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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
Depressing. I was depressed for days after reading this. I gobbled the book up, yes, but golly. Depressing.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Blood, Car accident
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Self harm, Death of parent
Minor: Pregnancy
Reading this in 2025—in diminished health due to Long COVID and in greater dread of authoritarianism—is traumatic. Four stars out of five, but I wish I hadn’t picked it up.
An uneventful coming-of age story set in an apocalyptic society caused by the slowing of the rotation of the earth. There are much better reads out there. I continued this book because I was listening to the audiobook version at work, and it was a good form of entertainment for the time being. At parts it was interesting, but mostly it was dull narrative of a preteen girl.
Another one of those books that's 3.5 stars for me becuase some things were so well done - the description of the slowing of the earth and what that meant for people, how it tore them apart individually and communally - and yet, I'm not sure what I walked away with. Parts of this book (maybe most of this book) were very disturbing and for what value to the reader? But maybe I am also just tapped out on apocalyptic fiction. Worthwhile (and fairly quick) read overall, but only if you are in the mood to handle something disturbing.
Holy crap, batman, this may be the creepiest book I've ever read. That one sentence about the bees, in the midst of the bird die off, rocked my world. So much that we take for granted, and so much that we take and use without regard for the effects on the rest of creation....
A very creepy doomsday scenario as told by an adult through the eyes of her 11 year old self.
A very creepy doomsday scenario as told by an adult through the eyes of her 11 year old self.
A beautifully written book about the need to find purpose and direction in life during the midst of complete chaos. I loved it.
*yawn*
It was fine. The writing is lovely, and the premise is good, but I really felt like there was something missing here.
It was fine. The writing is lovely, and the premise is good, but I really felt like there was something missing here.
Well, I did think about this book after I finished it. The tone stayed with me.
Here's the thing: the author has written a coming-of-age book, but she's chosen to bind it with a slow apocalypse, an end-of-the world story. And I'm not sure she should have done that. I was reading this as a science fiction reader, and as science fiction, the book fell short. As a young adult coming of age book, I think it succeeded.
Our main character is pretty passive through most of the book, hardly says anything and spends most of her time observing. We read through the alienation of early teen years, when you just can't quite find a place to fit, the helplessness of your first crush, and how the ground feels pulled from underneath you when your parents show their feet of clay. While maybe a bit too flowery, this was generally well done. Probably Judy Blume did the brutality of the early teen years a bit more bluntly, but this worked.
I couldn't get into the slowing of the earth, though. I wasn't sure that the science of the earth spinning more slowly made much sense. There was never an explanation, but people seemed pretty calm about the whole end of the earth thing as a whole. Some people went off and lived in "real time" colonies, attempting to adjust to the new reality, while most others stayed on "clock time" in order to maintain a semblance of the old world's rules. I actually had some sympathy for trying to adjust to the new world, but all the "real timers" were portrayed as dropped-out druggies, so I guess that's not where the author's sympathies lay.
There just didn't seem to be much emotional impact to the end of life as our main character knew it. She watched but never seemed to have much feeling about it. Maybe she was too young? However, this book was written from the standpoint of the main character ten years later looking back. You'd think there would be more sadness than remarking upon when she ate her last grape. In fact, I've got no clue how our main character, or anyone for that matter, is still alive. It's just not seen as important.
I wish that the author had found another "hook" for her book than the end of the world. In this work, the two concepts of coming of age and apocalypse just don't mesh well together. The book also just seems to stop, not end. Part of me wonders if this would have worked better as a short story, without the additional expectation of explanation that a longer work engenders.
Here's the thing: the author has written a coming-of-age book, but she's chosen to bind it with a slow apocalypse, an end-of-the world story. And I'm not sure she should have done that. I was reading this as a science fiction reader, and as science fiction, the book fell short. As a young adult coming of age book, I think it succeeded.
Our main character is pretty passive through most of the book, hardly says anything and spends most of her time observing. We read through the alienation of early teen years, when you just can't quite find a place to fit, the helplessness of your first crush, and how the ground feels pulled from underneath you when your parents show their feet of clay. While maybe a bit too flowery, this was generally well done. Probably Judy Blume did the brutality of the early teen years a bit more bluntly, but this worked.
I couldn't get into the slowing of the earth, though. I wasn't sure that the science of the earth spinning more slowly made much sense. There was never an explanation, but people seemed pretty calm about the whole end of the earth thing as a whole. Some people went off and lived in "real time" colonies, attempting to adjust to the new reality, while most others stayed on "clock time" in order to maintain a semblance of the old world's rules. I actually had some sympathy for trying to adjust to the new world, but all the "real timers" were portrayed as dropped-out druggies, so I guess that's not where the author's sympathies lay.
There just didn't seem to be much emotional impact to the end of life as our main character knew it. She watched but never seemed to have much feeling about it. Maybe she was too young? However, this book was written from the standpoint of the main character ten years later looking back. You'd think there would be more sadness than remarking upon when she ate her last grape. In fact, I've got no clue how our main character, or anyone for that matter, is still alive. It's just not seen as important.
I wish that the author had found another "hook" for her book than the end of the world. In this work, the two concepts of coming of age and apocalypse just don't mesh well together. The book also just seems to stop, not end. Part of me wonders if this would have worked better as a short story, without the additional expectation of explanation that a longer work engenders.
Maybe I read this a little too close to the Pandemic. Maybe I just don’t really like reading “end of times” books. Maybe it felt a little too real of a possibility to enjoy.
But this book was not my favorite. When The Slowing begins and all of life begins to change. Middle School is hard enough for Julia…..and then this.
The Real Timers vs the Clock Timers and the persecution of those that didn’t follow “the rules”…….ugggggghhhh. Way too much like the Maskers vs Non-Maskers.
Just was not for me.
But this book was not my favorite. When The Slowing begins and all of life begins to change. Middle School is hard enough for Julia…..and then this.
The Real Timers vs the Clock Timers and the persecution of those that didn’t follow “the rules”…….ugggggghhhh. Way too much like the Maskers vs Non-Maskers.
Just was not for me.