The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Pages: 269pgs

The Story

'It is never what you worry over that comes to pass in the end.

The real catastrophies are always different - unimagined, unprepared for, unknown . . .'

What if our 24-hour day grew longer, first in minutes, then in hours, until day becomes night and night becomes day? What effect would this slowing have on the world? On the birds in the sky, the whales in the sea, the astronauts in space, and on an eleven-year-old girl, grappling with emotional changes in her life...? One morning, Julia and her parents wake up in their suburban home in California to discover, along with the rest of the world, that the rotation of the earth is noticeably slowing. The enormity of this is almost beyond comprehension. And yet, even if the world is, in fact, coming to an end, as some assert, day-to-date life must go on. Julia, facing the loneliness and despair of an awkward adolescence, witnesses the impact of this phenomenon on the world, on the community, on her family and on herself.

The Review

A big thanks to Simon & Schuster Australia for sending me a review copy of this book!

This book has received many high praises over the last few months or so and when I received a review copy of this book I was really looking forward to reading it because let's face it . . . I had no idea whatsoever what it was actually about. But when I quickly scanned the plot online, I liked how the storyline reminded me a lot of the film Melancholia were there's a weirdness element to it and the possible chance of the world coming to an end, only everyone around you is not quite sure when or whether it will happen.

THE AGE OF MIRACLES is set in the sunny and southern setting of California. But in a very quiet neighbourhood. Everything seems perfectly normal until "The Slowing" begins, where the Earth is reportedly slowing down and where the days and nights grow longer - longer until the human world soon forgets the 24 hour days. Julia, our main protagonist, is your average eleven-year-old girl when you first meet her and later in the book it's then told through an older Julia whom looks back on the events of "The Slowing".

After putting down this book at the end, I can definitely say I enjoyed the concept and the interesting characters that I was introduced to along the way. The author, Karen Thompson Walker, did an excellent job in describing the unusual events of "The Slowing" and how it affected the population - and Julia in this case - and I even enjoyed how multi-layered this book ended up being like towards the end. But, unlike the fans out there in cyberspace, sadly I found this book was not of my book taste. I mean, I do love some wonderful books with their weird-but-very-original concepts (which this book is in the best possible way), however this book just didn't hit home for me especially with the weak ending it offered. The book contains so many wonders of this changing Earth that we know of today but then all of a sudden the ending changes things . . . not for the better I'm afraid. I was a bit confused. Actually . . . I was confused a lot. But it despite my rating it's still good. Weird but good, only it just wasn't my cup of tea. Maybe it can be yours?

Overall, THE AGE OF MIRACLES was a thought-provoking read that questions everything you could possibly imagine and I would highly recommend this book if you love coming-of-age stories or something along the lines of the post-apocalyptic kind!

The Rating

2/5 stars