Most people who are disabled and/or who have developmental challenges are fully who they are. While thats a common way people think about disability, it isn’t based in reality. In addition to the parental anxiety, there is the sense that the only way to release that anxiety is to “fix” the child.

There is another side of this conversation where I think Miracle Creek misses the mark. One scene in particular is a standout when it comes to the things parents think, but never say. There is a lot of vulnerability that we rarely see or discuss when it comes to parenting for fear of judgement. When we are asked to hear out these mothers as human, and not just chauffeurs to and from HBOT therapy, we see a full and nuanced picture of the challenges of parenthood, especially when that parenting comes with the fear of your child being left behind. So much of this book centers around children with disabilities (mostly Autism) and the parent’s own fears and hopes become paramount to the story. Kim manipulates (in a good way) scenes from different perspectives to give situations that seemed black and white, depth, and areas of grey.Īnother element of this story that is powerful is the guilt and anxiety that many of the parents feel. This is played out through race, gender, language, education levels, age, and so much more. When it comes to power dynamics Kim does a fantastic job of keeping the reader in a suspended state, constantly trying to figure out who is on top. I think that can be felt in the reading of the exchanges in the courtroom. When Kim was interviewed on The Short Stacks, she mentioned how when writing these scenes she felt an ease of writing that she didn’t always feel in other sections.

They move with dexterity and never feel slow and clunky, in fact, I wanted more trial scenes, and I wanted them to last longer. The best scenes in this book are the ones in the courtroom. We enter the book on day one of the trial, and we’re tasked with sorting through the stories and emotions to figure out who set the fire, and why.Īngie Kim was once a trial lawyer and it shows. The story a fire in a Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) chamber, which is owned by a Korean immigrant family in a mostly White area, kills two people. In her debut novel, Miracle Creek, Angie Kim tells a story that is complex and layered, the way life tends to be.

Miracle creek book review