Cover Image: Miracle Creek

Miracle Creek

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Member Reviews

What a ride this book was! I'd been so eager to read this after hearing the premise months ago (and waiting impatiently for my reservation to come into the library) and it was worth the wait

We follow a few characters, but primarily the Yoo family who immigrated to America from Korea and established a form of complementary medicine involving a pressurized tank and oxygen. When disaster strikes and one of the oxygen tanks is set alight causing a fatal accident, everyone is under suspicion as we follow the trial in court

The writing in this book is masterful. Kim had me rooting for someone one minute and condemning them one page later, without me even noticing my mind had changed. The characters were so human and flawed, and her commentary on human nature is impeccable

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Wow. This books is amazingly written, with twists of fate and turns of majestic technique, building up a complex plot, literally finding its denoument in the last few chapters.

I absolutely loved the way the author built the characters, especially those of Young and Teresa. She managed to bring to surface beautifully these larger than life values that are tricky sometimes to live by, proof being this story. And perhaps, this is what the metaphor of the Submarine stands for: values resurfacing in the mind of all affected by the tragedy, values rebuilding people and lives.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book. Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this arc.

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RATING: 4 STARS
2019; Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Sarah Crichton Books
(Review Not on Blog)

The cover of this book did not grab me, so I wasn't as excited when I started this novel. I try SO hard not judge by covers, but it is such a reflex to want to read the gorgeous covers first. Miracle Creek is Angie Kim's debut book and it is a doozy! I was hooked from chapter and could not stop listening and getting back to the story. This is a mystery/suspense novel, but I would classify this one more as a literary mystery as there was so much else going on with law and medicine and brilliant characters and plot. The characterizations in this novel were interesting and pretty realistic. One of my favourite elements of this novel was the character and cultural diversity. This novel has been popular and made some must-read lists, but in case you haven't yet...I would highly recommend this one :)

***I received an eARC from NETGALLEY***

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I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. Once I started reading, I did not want to put it down. Kim is a phenomenal writer, and we are so lucky! The plot moves at the right speed and keeps you guessing until the end. If you enjoy courtroom drama, secrets, and suspense - this book is for you! I guarantee you won't want to put it down.

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The characters in Miracle Creek showed depth and dimension in their situations. Their varying motives, and suspicious behavior, combined with the multitude of things taken out of context, made for an unexpected journey. I also ended how the book was told via multiple characters was interesting. It book was a bit slow to start. I’m happy to have carried on and continued to
read.

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I really liked this book, however I found Kim's discussion around autism to be extremely problematic. She never really came out to say that performing experimental treatments in an attempt to "cure" autism is extremely cruel and ableist. There were multiple opportunities where she could have done this without changing the story, too, particularly in the scenes about the protesters. Not addressing it clearly risks validating toxic behavior towards autism that are also endemic in the anti-vaxxer movement. Autism is not a disease and not something to be cured, but accepted and given accommodations.

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I've bene seeing so many rave reviews for Angie Kim's debut novel MIRACLE CREEK that I just had to see for myself what the buzz was all about!

The story begins with a deadly explosion at a hyperbaric oxygen therapy (aka HBOT) chamber. HBOT is a very real treatment that involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized room, though MIRACLE CREEK focuses on the controversial use of HBOT to treat autism. It quickly becomes apparent that the explosion that killed two people was intentional and what unfolds is a courtroom drama in which you don’t know who to trust, who is hiding secrets, and you question everyone’s true motives.

MIRACLE CREEK is a wild ride and a perfect mystery, forcing you to constantly question every character and event you read. But the book is so much more than just a courtroom drama, it is multidimensional and complex story about very real issues. I loved the way Kim depicts parenting, especially parenting autistic children, in such a raw and direct manner. I also enjoyed the inclusion of immigrant characters and how their experiences and desires affect their motives throughout the story. It’s not surprising to learn that Kim emigrated from Korea at a young age, formerly worked as a trial lawyer, and used HBOT treatment for her young child. Kim’s first hand experiences with so many elements of the story lent authenticity and depth, creating a very powerful, moving, and successful debut novel.

