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

Peggy Walker

I LOVED this book. It was not perfectly perfect....the author couldn't quite decide if this should be mainly a coming of age story, or a "end of the world (as we know it)" disaster story, or a story about coming of age during the end of the world story. However, it's her first novel, so I'm more than willing to cut her some slack. The book is told through the eyes of a 6th grade girl. One day, she and the rest of the world are told that the rotation of the earth has been slowing down. No real reason is ever found for this, but the phenomenon continues. Days become progressively longer....30 hours....40 hours....etc. Ms Walker brings up fascinating points I never would have thought of: is gravity changed? Does society stick to 24-hour clock time for business hours, school, etc. since no two days are exactly the same length, or try to adapt to the changing hours of sunlight? What is "the wheat point"? What foods will continue to grow and which will die? How do animals respond? I LOVED thinking about these things as our narrator revealed them in an everyday sort of way. Would there be seasonal-affective mood disorders? Well, you get the idea. Again, it's not a perfect book, but it was fascinating to me and urge anyone with overactive imaginations and curiosity to give it a try.

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.

The age of miracles

Ayesha ahmed

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.

Mohammed Moussa

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

Allyson Marrs

There is a lot to admire about the writing. It's detailed and poetic. Honestly, I would describe this as "literary fiction," although I went into it thinking it was just fiction. My low rating is mainly because this wasn't what I was expecting, and it wasn't something I really enjoyed. It was a brilliant idea, but not executed in a way that fits my tastes. I think Walker is a talented writer, no doubt, but literary fiction just isn't for me.

I would absolutely love to see another author take this subject and really turn it on its head, writing about the destruction, mayhem and/or panic that would arise during the Earth's slowing. I think there was a lot of great material that could have been here; it just wasn't.

b.andherbooks

Julia, 12 years old, is living in a world where the days are becoming increasingly longer due to the Earth's rotation slowing down. Scientists are completely baffled, and people choose different ways to deal with the crisis. Amidst all of the change, Julia also has to navigate normal 12 year old problems, such as parental infidelity, her first crush, and mean kids at school.

Age of Miracles made this slowing of the Earth seem so believable. Thompson Walker never tries to explain WHY, but inestead focuses on the consequences (changing gravity, mass extinctions, food supplies dwindling, skin cancer, etc). After the complete failure of modern science to figure out how to stop an oil spill, her premise that scientists in her book could also not figure out how to 'fix' this problem seems ever more real. Also, as I'm growing tired of post-apopalyptic fiction that seems to fixate on huge disasters (zombies, war, etc) the notion that the world could descend into chaos from such a slow crisis was very refreshing. It was also nice to see this through a young girl's eyes.

Highly recommend!

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.

Elad Schulman

There was nothing about this that I liked.

Jessica Nottingham

The Age of Miracles is definitely much different than anything I've gotten my hands on lately. Beautiful, eerie, and prosaic, this book walks the line between being a coming of age story and a dystopian one. Julia's family is caught in a world that is slowly deteriorating. The Earth is slowing its rotation, days and nights are getting longer, humanity as we know it is in survival mode. Caught up in all this is Julia herself, a young adolescent who is just trying to navigate her own life. Imagine having all the problems you do now, but with the addition of worrying about whether tomorrow will bring famine, huge earthquakes, or worse. That's Julia's reality.

Julia is a bit of an outsider. She observes everything, and reports back to the reader what is happening around her. Her life is spent between dealing with everyday issues, like being the only girl at school who doesn't yet wear a bra, and the issues that come with her new world, like wondering if tomorrow there will be food to eat. What I completely loved about this book though is that it really isn't dreary. Julia's story does have a fair share of hardship and woe. However what she chooses to focus on most times are the good parts. Her boy. A sunny day. The feeling of belonging. It is a wonderful testament to the resilience of the human spirit.

I'm not going to deny that Mrs. Walker's story definitely rattled me. The catastrophe that occurs in Julia's world is one that could honestly take place. The attention to detail is wonderful, and the dystopian world that is built is entirely believable. Every problem that occurs is explained with a mixture of facts and sweeping prose. In fact, the writing is so beautiful that I was lost in it more than once. This is a story that you will definitely read from cover to cover. Don't expect to put it down. Once you fall in love with Julia and her story, you'll want to see it through to the end.

The Age of Miracles is a story of survival. It's a story of adaptation. Above all else, it's a story of a young girl who is just trying to find herself in an ever-changing world. This is a gorgeously written book, and one that is well worth your time. If you are looking for something that will have you thinking long after you've put it down, this is one to add to your reading list. Thank you to Karen Thompson Walker for showing us the strength of the human spirit through the eyes of one young girl.

Leafling

the writing wasn't incredible, but the story/concept was enough to keep me wanting to read.

Jay Carter

Michael Hessling

An OK coming-of-age story set within a terrible SF story.

The Age of Miracles A Novel

Reviews