Scan barcode
A review by littlebeast
Miracle Creek by Angie Kim
challenging
dark
mysterious
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
this book.... was a lot. i read it in like two days and i think in some ways it was great and in others it was.. not so great. overall i think the premise was really interesting, and the courtroom drama aspects were riveting.
what was good:
pak remarks, "some things are more important than honesty”, a sentiment that's basically at the core of most characters' actions. its all lies to what end, and i think exploring the length humans go to lie in order to protect was very interesting. i also liked reading the mother daughter relationship, the whole moody teen thing, but from a mother's point of view. how much it hurts from the other end. the immigrant story was also done very well, the subtle racism that immigrants face, the language barrier, the literal stripping of your identity, the rebuilding of your entire life.
what i thought needed work:
i think kim should've made the stance on alternative medicine a LOT clearer. i was expecting a big refute of it at the end, but instead we got an ambiguous resolution from elizabeth to stop taking henry to various therapies and hbot. but i think, when you're talking about alternative medicine and "cures for autism" you need to make your message clearer, because it is dangerous irl.
i think the most heart wrenching part was that henry finally got a meager voice at the end in the car ride with elizabeth to his last hbot session-- and he was just a goofy kid. and the whole book lacked that, his voice, from the very beginning. i held out on assuming that the book would treat henry and the rest of the kids like burdens, or that the rest of the story revolved around other people and their tremendous lies and no voice would be given to the kids, on account that it would be some commentary on how ableism plays such a big role in what the kids went through etc, but it didn't happen. and so yeah. it was very sad to see the characters with autism treated like that. i just wanted to cry for how henry was wronged by literally everyone in his life
what was good:
pak remarks, "some things are more important than honesty”, a sentiment that's basically at the core of most characters' actions. its all lies to what end, and i think exploring the length humans go to lie in order to protect was very interesting. i also liked reading the mother daughter relationship, the whole moody teen thing, but from a mother's point of view. how much it hurts from the other end. the immigrant story was also done very well, the subtle racism that immigrants face, the language barrier, the literal stripping of your identity, the rebuilding of your entire life.
what i thought needed work:
i think the most heart wrenching part was that henry finally got a meager voice at the end in the car ride with elizabeth to his last hbot session-- and he was just a goofy kid. and the whole book lacked that, his voice, from the very beginning. i held out on assuming that the book would treat henry and the rest of the kids like burdens, or that the rest of the story revolved around other people and their tremendous lies and no voice would be given to the kids, on account that it would be some commentary on how ableism plays such a big role in what the kids went through etc, but it didn't happen. and so yeah. it was very sad to see the characters with autism treated like that. i just wanted to cry for how henry was wronged by literally everyone in his life
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual assault