The Age of Miracles in Around the World in 80 Books

May 10, 2014 Tony rated it liked it

Shelves: novels, teen

I read this in two sittings when it first came out, enjoying it while reading, and then promptly forgetting it. I decided to listen to the audiobook version to try and recall both why it had held my attention and why it didn't linger. The answer to the former is a combination of the story's simple but strong premise, and Walker's writing. The answer to the latter is probably the overall tone or genre that it seems to fall into by the end.

The book is narrated by Julia, an adolescent girl living a I read this in two sittings when it first came out, enjoying it while reading, and then promptly forgetting it. I decided to listen to the audiobook version to try and recall both why it had held my attention and why it didn't linger. The answer to the former is a combination of the story's simple but strong premise, and Walker's writing. The answer to the latter is probably the overall tone or genre that it seems to fall into by the end.

The book is narrated by Julia, an adolescent girl living an unremarkable life in a cookie-cutter Southern California suburb. However, when the Earth's rotation slows down and creates days of variable length, her world is tossed into turmoil. It's a very simple tweak to our world, but one with severe consequences to health, food supply, electricity, and most importantly, relationships.

While the practical consequences of this are certainly interesting to think about, it's when tackling the relationships that the book really shines. Julia's parents don't have the strongest marriage, and the schism between "real time" and "clock time" people threatens to destroy all sense of community. While the social implications of this can get a touch heavy-handed (it can feel a little too much like an old Twilight Zone parable at times), when it comes to observing the one-to-one interactions between people, the book is spot on.

However, behind the bells and whistles of social upheaval, this is ultimately a fairly straightforward teen or tween book about the pains of being an adolescent. I never read Judy Blume, but it's what I image Judy Blume to be like. There are the popular girls at school who ignore Julia, there is the childhood best friend who suddenly drops her, her parents disappoint her in certain ways, and, of course, a love interest with a nice boy -- there's even a scene involving an awkward bra purchase. No matter how good a touch a writer has with this material, it's too familiar, and without the backdrop of this environmental disaster, it just wouldn't be very compelling. ...more

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Nov 17, 2013 Tok rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: book-i-own

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Aug 16, 2012 Sera rated it liked it

Shelves: library, audio, science-fiction

Walker does a nice job of describing what would happen to both the world physically and the people within society in the event that the earth's axis movement changed. I liked that the narrator of the story was an 11 year old girl, but the book was much less interesting when her story was being told.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it, but it moved slowly for me. I would have rated it higher if the center of the overall story was centered around the end of world and not the girl ...more

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Jun 10, 2013 Astrid Lim rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult, bbi, dystopian, science

Reminds me a bit of the

Life As We Knew It (Last Survivors, #1) by Susan Beth Pfeffer

series. This time, not the moon going out of its orbit, but the Earth is slowing down its rotation. Days became longer and more depressing. I love dystopia/post apocalyptic books, because it made me realized how lucky we are living in a normal world. The heroine in this book, Julia, is very likable - typical bookworm without being too cliche. And the ending, oh how heart breaking. Recommended book. And it's a debut! ...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Madeleine rated it it was ok

Shelves: books-for-hipsters, speculative-fiction

Meh.

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Jul 03, 2012 Saima rated it it was ok

Shelves: library-book

This is not the "end of the world" book the premise lets you believe; instead it is more about an 11 year old girl's coming of age in an uncertain time (10 years in the future) when the earth's rotation has started to slow eventually making one day about 70 hours long. 24 hour plus periods of sunshine as well as darkness have devastating effect on all living things. ...more

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