The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
Published by Random House
Who among us hasn’t expressed a wish for more hours in a day? But have you ever stopped to wonder what would happen if you actually got that wish?
Julia is too young to have ever even harbored a wish for longer days when the fallacy of such a mindset becomes apparant. It seems like a normal Saturday morning, at least until the news reports start coming in that the orbit of the Earth slowed overnight. At first not too much changes, but as the Earth continues to slow, things become increasingly complicated. For one, gravity starts to have a great effect, first changing the rhythm of sports, then making movement more difficult for everyone. Secondly, people must decide whether to live by ‘clock time’ or the natural rhythms of the world. Both have their challenges: would you rather try to stay awake for 20 hours and sleep for another 20, or occasionally go entire days without seeing the sun and entire nights in bright sunlight?
The Age of Miracles is one of those books that you can pick up to read for a few minutes and accidentally get stuck in for 70 or more pages. It is a beautifully told story, and works perfectly as either a coming of age story or an apocalyptic one. Walker clearly did her homework on the impact of the Earth’s rotation slowing, many of the negative effects of this change are things that would never have occurred to me, but the science generally seems to make sense once Walker brings them up.
For Julia, a slow apocalypse does not fundamentally change the difficulties of growing up. She must still deal with the growing estrangement of her parents, teasing at school, and her first major crush. Although Julia’s story is about her coming of age, The Age of Miracles is aimed at an adult rather than young adult audience. It would, however, make a good cross-over for young adult audiences.
The Age of Miracles is an endlessly absorbing book with great writing and an even better story. Very highly recommended.
Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*
Source: Publisher.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.
Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2012
I completely loved this book and reviewed it recently, too. I linked my post below in case you want to share the love and comment on my post, too!
I agree that this book is one you get sucked into. I could not put it down, and read it in 24 hours. I love how Julia still experiences first love, family issues, friendship issues, all while the Earth’s rotation slows and larger problems arise. It makes me think about how even though huge events are taking place all over the world, people still try to make their daily lives as normal as possible, and people still experience changes that cannot be prevented (like growing up).
http://loveatfirstbook.com/2012/10/02/the-age-of-miracles-by-karen-thompson-walker-book-22/
I am glad I am not the only one that is slow about getting around to this book. I do have it, but my reading basically sucks lately… I hope I will like it! I also plan to get a copy for my sister for Christmas because she likes this sort of stuff.
I found this felt very YA to me — it was enjoyable enough while I was reading it, but I do not understand the raves or hyper drama about it!
I think it could have been marketed either way, but she was a bit young for a YA heroine.
The concept reminds me a bit of Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life As We Knew It, which I absolutely loved, so this immediately gets my attention! I like the idea that you can read it as either a coming-of-age story or a dystopian one . . . or maybe both. Will have to keep my eyes peeled for it!
It reminded me a bit of Life As We Knew It initially as well. It is a bit less dystopian than Pfeffer’s book, or at least not so collapse-of-society.
This is not a story line I have heard before, I don’t think. At least it is not one I have read. Girl, you are terrible for adding to my TBR list! lol
And I’m not sorry about it!
I Love it! Sort of reminds me of a great book I just finished reading titled, “The Gyre Mission: Journey to the *sshole of the World” by Edgar Swamp, another wonderful futuristic book. Can’t wait to check out “The Age of Miracles.”
I also found this book engrossing and well done, even on the scientific level, though I found lots of reviewers out there criticizing her on that. That was a good quick read: http://wordsandpeace.com/2012/07/09/2012-33-review-the-age-of-miracles/
Yeah I just heard Karen T. read from this at the book festival here last month. Seemed quite good. Liked your review.
I absolutely loved this book. The idea of the Earth’s rotation continually slowing is really scary, and I loved how, in this book, life just goes on. So many things change, but people have no choice but to keep on living and to adapt. For middle school students like Julia, life carries on with the same challenges kids her age have always faced. I loved that, despite the apocalyptic changes happening to the world, this is really a coming of age story. It broke my heart in all the best ways.
http://bookspeakvolumes.wordpress.com/2012/10/10/the-age-of-miracles-by-karen-thompson-walker/