A Korean immigrant family endeavors to the American dream when a tragic accident causes the death of a woman and a child and disfigures several others. Now, the party guilty of causing the accident is being sought in court.
Not only is the novel a well-paced and well-written courtroom drama, and the characters unique and vivid, the slow revelation of the truth makes for page-turning, engrossed reading.
Timely and timeless issues are central: the immigrant experience, assimilating and reaching for the American dream; the awesome burden of care and love carried by parents of special needs Autistic children; how infertility strains a marriage; the secrets we keep; how frustration and anger and guilt we feel drive us to lash out in actions contrary to our nature.
"...that was the thing about lying: you had to throw in occasional kernels of shameful truths to serve as decoys for the things you really needed to hide."~from Miracle Creek by Angie Kim
Everyone is lying. They lie to hide their sins, they lie to protect their loved ones, they lie out of fear, and they lie to themselves.
Everyone is guilty, contributing to the series of events that caused death and permanent bodily harm and psychological damage.
Some are more guilty than others. Someone lit the fire.
Punishments are not in balance with guilt. The innocent of crimes hold the personal guilt of falling short of their high standards of perfection and inflect their own penalty. A horrible crime goes unpunished.
Miracle Creek is a fantastic read and an amazing debut novel. I will eagerly await more from Kim.
I will recommend this to my book club!
