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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
I really, really liked this book but I hated the ending (hence the four stars instead of five). The author just kind of ended the book, there was no closure whatsoever. I feel like she didn't know how to end it so she stopped writing. But other than that, the book was excellent - interesting concept.
Predictable but morbidly interesting. I'm glad I read it.
Well-written but i just kept waiting for the story to go somewhere.
Tis was a well written book. It is an "end of the world" story but that is not totally focused on because it is also a coming of age story of a 12 year old girl who just happens to be hitting teen years as the world slowly comes to an end. That is what makes the book a fascinating read and you grow you like this young girl and hope that the world will cease getting worse so she can have a long life. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a happy ending and you are left with wondering what happens next.
I loved that the main character is struggling with buying her first bra, having a crush on a boy at school, and trying to navigate the quick changing friendships that happen in a 12/13 year old's world. People are going on with life despite the world slowing in spinning and extending day/night hours by minutes each day. They try to keep a 24 hour timeframe even as the hour sin the day increase and try to do normal, daily life, things despite the world dying around them. It makes the book so much more interesting to see this happen in the storyline because if something like this did happen? If it was a slow process like in the book people would try to carry on and worry about everyday life things.
If you expect happy, every is fluffy clouds, endings then avoid this book. If you get annoyed because things are not overly explained about what is happening, avoid this book. But if you like coming of age stories under dire circumstances, read this book. I am glad I did.
I loved that the main character is struggling with buying her first bra, having a crush on a boy at school, and trying to navigate the quick changing friendships that happen in a 12/13 year old's world. People are going on with life despite the world slowing in spinning and extending day/night hours by minutes each day. They try to keep a 24 hour timeframe even as the hour sin the day increase and try to do normal, daily life, things despite the world dying around them. It makes the book so much more interesting to see this happen in the storyline because if something like this did happen? If it was a slow process like in the book people would try to carry on and worry about everyday life things.
If you expect happy, every is fluffy clouds, endings then avoid this book. If you get annoyed because things are not overly explained about what is happening, avoid this book. But if you like coming of age stories under dire circumstances, read this book. I am glad I did.
Thought-provoking. It felt like there was a lot of build up to a fizzle. Maybe that is the point.
This book is unique, but also totally ordinary. The plotline is a very typical bildungsroman or coming-of-age story. It’s a young girl dealing with ordinary youthful problems: friend drama, first crushes, bra shopping, arguing parents, and loss. It is the kind of story that anyone can relate to.
What makes the story profound is contrasting it against the backdrop to a pre-apocalyptic world. Around Julia people are descending into panic about the “slowing.” People are moving away, others hoarding food, others creating colonies for “real time.” Walker succeeds in the world building of this slightly altered reality. I couldn’t tell you if any of the science bits are correct, but in the end they are irrelevant. The way that people react is both fascinating and frightening. Walker makes it all seem so real in the human ramifications of the slowing.
The slowing has little consequence to the plot, except for maybe the ending. However, the contrast between the buildingsroman raises a lot of questions for the reader. How are ordinary lives as risk of falling in future disaster? Are we like the narrator already too late to change our world? This is the kind of story that might have passed into a genre for younger readers, but instead this novel was published as “literary fiction” which for readers should be an indication that the author is doing something deeper with the story she is telling. Her memoir-istic writing and traumatic aspects definitely nestles it in the current trends in lit fic today.
The only thing that really bothered me was the use of technology in the book. I never felt like it was realistic to the way kids use technology today. The family seems to get all their news from the TV and newspaper, which maybe the occasional car radio. Which was weird, since the narrator has her own cellphone at age 12. It seemed as if texting, social media, and online news didn’t exist in their world. However at the end, she all of sudden mentions internet servers crashing, as well as giving a monologue about technology. I felt like this was the only aspect that kept the novel from being believable to me.
However, Walker’s writing style is both lyrical and whimsical, which help makes up for her technological failings. The book is subtle and gentle, only really emotional in the last few chapters.
What makes the story profound is contrasting it against the backdrop to a pre-apocalyptic world. Around Julia people are descending into panic about the “slowing.” People are moving away, others hoarding food, others creating colonies for “real time.” Walker succeeds in the world building of this slightly altered reality. I couldn’t tell you if any of the science bits are correct, but in the end they are irrelevant. The way that people react is both fascinating and frightening. Walker makes it all seem so real in the human ramifications of the slowing.
The slowing has little consequence to the plot, except for maybe the ending. However, the contrast between the buildingsroman raises a lot of questions for the reader. How are ordinary lives as risk of falling in future disaster? Are we like the narrator already too late to change our world? This is the kind of story that might have passed into a genre for younger readers, but instead this novel was published as “literary fiction” which for readers should be an indication that the author is doing something deeper with the story she is telling. Her memoir-istic writing and traumatic aspects definitely nestles it in the current trends in lit fic today.
The only thing that really bothered me was the use of technology in the book. I never felt like it was realistic to the way kids use technology today. The family seems to get all their news from the TV and newspaper, which maybe the occasional car radio. Which was weird, since the narrator has her own cellphone at age 12. It seemed as if texting, social media, and online news didn’t exist in their world. However at the end, she all of sudden mentions internet servers crashing, as well as giving a monologue about technology. I felt like this was the only aspect that kept the novel from being believable to me.
However, Walker’s writing style is both lyrical and whimsical, which help makes up for her technological failings. The book is subtle and gentle, only really emotional in the last few chapters.
Lost a little bit of steam along the way... Was kind of disappointed in which guy stayed and which one left her life.