Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

5 reviews

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

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

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

moriahleigh's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, and Suicide

Minor: Bullying, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship

weird_but_fucking_beautiful's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

4.5

This isn’t an easy book to try and review. In fact, it is a downright ugly book to try and review. There are no happy go lucky characters here. No happy endings. This story is about the unforgiving daily hardships a parent faces as the single care giver of a child with special needs. This story is about the lies we tell ourselves and others to fit a narrative that leads to the most suitable outcome. How far would you go to protect someone you loved? How much of something beneficial is too much?  These are some of the tough questions author Angie Kim poses as she skillfully balances the memories of the moralistically grey characters, barring one, regarding the event in question with scenes from the ongoing trial. The book relies heavily on the theory of The Butterfly Effect in which “the smallest of changes in one surrounding could leave drastic ripple effects at some point in the future”. It is a heavy, thought provoking story that does not cut corners in any of its topic debates including what is exactly the fine line between nurturing a child vs abusing a child. 

A potential 5 star read, I knocked a 1/2 star off due to a slight drag in the middle. 

 

 

 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide

Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, Infertility, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Stalking

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-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

5.0

i'm impressed
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 😬

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Ableism, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child abuse, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Abandonment, Cursing, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Confinement, Excrement, Alcohol, Blood, Car accident, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Bullying, Stalking, and Vomit

emakay's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Infertility, Medical content, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Suicide

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Racism