Korean immigrants Pak and Young
Yoo own and run Miracle Submarine, a medical device for hyperbaric oxygen
therapy which has people breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized chamber. HBOT is offered as a treatment for a variety
of conditions including autism, cerebral palsy, and infertility. An explosion occurs outside the facility in
rural Virginia; two people die and others are injured, including Pak and Mary,
the Yoo’s teenaged daughter. Arson is
determined to be the cause of the explosion, and Elizabeth Ward, the mother of one
of the victims, an 8-year-old autistic boy, is charged with arson, battery,
attempted murder, and murder.
The book focuses on Elizabeth’s
trial a year after the explosion. As various
people testify, the case against Elizabeth is shown to have flaws. Outside the trial scenes, the perspectives of
several people present on the night of the explosion (Pak, Young and Mary Yoo,
an injured patient and his wife, the mother of a patient) are given. Each person is lying about something or
withholding information so everyone is morally compromised.
The book touches on a number of
subjects including immigration, parenthood, and caring for special-needs
children. Pak and Young immigrated to
the U.S. to ensure Mary a better life and education but family relationships
have been strained because of that decision.
Several of the HBOT patients are special-needs children; from the point
of view of their mothers, we learn about their struggles and frustrations: “Having a special-needs child didn’t just
change you; it transmuted you, transported you to a parallel world with an
altered gravitational axis.” Certainly,
the book examines how much parents will do for their offspring.
Character development is
exceptional. Few characters remain
flat. Each of the characters whose
perspective is given emerges as a round character with strengths and
flaws. I found the mothers who are
caregivers to special-needs children are portrayed especially realistically;
they reveal their love but also their self-pity and resentment. Because each character is not entirely truthful
or forthcoming, the reader will find his/her opinion changing frequently. One individual will be a prime suspect but
then another will emerge.
A main message is that people
have complicated emotions and motives and when they make choices and take action,
there may be effects on many. A person
may be found guilty for the crimes but perhaps the actions of many “contributed
to the causal chain.” Young realizes, “But
that was the way life worked. Every
human being was the result of a million different factors mixing together – one
of a million sperm arriving at the egg at exactly a certain time; even a millisecond
off, and another entirely different person would result. Good things and bad – every friendship and
romance formed, every accident, every illness – resulted from the conspiracy of
hundreds of little things, in and of themselves inconsequential.”
The novel is a compelling
read. It is a murder mystery, a
courtroom thriller, and a family drama. The
reader’s emotions are fully engaged as he/she tries to determine exactly what happened
that fateful night. Besides providing
entertainment, the book gives much about life for the reader to ponder.
No comments:
Post a Comment