"Tragedies don't inoculate you against further tragedies, and misfortune doesn't get sprinkled out in fair proportions; bad things get hurled at you in clumps and batches, unmanageable and messy."
As I close my Kindle after reading the last few pages, I'm absolutely and totally satisfied with the beautiful and moving story I just finished. This type of book is a bit outside my usual genre, but I picked it up because it had several key elements that made it sound appealing: medical stuff (hyperbaric oxygen therapy), autistic children, death (accident, murder, arson?) courtroom drama and family saga. It's a complicated and heartbreaking novel with beautiful writing and well-drawn characters that I could completely relate to and empathize with. There are so many great quotes I could share from the novel, but I'll leave this here: "We all have thoughts that shame us. Hubris. The worst sin."
On a hot summer night, the Miracle Creek Submarine hyperbaric oxygen treatment center is up and running its last dive of the day. Inside are 3 disabled kids and 3 adults -- hooked up with astronaut-like helmets to tubing that connects to the tanks outside. A fire. An explosion. Death and disability. Who is to blame - was it an accident or something worse?
The owners are Korean immigrants trying to give their teenaged daughter a better life in America by setting up this therapy. The mothers who were there were just trying to help their children. The protesters were angry that the mothers wouldn't accept that HBOT was dangerous and experimental. An infertile couple desperate to try anything to conceive. "That was both the best and worst part, that all that happened was the unintended consequence of a good person's mistakes." NO SPOILERS.
Just read this. It would make a great book club selection as there are so many universal truths within to debate and discuss. I can even see this as a fantastic movie. Thank you to NetGalley and Sarah Crichton Books for this e-book ARC to read and review.
This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre - literary fiction with elements as described in review.
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