Author: Karen Thompson Walker
Version: Advanced Readers Copy (ARC)
Voice: First Person
Release Date: June 26, 2012
Publisher: Random House
Genre: Fiction (almost dystopian)
[EDIT: Due to a dear friend I discovered that I had accidentally used the incorrec middle name of the author. My only excuse is that it was late I just wasn't paying enough attention. I have fixed it now but I still wish to apologize to my readers and Ms. Walker if she ever sees it for the 11 hour faux pas. Thank you all for reading and understanding that mistakes do indeed happen.]
SYNOPSIS: It is California 2012 and sixth grader Julia believes that this is the year that everything is going to get really good. She has her best friend Hanna and a secret crush and all seems right in the world. That is until they wake up one Saturday morning and find that the earth's rotation has slowed and everyone is unsure as to what that all might mean. All Julia and her family know is that right now things are scary and uncertain. Her mom, a former actress, flies into panic survivalist mode and begins collecting batteries, canned food, bottles and bottles of water, and all the jars of peanut butter she can find. Julia's father Joel, a doctor, continues on in his stoic way.
Julia knows that even though things are in a weird place at the moment she will still have her friends, and most importantly Hanna. When Hanna, her family is Mormon, tells Julia that they are moving to Utah to await The End Julia's world begins to fall apart. In very short order the days begin to lengthen, time starts to mean little and Julia finds herself beginning to struggle. Though there are days that are dark, with the sun only starting to rise at 9 or 10 at night, people have been trying to live according to the sun cycle. However the government has decided that everyone should go back on 'clock time' and start trying to live life as normally as possible, even if it means school starts in the dark.
Without Hanna Julia is lost in a sea of people that seem to be moving in a world separate from hers. Meanwhile the earth continues to slow and the changes begin to become more and more drastic. The ocean tides get to be so unpredictable that all beaches have been evacuated, the gravity begins to shift so that balls thrown into the air fall faster and eventually all the birds in the world begin to fall to earth never to rise again. Through it all Julia tries to keep her head down and her hopes high that maybe this terrible thing isn't all that terrible.
REVIEW: I really, really liked this book. I was even a little bit blown away by it. The funny thing is I never would have found out about this book if it wasn't for a friend at work. She came up to me one day and told me that I absolutely had to read this new ARC called "The Age of Miracles" by Karen Thompson Walker. She said that she thought I would really like it and you know she was spot on. I enjoyed just about every part of this book. It was one of those books that you just find yourself enjoying fully.
The writing was beautifully done. It had an innocence to it that was refreshing to read, and it was simplistic in many ways. Ms. Walker didn't become overly poetic or dramatic with the way the story was told, she just told it the way she saw it. There were times, however, that I found myself wishing she maybe treated things more maturely or used a more grown-up voice but I still found myself unable to stop reading. I finished it in a very short amount of time because her writing was just that good.
The story was a new twist on an old tale, the end of the world as we know it. I liked that it wasn't aliens coming to take over our world or a virus that was wiping everyone out. It was something that might possibly happen if we continue treating our world the way we have been treating it. And though Karen Thompson Walker focused on a town in California she made sure to mention that everything that was happening there, was happening everywhere around the world. Proving that as different as all people are none of us can survive for long when our planet stats to fail.
Though the ending of the world was of course a large part of the story it wasn't the central point. It was instead a story of growing up and trying to figure things out in a world that has quite literally gone a bit crazy. And Ms. Walker blended the two seamlessly. This is a great read, and a wonderful book. I really recommend "The Age of Miracles" to anyone who is looking for something that is a little different and maybe even a little sad. This is a book to look into if you enjoy a good story and incredible writing. On June 26th, go to your nearest bookstore and buy yourself a copy of "The Age of Miracles," it is well worth the wait and the money.
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