuses on minority characters and portrays something different than the usual stock characters we get.

I also appreciate how the book looks at motherhood and the challenges of raising children with autism. The exhaustion, the guilt, the sacrifices, I felt for these women. The book does a great job of showing how far mothers would go to care for their children.

But my issue with this book is that it doesn’t portray the children as actual human beings. They are props, made to be burdens, only existing to show how hard their mothers’ lives are and how they should be “cured”. And I’m not often sensitive to scenes of child death but here it’s described in graphic detail, with the sole purpose of making the adults feel sorry for themselves. There’s also an anti-vaccine passage which is, frankly, misleading and irresponsible. So while I can see the author’s intent I found myself unable to overlook this element of the story.

In terms of the mystery, conflicts mostly arose because the characters lie. And every character lies, even when they don’t have to. It makes them unlikable and hard to root for. The ending is predictable and unnecessarily convoluted. If I never see the words “Camel cigarettes” again I’ll be happy!

Overall, Miracle Creek can be enjoyable for the right reader but it’s not me. I’m still interested in seeing what the author comes up with next as I think this is a commendable debut.

I received a review copy from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

About the author: Angie Kim

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