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I had such high hopes for this book. It had gotten lots of good press, and it sounded like a new type of apocalyptic story. Instead, it was a rather bland coming-of-age story that just happened to take place in a world where suddenly things were changing.
One day, Julia Walker wakes up and the Earth's rotation is slowing. The implications of this far-reaching but they take a back seat to Julia's story of growing up in this environment. The writing style was a bit detached, and seemed to keep the ...more
One day, Julia Walker wakes up and the Earth's rotation is slowing. The implications of this far-reaching but they take a back seat to Julia's story of growing up in this environment. The writing style was a bit detached, and seemed to keep the ...more

This is one of those books I liked so much I couldn't put it down. I read it in a day and now I want to read it again.
It's a coming-of-age story set in a time when the Earth is slowing down and days are longer than 24 hours. Julia's in middle school and the author did a great job of capturing how rough that time period is for a girl. One second you have a best friend, the next she's best friends with a girl you hated or didn't know existed...and you're left all alone. That happened to me once, i ...more
It's a coming-of-age story set in a time when the Earth is slowing down and days are longer than 24 hours. Julia's in middle school and the author did a great job of capturing how rough that time period is for a girl. One second you have a best friend, the next she's best friends with a girl you hated or didn't know existed...and you're left all alone. That happened to me once, i ...more

Oh. Just oh :(
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I've noticed that a lot of the reviews about this book mention being unconvinced by the narration - they feel that more should have been revealed or explained, that a wider scope should have been portrayed ...more
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I've noticed that a lot of the reviews about this book mention being unconvinced by the narration - they feel that more should have been revealed or explained, that a wider scope should have been portrayed ...more

"This is the way the world ends: This is the way the world ends: Not with a bang but a whimper." I read a book last summer that looked at the end of the world through the eyes of a young man who had somehow been gifted the knowledge of this impending doom. The book had its ups and downs but everything did finally come together in the end. With this book, we see the slow, pun intended, demise of Earth through the eyes of a young 11 year old girl. The premise is that somehow the rotation of the Ea
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There's some really stellar writing here, and it's a nice coming of age story that really captures first love as well as the realization that your parents are just people. However, my problem with this book was a completely personal problem. I kept finding myself being WAY more interested in what happened 20 years after this book takes place. I don't care so much about the immediate effects of apocalypse as I do about how people live after everything has been destroyed. She kept briefly mentiono
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Listened to this shortly after finishing Station Eleven. At first I thought it was kind of cute, but not really equal to Mandel's work. But by the end I had changed my mind. Different, but just as powerful. The juxtaposition of the apocalyptic "Slowing," the ridiculous angst of middle school, and the serious family issues is mesmerizing. My first thought when the audiobook ended was, "Wow, that was bleak." But in a good way.
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Sep 17, 2012
Holly
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
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Wow. I loved this. An amazing debut for Karen Thompson Walker.
"Sometimes the saddest stories take the fewest words." ...more
"Sometimes the saddest stories take the fewest words." ...more

Dear god this book was fantastic. I'm still in tears.
...more

Aug 05, 2012
Jen
marked it as to-read


Sep 22, 2012
Liz
marked it as to-read

Jan 01, 2013
Cindy
marked it as to-read

Feb 01, 2013
Melinda Worfolk
marked it as maybe-i-ll-read-this

Apr 22, 2013
Tiffany
marked it as to-read


Jan 09, 2019
Liz
marked it as to-read