Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

64 reviews

atamano's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Excrement, Medical content, and Murder

Minor: Bullying

nataleaf's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

all of the topics in this book are handled really well. at the end of the day, the mystery aspect is what fell flat for me because

i just don’t believe that Mary would commit arson. I don’t think we were given enough time from her perspective to understand; despite everything she went through we didn’t get to hear how hurt she was in her own words

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Gore, Sexual assault, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child abuse and Pedophilia

muddymind's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

It’s written very well and the multiple POVs kept me engaged & interested. I really enjoyed how motherhood is explored in a such honest way that I haven’t seen too often. 
The climax was a bit lackluster & I would have liked to see the ‘why’ explained a bit more. The motives were clear but didn’t feel as real as other components of the story. 
Check trigger warnings because they sneak up on you in this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Infertility, Sexual assault, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child abuse

skbat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The mystery was intriguing and kept me hooked. Horribly graphic though. The treatment of autism and disability was acidic, portraying flawed mothers pushing their children towards "normalcy" at any cost.

The worst offender realizes this is a mistake far too late.

No perspective from any of the actually autistic people - Happiness Falls is much better in that regard. The reveal was satisfying enough, but I'm sad for all the characters and a little scarred.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Rape, Suicide, Medical trauma, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Chronic illness, Racism, Grief, and Car accident

Minor: Vomit and Alcohol

sparklefarm's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

I'm glad I read Happiness Falls before this one because I did not enjoy this read. Some small quibbles, but enough serious concerns that I do not recommend. Thoughts in no particular order below.

• Could have done without the entire
  Matt-Mary
  storyline. It's not like it was portrayed in a good light, I just prefer my books without that kind of yuck.
• Relatedly I never want to hear the word
  penis
  again.
• In general this book felt overwritten. So. Many. Similes.
• The writing on autism felt borderline offensive. So much talk about wanting kids to be ~normal~ and the only characters who had a different outlook were vilified. I did not get this sense from Happiness Falls, which also deals with autism, so I hope there has been some learning in the meantime.
• Incredible audio narration.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, and Rape

Minor: Grief

taylor_a_boyd's review against another edition

4.5

This is a complicated but excellent book. A bit hard to follow the characters at the beginning. A really interesting perspective on family, motherhood, health. I’ll be reading more by the same author 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual assault, and Fire/Fire injury

amberjackonski's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexual assault, and Fire/Fire injury

ariana3's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I wanted to like this book, but it took me a while to get into it. It didn't capture my attention right away, as I could tell this was sort of a whodunnit mystery but it was a slow-moving pace. Overall I really did like the ending! It's bittersweet and resolves itself entirely.
Plot summary:

The Yoo family moved feom Seoul, South Korea to the US for a better life for their daughter Mary. But Mary hated the US, felt alone and alienated from her peers and her parents. Her parents eventually open a HBOT (hyperbaric oxygen treatment) center to help treat all sorts of patients. In this case, the patients are centered around a doctor, Matt, whose wife is obsessed with having a child and claims he's infertile (he's the only adult being treated), Teresa's daughter with cerebral palsy, Kitt's son with autism, and Elizabeth's son, Henry, also with autism. A fire breaks out at the center, which also happens to be on the Yoo's property, and Kitt and Henry both die. Matt's hand becomes deformed, Mary is scarred, and Pak is paralyzed. A trial begins for who set the fire, and all eyes are on Elizabeth. Prosecutors say she intended to kill Henry because she couldn't deal with life as a mother to a child with autism. It was hard and robbed her of herself. The evidence is seemingly staggering against her. The story of the characters plays out, and turns out she's totally innocent. However, she becomes convinced throughout the trial process that she's a terrible mother and she decides to end it all by committing suicide. She drives her lawyer's car off a cliff. Now the real story comes down to Matt. His marriage wasn't great, and he started spending time with Mary who was 16 at the time. On her 17th birthday, he forces himself on her - a misunderstanding/accident on his part, but definitely assault....his wife thinks Mary is basically stalking Matt, so she confronts her and says she's a whore and to leave Matt alone. In a fit of rage, Mary sets the fire by the barn to hopefully make it so that their family can leave this terrible place and go back to Seoul. Her dad had put cigarettes and matches near the oxygen tank to frame some protestors but he put it out just to make it appear to be a stopped fire. She doesn't know this, doesn't know that people were inside, and it's too late when she finds out. The bittersweet part is that her mother convinces her to confess. To help clear her conscious, deal with the consequences of her actions, rather than let it slide and place blame elsewhere just so she can avoid jail time. In the end, the money from Elizabeth's will goes to fund a daycare/camp for special needs and autism kids. So it's a terribly tragic and sad story, but has a somewhat slightly feel-good ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body horror, Bullying, Infertility, Infidelity, Car accident, and Alcohol

ehost's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

jensnow's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicide, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury