Name: The Age of Miracles
Rating: 3.75 (88 reviews)
ISBN: 9780812983609

Karen Thompson Walker

Imagines the coming-of-age story of young Julia, whose world is thrown into upheaval when it is discovered that the Earth's rotation has suddenly begun to slow, posing a catastrophic threat to all life.

A Novel

The Age of Miracles

momo-reads

Captivating but ultimately disappointing.

Jeannette Ordas

Another dystopian world where the slowing of time wreaks havoc until the planet dies. This book was filled with too many spoilers of the "it would be some time before I saw her again" variety that it becomes downright silly. Not the best way to keep up the mystery.

Shay Henrion

I'm going to just hope that this never happens in real life.

Kayla Walters

This book was both simple and complex. In this novel, the characters are informed that the world is slowing, and because of the physical, biological and chemical ramifications of this, the earth is dying. But they are faced with the dilemma: how can we as human beings carry on and live our lives, make friendships, grow older? 

I was swept away by the concept of this book and pleased by the way the author dealt with the possibility. Telling the story through an 11-year-old narrator really struck home the idea of a changing world and loss of innocence. 

A beautiful story.

Mary Rose Luksha

My review is pretty much going to say what every other review I read has said - the concept was great, the writing was good, the execution left a lot to be desired.

The Concept - one eleven-going-on-twelve girl's account of the first year the rotation of the Earth began slowing and the physical consequences. Compelling, right?

The writing - Perhaps because the earth's rotation was slowing, the author used that theme to adopt a languid, evocative style of writing. The writing itself was very pretty, slightly diminished by a few cliche metaphors and some absolute statements that sounded doom-impending but ended up more like that feeling you had when you watched the last episode of Lost.

The execution - I think the writer was torn between two stories. The first is the sci-fi bit about the slowing of the Earth, a fairly unique concept I think. But the narrator was also telling a coming of age story about what middle school and boys are like, and what middle school and boys are like when crazy things are happening because the Earth is slowing down.

In the end I felt gypped on both accounts: the sci-fi concept was never fully maturated, and the coming of age story never had that one defining moment, that one twist or turn that you could point to and say yes she grew and changed. Some could argue the last line was that moment, and maybe those people were sated with that ending, but I wasn't.

So, the three stars are for pretty words but unmet expectations.

Rachael Austin

Started off strong but was sort of anti-climactic and hurried at the end

Emily Ruth Carter

I appreciated the originality of the story. I had never imagined this type of dystopian future. I liked Walker's use of language, but at times I felt that the poetry of her way of blending words distracted from the story she was telling, as if she was wrapped up in creating a phrase instead of furthering her story.

Nat Welch

Kind of short. An interesting perspective on the end of the world.

Olivera Mitić

Okay, wow. I completely changed my mind about this 3/4ths through. I was so touched by it and by the depths it reached and the emotion it was able to provoke in me. Books like this are proof enough that you should always try to finish the entire tome before forming a final opinion.
Bravo.
Just amazing.
A longer review to come.

Jordan Robinson

This book is awesome. I felt everything Julia felt and more. I was scared and happy and sad for her. The writing is amazing. It's so good, I'm jealous. The only thing I regret about this book is not reading it sooner. <3

Renee Delcourt

This book does the whole uncomfortable atmosphere perfectly. There's this sense of dread that encompasses the whole story but you keep hoping that there will be some happy fix to everything that happens. I like that it doesn't sugar coat how bad things can get and doesn't try to give you a cookie cutter happy ending.

Laura

It was very good but the chapters of the book felt too much like she was young. I would have liked if the perspective of the book when looking back reflected in her memories that she was in her 20s or 30s rather then seeming like a 12 year olds perspective while also having the knowledge of future events

Andrea Badgley

I read an interview with Walker's agent Eric Simonoff in the July/August 2013 issue of Poets & Writers magazine, and in the article he walked the reader through an agent/author experience, from receiving a query to publishing a best selling novel. The author he used as an example was Karen Thompson Walker. Simonoff explained that she sent him the first forty pages of her novel-in-progress, and they completely blew him away. "Those pages exist in her first novel, The Age of Miracles, largely untouched from when they crossed my desk," said Simonoff. "They were absolutely arresting." After that endorsement, I picked up the book and he was right - Walker hooked me immediately. I read the book in two days. And I have to say I was one of the readers who, like Simonoff, was "greeted with exactly the same reaction that [he] experienced, jaw-dropping appreciation for what a marvelous writer she is, and what an amazing novel she'd created." I love a book that can suck me in, and with exquisite writing, and The Age of Miracles did that.

The Age of Miracles A Novel

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