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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
I think it has a cool premise, but I thought it was redundant and predictable in the end.
I was really excited to read this book, but was left feeling a little disappointed because of the high expectations I had after reading the reviews. I like the premise of the book, but felt that Walker could have explained the science part of things more--I attribute that vagueness to the fact that the story is being told from the point of someone who didn't understand everything as it was happening. I was also a little disappointed that the government didn't have more presence in the book--this want for a sinister govt. I attribute to The Hunger Games.
I am trying to think of how I would have reacted to this book as a teen and I'm sure that I would have liked it and thought a lot less about the technicalities of it. Would I recommend it to someone else? Sure.
I am trying to think of how I would have reacted to this book as a teen and I'm sure that I would have liked it and thought a lot less about the technicalities of it. Would I recommend it to someone else? Sure.
There wasn't really a plot? All the foreboding got pretty old and what's revealed didn't really merit the set up. Nothing very moving about the journey so I'm puzzled about this pretty basic end of world / coming of age story. Super white and western which is also dull. Annoyed that a book about a 12 year old girl barely even passed the Bechdel test. Skip this and go read Parable of the Sower!
This was what I would call a decent "beach read" type of book. It was easy and straightforward but not too deep. She writes about adolescence with a sweet nostalgic voice but grazes over some major plot lines and leaves a lot of questions unanswered.
Could not finish this. I'm sure it would be ok for more target readership but poor science blew it for me. Think it is meant to appeal to women wanting a Wonder-stuff style reminiscence of American teenagerhood rather than grumpy male physicists.
I loved Karen Thompson Walker's The Age of Miracles. The novel starts from a simple premise: all of a sudden, the Earth begins to slow down its daily rotation. Each day gains a bit more time, and over time, the rolling global impact grows and deepens. As the days get longer, gravity changes, the weather changes, plant and animal life suffer.
I have read comments on this book wondering about the science behind the story. That's not the point of the book. Walker tells the story from the point of view of an 11-year old suburban California girl, Julia. Yes, its another coming of age story, and Julia has her own problems to worry about. Family strains and stresses, friends at schools, boys, her clothes and appearance and all the rest.
Julia's first-person reflections about her life match the pace of the unfolding disaster. The writing sparkles with descriptive and emotional power. The prose has a languid quality that reinforces the feeling that the world really has slowed, gotten hotter, harder to move through. I loved its wondrous, dreamlike pace, and it has stayed with me since finishing the book.
I can't imagine being eleven again. Like other young adult novels, Julia's issues bring on self-absorption and inner torment. She doesn't need a global catastrophe on top! From that point of view, I found it fun and interesting that in taking on environmental collapse, Walker chose a source that human activity didn't cause and which we can't easily overcome. From Julia's point of view, it doesn't really matter. Its a problem inflicted on her by the adult world. It's for this reason, the lack of typical "hard" science fiction detail didn't bother me.
And yet, the book has an undertone that maybe we did cause this, maybe we didn't. Maybe its connected with everything else gone wrong, maybe it happened on its own. And maybe the government and societal responses show the best of humanity, and maybe they just show self-interest , shortsightedness, and social and economic unevenness. I loved how all this starts off just beyond Julia's reach, and then she grows up in the crisis, trying to balance it with her issues of school, family, first love.
This is Walker's first novel. Though the story begs for a sequel, I almost hope that she leaves the story and Julia's life snapshot to stand on their own, and moves on to dazzle us with a whole new set of people and issues.
I have read comments on this book wondering about the science behind the story. That's not the point of the book. Walker tells the story from the point of view of an 11-year old suburban California girl, Julia. Yes, its another coming of age story, and Julia has her own problems to worry about. Family strains and stresses, friends at schools, boys, her clothes and appearance and all the rest.
Julia's first-person reflections about her life match the pace of the unfolding disaster. The writing sparkles with descriptive and emotional power. The prose has a languid quality that reinforces the feeling that the world really has slowed, gotten hotter, harder to move through. I loved its wondrous, dreamlike pace, and it has stayed with me since finishing the book.
I can't imagine being eleven again. Like other young adult novels, Julia's issues bring on self-absorption and inner torment. She doesn't need a global catastrophe on top! From that point of view, I found it fun and interesting that in taking on environmental collapse, Walker chose a source that human activity didn't cause and which we can't easily overcome. From Julia's point of view, it doesn't really matter. Its a problem inflicted on her by the adult world. It's for this reason, the lack of typical "hard" science fiction detail didn't bother me.
And yet, the book has an undertone that maybe we did cause this, maybe we didn't. Maybe its connected with everything else gone wrong, maybe it happened on its own. And maybe the government and societal responses show the best of humanity, and maybe they just show self-interest , shortsightedness, and social and economic unevenness. I loved how all this starts off just beyond Julia's reach, and then she grows up in the crisis, trying to balance it with her issues of school, family, first love.
This is Walker's first novel. Though the story begs for a sequel, I almost hope that she leaves the story and Julia's life snapshot to stand on their own, and moves on to dazzle us with a whole new set of people and issues.
Dreamily written slow-motion account of an apocalypse from a child's point of view. Some gorgeous writing, little plot, and a rather unsatisfying ending/nonending, but a unique way of looking at the end of the world.
Loved it! Such an interesting book & premise - that the Earth's rotation gradually starts to slow down, and all of the changes this causes. The story is told from one girl's point of view, and how her life and family is affected. I didn't want to put this down, and finished in just a few days.
Julia, 12, details "the slowing" of the earth's rotation and what happens to her and her family as a result.
Scientists are confirming the impossible: the Earth’s rotation is slowing. This coming-of-age story follows Julia and how she, her family and her community cope with the natural, physical and emotional changes occurring due to this inexplicable phenomenon. This speculative fiction is very well written with a genuine adolescent voice. – Sara G