About six weeks ago, I checked all of the sites I use to find good book recommendations and put about 15 requests in at my library.
Miracle Creek was the first to come in, and it had a wait list after me of nearly 100, so I quickly got to work reading. Luckily, the book was attention-catching from the beginning, and I was able to read it in about 5 days, which, considering my limited reading time availability, is amazing.
Miracle Creek tells the story of a small group of people who receive specialized hyperbaric oxygen treatments in a place called the Miracle Submarine. The patients go on “dives,” sometimes twice a day, where they breathe pure oxygen. The hope is that this pure air will help them improve or recover, based on the reason they are going there.
Several children have autism, and another one is in a wheelchair. A grown man also goes to help with low sperm mobility.
The Miracle Submarine is run by the Yoos, an immigrant couple from Korea who also have a teenage daughter, Mary.
The book opens with a courtroom scene. The mother of one of the children with autism is on trial for setting the Miracle Submarine on fire, and in turn, killing her own child who was getting treatment at the time. Yet, did this mother do it?
As the book unfolds, the reader discovers a web of secrets and that almost any one of the people who took “dives” as well as the Yoos themselves, had reason for setting the fire.
This courtroom drama gripped me, and I also loved the author’s insight into the world of autism. I could relate to so many things the parents said and did.
While I loved the book, I was a bit unsatisfied with the ending. Maybe it was too real for me? Maybe I expected a happier ending? Maybe I didn’t believe it? I don’t know, but the ending did disappoint.
I give this book 4 out of 5 stars on the Mom’s Plans’ scale.
Leave a Reply