My library recommended this to me after I finished More Happy Than Not, and I can see why — while the plots have almost nothing in common, the style and theme seem similar. Basically, another coming-of-age story set against a slightly science fiction-y background (although the sci-fi in this story impacts the plot quite a bit more than the memory removal service in More Happy Than Not). “How much sweeter life would be if it all happened in reverse, if, after decades of disappointments, you finally arrived at […]
Growing up is a miracle
The Age of Miracles is a coming of age story against the backdrop of a celestial/environmental disaster. Rather than going into great detail about the science behind the event, the novel focuses on how the seemingly mundane aspects of life are affected by our actions when we no longer can take the stability of the world around us for granted. Goodreads summary: “On a seemingly ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, 11-year-old Julia and her family awake to discover, along with the rest of the […]
“…as if he knew even then that there existed under everything a universal grief”
I suppose that The Age of Miracles can be viewed as a dystopian novel. In it our narrator, Julia, tells us about the year she turned 12 and the Earth’s turning slowed down, eventually leading to weeks of daylight and weeks of darkness. It can also be said that this is a sad book, about the dying and destruction of our world. These things are true, but somehow Karen Thompson Walker prevents the novel from being as unbearably sad as the description might have you […]
Not with a bang, but a whimper.
What would happen if the rotation of the earth slowed? Beyond the physical effects on the earth, what changes would occur socially? How would a young person moving into their teen years deal with both the transition to adulthood and a crumbling society trying to stay afloat? This book came highly recommended but ultimately left me a little cold. I thought it fell short of its full potential. The science fiction geek inside wanted a little more meat to conflict set up regarding earth’s […]