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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
I can't quite give it 4 stars but I really liked it. It bothered me how little there was about what was going on in the rest of the world.
I found this book immersive in 1. my ability to relate my own tween/adolescent years and 2. the way the world changes but the focus stays small. Catastrophic events, the possible end of the world forever, but we take it in doses between the events and unfoldings of everyday life through the eyes of a middle school-aged girl. Some reviewers find the title unfit, but I think it is in regard to the little things - a first kiss, the relief of your father returning home when you think he may be gone forever, the way our bodies and minds and perceptions change during those early teen years; but I also think it is quite possibly a tongue-in-cheek reference, because who would call the end of the world a miracle? It was a moving little trip to read this book and I'm happy I did so.
4.5. "art thrives in times of uncertainty"
i truly didn't think i would enjoy this book as much as i did. goodness, this made me realize once again why english is my favorite subject! so beautifully written and interesting and intriguing! i had to read it for school and was very pleasantly surprised because most people described it as boring. i did not get the same feeling. i really, really liked it!
i truly didn't think i would enjoy this book as much as i did. goodness, this made me realize once again why english is my favorite subject! so beautifully written and interesting and intriguing! i had to read it for school and was very pleasantly surprised because most people described it as boring. i did not get the same feeling. i really, really liked it!
Truth is I didn't like the book. For me, there was something missing. Maybe some unexpected ending or some twist in the story. I think I am always expecting at least little bit of fun in teen-age literature, but here I could not find anything. Probably I am getting too old for this.
And to all that I really didn't like one character, the mother of the girl. Every time she was saying something I was like, oh please not again, please stop and go away.
Maybe somebody enjoy apocalyptic novel from the view of 12 year old girl, but not me. I am not going to read it again.
And to all that I really didn't like one character, the mother of the girl. Every time she was saying something I was like, oh please not again, please stop and go away.
Maybe somebody enjoy apocalyptic novel from the view of 12 year old girl, but not me. I am not going to read it again.
A different kind of apocalyptic tale. Slow and meandering, "The Age of Miracles" tells of the end of the world as we know it not by focusing on a catastrophic implosion or explosion, but by detailing the effects of the slowing of the Earth's rotation on the daily life and coming of age of sixth-grader Julia.
The reviews for this book seem to be all over the map but I loved it and will recommend it. While the author doesn't fully explore the scientific backdrop to the story as some sci-fi readers might want, to me that's not the point. I found it very human and fragile. Might make my top 5 for the year...
2 1/2 stars...premise is interesting but overall found the characters weak. Tom Perotta's "The Leftovers" had a little more oomph for me than this one did.
Too light-weight, too teenage, too YA for me. Read half only.
2.5 stars. I really wanted to like this book, and I did like the writing. But I just couldn't suspend my disbelief enough about how completely ridiculously understated the natural results of slowing the earth's rotation were. I kept thinking "where are the massive floods/storms/devastation??" Rule that I think should be followed: if you want to explore how people react to a profoundly changed world, you can't have your readers constantly distracted by the cause of the change.
Overall, this was a very good read and the author did an impeccable job of making the characters believable in a completely unbelievable situation. I genuinely connected with Julia, and couldn't put the book down once I started. This was obviously written for a younger reader, but didn't feel dumbed down at the same time.
The relationship with Seth really struck me, and it was developed almost seamlessly and took me back to my middle school days. That first love, those crisp memories of flutters seeing the boys soccer team run past your practice...it was almost as if the author was in my head. Good stuff.
The relationship with Seth really struck me, and it was developed almost seamlessly and took me back to my middle school days. That first love, those crisp memories of flutters seeing the boys soccer team run past your practice...it was almost as if the author was in my head. Good stuff.