Believe the hype about MIRACLE CREEK!! It's spectacular and I highly recommend it! It’s fast paced, surprising, and very thought provoking. I can’t wait to read whatever Angie Kim writes next!!

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Wonderful book, loved every word, page , chapter, paragraph! Look forward to more beautiful stories from this very talented author! Highly recommend!

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This was one of the most impressive books that I've read last year and a very complex story about a South Korean family who migrated to the USA for a better life. The first to leave Korea were the mother and daughter followed by the father after a few years.

Once in America, he opens a clinic that is very similar to what he was doing in his country - a hyperbaric oxygen treatment clinic which he calls Submarine. This alternative therapy is not backed up by studies, but he claims it can cure conditions such as male infertility, autism or cerebral palsy.

The book opens with an unusual day for the family, when a lot of small incidents happen, all leading to a tragedy in which there are multiple people responsible. The Submarine explodes - two people die (an autistic boy who was either misdiagnosed or cured, and the mother of multiple children, one of which is another autistic boy).

Miracle Creek explores what happened in the past from different characters' perspectives, the secrets they are hiding and how everything contributed to this tragedy. It also describes the trial and the search for the culprits. The dead boy's mother is accused of having schemed a very elaborate plan to get rid of her autistic child, who was a burden for her, and there is proof of her abusing the boy.

This is a very complex book with a lot of themes - being the parent of a child with a health problem, parenting in general, the struggle of both situations, what being an immigrant means, racism, conjugal problems, the pressure of infertility on both partners, infidelity, vice and the butterfly effect. A very impressive read which I recommend to anyone.

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MIRACLE CREEK
BY ANGIE KIM

"But that was the way life worked. Every human being was the result of a million different factors mixing together---one of a million sperm arriving at the egg at exactly a certain time; even a millisecond off, and another entirely different person would result. Good things and bad---every friendship and romance formed, every accident, every illness resulted from conspiracy off hundreds of little things in and of themselves inconsequential."

Another reviewer said something like this: wherever this book lands will leave a bruise. She sums up this beautiful novel so erudite. I completely feel bruised after reading Angie Kim's beautiful multilayered debut novel, "Moracle Creek." This novel is a masterpiece of brilliance in characterizations. I finished it and now I feel very emotionally moved and don't want to start reading anything else for a long time. I think that this narrative covers so many different themes and is done so sparingly in just under 350 pages. I want the emotions circling around in my head and body to continue so I can savor this for as long as possible.

I will read anything that Angie Kim writes in the future because of her sheer brilliance in crafting such a powerful debut story. I am not going to write a summary because so many reviewers already have. The synopsis describes the direction of this multi-premises which happen in this story. I will say that this is the most compelling book that I have read all year. I think that this is unforgettable and I highly recommend it. This book with such stunning prose that explores such multifaceted experiences is the reason why I read. Thus explains my five star rating. I would give this book one hundred stars if I could. I think this book is the best book that I have ever read in its ability to explore such timeless themes and pack such an emotional punch while doing so. I am ordering a physical copy of this book just to look at on my bookshelf to remind me of how much I loved this book.

Thank you to Net Galley, the brilliant Angie Kim and the publisher for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

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I binge read this book when I should have been doing so many other things. It's well plotted, suspenseful, but also incredibly thoughtful. Suspense serves a purpose. More, plot aside, there are some incredibly nuanced commentaries on parenting, disability, immigrant identity, and sexual assault. I especially appreciated the reworking of the ethnic novel's bread and butter mother-daughter conflict.

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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.

Now this is what you call a thriller. It ripped my heart out

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Less of a courtroom thriller, more of a psychological deep dive into parenting and what it does to us. Kim writes from every angle; the mothers of high needs children, the couple unsuccessfully trying to have children, the parents who don't truly know their children at all.

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Fabulous book. I didn't bargin for all that I gained throughout this read. This was a mystery and a testament to how hard parents with special needs work. You will spend the whole book shifting blame until you realize you have no idea who did it. Great read!

Quick thanks to the publisher who provided a copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the opportunity!

