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kleaf's review against another edition
- 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
1.0
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Terminal illness, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
maria1085's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Liked:
- the courtroom drama aspect
- The mystery that kept me guessing at who was behind the explosion
- The different storylines and how they were interconnected
- All the secrets, and some that will change the course of things once they are revealed
- How each chapter featured a different character’s perspective
- Strong character development
⚠️This book is very trigger heavy. Infertility, murder, special needs, controversial treatment, sexual assault, treatment of immigrants.
Disliked:
-At the beginning it was confusing with such a full cast of characters
-The controversial treatment of children with autism. Having worked with the special needs community that part was particularly difficult for me
My book club chose this for March and we were very split on this one. It made for great discussion though. A couple of DNFs, some of us really liked it, and a couple finished but didn’t love it. Overall a great debut book!
#bookstagram #bookclub #bookreview #booknerd #lovetoread #momsthatread
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Infertility, Sexual assault, Suicide, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder
meisqr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Miracle Creek focuses on the point-of-views of the people that that were somehow, in some way, involved in tbe tragic accident that caused the death of a mother and a child.
At its core, Miracle Creek was quite hard to read. It was hard because of its realistic qualities; it made you forget that this was fiction. Each character's problems were open and bare, for every reader to see. Their flaws and their challenges, leading up to the tragedy, and even the trauma that they kept with them after it. They all suffered in one way or another, and it was hard to read a piece of fiction that was so real in its portrayal of characters. It showed the difficulties the parents go through, how a teenager coped with being forced into a new life, and how every decision and lie snowballed into the tragedy.
The hardest parts to read would be those of the mothers' perspectives, because it lets you in their mind. How they are just as human as we all are, that they too have doubts in their mind, but it doesn't ever mean that they hadn't loved us at all. That, although they loved their children and had wished them to have been born normal, or remained the way they were, they still loved them to their very core.
I cannot comment much on the autism aspect of the book as I am not that knowledgeable in that area, but I had hoped that there was more to the kids than what was portrayed. I wish there was a better way to tackle the "autism has to be cured" ideology kind of thing.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Moderate: Infertility
alicelalicon's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Excrement
annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
hot take, i'm not that big a fan of Shakespeare because so many of his plots (at least, his tragedies) are like, if any one thing in this series of unfortunate events had gone differently then we wouldn't be in these tragic circumstances, except the series of unfortunate events is ridiculous and arbitrary. best example: in Hamlet (spoilers), when Hamlet stabs and kills Polonius, who was eavesdropping behind a curtain, because Hamlet thought he heard a rat. that's just undeniably stupid for a major plot point. Miracle Creek has the same concept—if anything had gone differently we could have avoided tragedy—but pulls it off expertly. Shakespeare could never??
could this be considered southern gothic? it's set in Virginia, nearly everyone is a grotesque character, and there's some truly disturbing content, plus themes of racism, sexism, and poverty.
this review has been completely shaped by my English class experience
cover design review: ★★★★½. love the colors, the scenery, and the burn holes, but it starts to feel crowded with the addition of glitter and stars. not a big fan of the typeface, makes me think of Papyrus 😬
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Excrement, Car accident, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Bullying, Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, and Stalking
savvyrosereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Rating: 4/5 stars (boosted 0.5 stars from my original rating)
Told through the frame of a murder trial, Miracle Creek is a literary courtroom mystery centered on the fallout from an explosion and fire at “Miracle Submarine,” a hyperbaric oxygen treatment center owned by a Korean immigrant family and primarily catering to children with special needs. The mother of one of the patients stands accused of murdering her son…but everyone has secrets, and the trial just may reveal them all.
I generally shy away from courtroom thrillers because, frankly, they’re rarely well-done or realistic, and, as a lawyer, they can be downright painful to read. Fortunately, Miracle Creek is written by a former trial attorney, and the courtroom scenes are realistic, riveting, and the absolute best I’ve come across in a book to date. This second read managed to impress me even more, because the many heartbreaking but beautiful moments of the narrative really shone through on a reread, including insights into the immigrant experience, parenthood, and surviving trauma.
I want to flag that this is by no means an easy read, and you should absolutely check content warnings before diving in. But it is memorable and beautifully written, and I’m so glad I read it twice.
Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: courtroom dramas; first generation immigrant stories; literary thrillers.
CW: Ableism; child abuse; child death; murder; fire/fire injury; sexual assault, suicide.
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
habertoes's review against another edition
Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Excrement, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Ableism against autistic children.chacepaulson's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Body horror, Infertility, Infidelity, Xenophobia, and Stalking
Minor: Excrement
cryptogay's review against another edition
- 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
2.0
Miracle Creek covers a lot of complicated territory. Much of this concerns the experimental medical treatments used on disabled children, especially autistic children. I don't think it handles this aspect of its story very well. A group of protesters against the medicalization of autism are portrayed as unpleasant, invasive, and aggressive. The parents of the autistic children directly involved in the story are written about with compassion despite one of them being revealed to be seriously physically and emotionally abusive to her son, even without getting into the various therapies she sends him to in attempts to "cure" his autism. In contrast, the autistic characters are never really given a voice. Yes, the two featured in the book are children, but autistic adults exist, and quite frankly make up the majority of the movements against the abusive "therapies" that are used on autistic people, primarily children. The fact that no autistic adults ever appear, and the two characters who actually openly speak about these treatments as abuse barely appear and are largely discredited, these things tilt the book towards endorsing this abuse, or at least parts of it. I don't know what Kim's intentions or feelings were with regard to this aspect of the story, but it really wasn't handled well.
Autism isn't a disease or an illness, its a brain structure, and it varies from person to person. It is not something that can be "cured", and it is not caused by vaccines. The therapies that claim to cure or treat autism vary from complete bunk to abuse and manipulation, and acting like they aren't these things is harmful to the children forced to undergo them.
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Moderate: Confinement, Infertility, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Excrement, Stalking, and Car accident