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Every now and then you read a debut novel and are emotionally blown away and MIRACLE CREEK is one of these books. It’s one of those books that can’t be categorised as a mystery novel or a courtroom drama or a legal thriller because even though it IS all of those MIRACLE CREEK is so much more.

The writing is absolutely BEAUTIFUL, the characters are, in my mind, totally REAL, the courtroom drama is AUTHENTIC, the storyline is HEARTBREAKING and this goes straight into my TOP TEN Books of 2019.

Pak and Young are a Korean couple who have moved to America and set up an alternative health clinic with a HBOT (hyperbaric oxygenation tank) they’ve called MIRACLE SUBMARINE. The HBOT claims to help with autism, infertility and other health problems. Controversial and considered dangerous by many “non believers” on the day a group of protesters arrive to stop the patients using the HBOT a fire is deliberated started causing it to explode resulting in a catastrophic tragedy.

The story then takes the reader to 1 year later at the murder trial and is narrated by each of the former patients, victims and the families involved and affected during the fire. It’s difficult to put into words how incredible this book is, how real it felt, how plausible and believable each characters emotions, feelings and thoughts were.

We are taken into the lives and feelings of the parents of autistic children, their hopes and dreams, their pain and grief, their selfless determination and unconditional love is at times hard to read and yet it is written with such feeling and emotion you can’t help but feel for these fictional characters.

Throughout the courtroom chapters the reader is taken back to the event a year ago and slowly we learn more about what happened and why. MIRACLE CREEK is beautifully constructed, cleverly interwoven and an emotional roller coaster. In my opinion, this book will appeal to EVERYONE and I gave this book a very easy 5 stars.

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A brilliantly-crafted courtroom drama with secrets and lies around every corner. Debut author (!) Kim uses her legal background to full effect in this deeply layered and thoughtful novel.

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I'll be honest. I enjoyed the first half of Miracle Creek, and I appreciated the family drama, the honest and forthright quality that Young has, even privately, throughout the novel. Mary and Pak and the accident and trial in the first 50 pages were especially intriguing. However, I kept waiting for the narrative to come together, to have some larger impact or pacing other than the character's individualities. Elizabeth is also intriguing, by the way.

I just couldn't sustain the weight of detail and overwrought characters enough by the middle of the trial to get to the end. I wound up skipping major portions of pages to find out more plot, or to read sections of characters I found more interesting than others. It's a solid read, but I just felt the story could have been more tightly composed to drive the narrative and keep a more meaningful pace. If you have ample time to read a somewhat wandering narrative, spend time with Miracle Creek. If you're like me and want each novel you read to utterly embrace you, to lose sleep over like a lover late into the night because you just have to keep reading, you might check this one out, or you might let it go. It's just too unclear for me to say.

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I can't believe I forgot to review this >.<
This is one of my favorite books of the year and it deserves to be read by everyone!

If you like adult contemporary books set in small towns, and that deal with difficult subjects, this is for you. It's a beautiful story that deals with so much more than I was initially expecting!
This book talks about HBOT (hyperbaric oxygen therapy) which may cure a range of conditions like autism or infertility. This is actually my first time reading about it, which made it even more interesting and I thought it was written quite realistically. There's a lot of both skepticism and trust in it from different characters and it was really interesting to see the different perspectives.
The thing is, that oxygen chamber exploded, causing the death of two persons. It wasn't an accident.
After 1 year, we get to see the aftermath of it all, and the process to find the culprit.

This book deals with grief, immigration, all types of family problems and different types of disabilities.

I loved to read about the characters and I did not see the end coming at all. It was incredibly gripping and emotional and it broke my heart reading it. There's so much going on in this book and it all blends into an incredibly thrilling book. This book is about family - actually families - and all that comes with it. All have their reasons, their excuses, to protect their families and it was beautiful to read about them.

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Rating: 4/5 Stars
Miracle Creek was a great court room/thriller drama of trying to figure out who done it. I really loved the ties to disabilities since I work with the special needs population. There were things I did not see coming and was very interesting.

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This book started out very strong for me but I was underwhelmed with the ending. I love the cultural aspects and the incorporation of immigrants and disabilities. Angie Kim is clearly a very talented writer and I look forward to reading her future works..

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