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The Age of Miracles [Hardcover]

Karen Thompson Walker
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
RRP: £14.99
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Book Description

21 Jun 2012
'It is never what you worry over that comes to pass in the end. The real catastrophes are always different - unimagined, unprepared for, unknown...' What if our 24-hour day grew longer, first in minutes, then in hours, until day becomes night and night becomes day? What effect would this slowing have on the world? On the birds in the sky, the whales in the sea, the astronauts in space, and on an eleven-year-old girl, grappling with emotional changes in her own life..? One morning, Julia and her parents wake up in their suburban home in California to discover, along with the rest of the world, that the rotation of the earth is noticeably slowing. The enormity of this is almost beyond comprehension. And yet, even if the world is, in fact, coming to an end, as some assert, day-to-day life must go on. Julia, facing the loneliness and despair of an awkward adolescence, witnesses the impact of this phenomenon on the world, on the community, on her family and on herself.

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK (21 Jun 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0857207237
  • ISBN-13: 978-0857207234
  • Product Dimensions: 22.5 x 14.4 x 3.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 125,527 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

A beautifully observed coming-of-age tale in the great American tradition ... nimble, delicate and emotionally sophisticated --Edward Docx, Observer

Hauntingly believable ... an impressive and quietly terrifying book --Alison Flood, Sunday Times

A surprisingly quiet, tender book with which many will fall in love --Ed Wood, welovethisbook.com

A powerful, mesmerising read --Woman & Home

This is not a bombastic disaster movie in book form, but a precise, localised view of dramatic change ... Thompson Walker skilfully marries the epic and the everyday: her young female narrator and Middle American setting brought to mind Alice Sebold s The Lovely Bones --The Times

A luminous, magical coming-of-age novel --Marie Claire

Gripping from the word go --Easy Living

A brilliant tale of a youngster growing up under extraordinary circumstances --Heat

A staggeringly impressive debut --Reader s Digest

Stunning in its originality, devastating in execution. The Age of Miracles is one of the most exciting debuts I ve read --Vogue

A quietly powerful and original novel --Psychologies

I asked my editor if I could give this books 6 stars out of 5. My favourite book of the year so far --Sunday Express

The book that will make you look good on the bus 5 stars, --Heat

Blending global catastrophe with a touching coming of age story, Karen Thompson Walker has created a truly remarkable novel you won t be able to stop thinking about --Good Housekeeping

The Age of Miracles spins its glowing magic through incredibly lucid and honest prose, giving equal care and dignity to the small spheres and the large. It is at once a love letter to the world as we know it, and an elegy --Aimee Bender, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

What a remarkable and beautifully wrought novel. In its depiction of a world at once utterly like and unlike our own, The Age of Miracles is so convincingly unsettling that it just might make you stockpile emergency supplies of batteries and bottled water. It also thank goodness provides great solace with its wisdom, its compassion, and the elegance of its storytelling --Curtis Sittenfeld, author of American Wife

Miracles indeed. Karen Thompson Walker s debut novel is a stunner from the first page an end-of-the-world, coming-of-age tale of quiet majesty. I loved this novel and can t wait to see what this remarkable writer will do next --Justin Cronin, author of The Passage

A genuinely moving tale that mixes the real and the surreal, the ordinary and the extraordinary with impressive fluency and flair... her novel will remind many readers of Alice Sebold s 2002 novel The Lovely Bones... it, too, creates an elegiac portrait of an ordinary world, forever rocked by terrible events. Ms Walker has an instinctive feel for narrative architecture, creating a story, in lapidary prose, that moves ahead with a sense of both the inevitable and the unexpected... Ms Walker maps [the characters ] inner lives with such sure-footedness that they become as recognizable as people we ve grown up with... one of this summer s hot literary reads --Michiko Kakatuni, The New York Times

'This is not a bombastic disaster movie in book form, but a precise, localised view of dramatic change ... Thompson Walker skilfully marries the epic and the everyday: her young female narrator and Middle American setting brought to mind Alice Sebold s The Lovely Bones' --The Times

'A luminous, magical coming-of-age novel, set in a world where time becomes meaningless and the ordinary extraordinary' --Marie Claire

'Stunning in its originality, devastating in execution. The Age of Miracles is one of the most exciting debuts I've read' --Vogue

'A quietly powerful and original novel' --Psychologies

'I asked my editor if I could give this books 6 stars out of 5. My favourite book of the year so far' --Sunday Express

'The book that will make you look good on the bus' 5 stars --Heat

'A curious tale that s gripping from the word go' --Easy Living

'Blending global catastrophe with a touching coming of age story, Karen Thompson Walker has created a truly remarkable novel you won t be able to stop thinking about' --Joanne Finney, Good Housekeeping

'A perfectly contemplative read' --Cosmopolitan

'A powerful, unsettling but mesmerising read' --Woman & Home

'Vividly captures the changing world of a 10 year old girl, which is brilliantly mirrored by the apocalyptic changes in our world. An imaginative, haunting and gripping book by a very exciting debut author' --Observer

'A genuinely moving tale that mixes the real and the surreal, the ordinary and the extraordinary with impressive fluency and flair... her novel will remind many readers of Alice Sebold's 2002 novel The Lovely Bones... it, too, creates an elegiac portrait of an ordinary world, forever rocked by terrible events. Ms Walker has an instinctive feel for narrative architecture, creating a story, in lapidary prose, that moves ahead with a sense of both the inevitable and the unexpected... Ms Walker maps [the characters'] inner lives with such sure-footedness that they become as recognizable as people we've grown up with... one of this summer s hot literary reads' ----Michiko Kakatuni, The New York Times

'A genuinely moving tale that mixes the real and the surreal, the ordinary and the extraordinary with impressive fluency and flair... her novel will remind many readers of Alice Sebold's 2002 novel The Lovely Bones... it, too, creates an elegiac portrait of an ordinary world, forever rocked by terrible events. Ms Walker has an instinctive feel for narrative architecture, creating a story, in lapidary prose, that moves ahead with a sense of both the inevitable and the unexpected... Ms Walker maps [the characters'] inner lives with such sure-footedness that they become as recognizable as people we've grown up with... one of this summer s hot literary reads' --Michiko Kakatuni, The New York Times

About the Author

Karen Thompson Walker is a graduate of UCLA and the Columbia MFA program. A former book editor, she wrote The Age of Miracles in the mornings before work. Born and raised in San Diego, California, she now lives in Brooklyn with her husband.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 32 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Pedestrian account of the apocalypse 4 May 2012
By J. Morris TOP 100 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
The Age of Miracles is the story of Julia, a young girl living in California when the Earth's rotation begins to slow down inexplicably. As days & nights become longer, society shifts to adapt to the new time scales but the ever increasing length of the rotation means that plants & animals begin to suffer. Gravity increases and causes earthquakes & inertia-induced sickness in people. Will there be an end to this paradigm-shift? Will Julia ever manage to get together with her crush Seth? Time (ever-lengthening) will tell...

AoM is an interesting concept from the get-go, but it's juvenile perspective means that we never learn what has caused this or what science is doing to try and fix things. Rumours are constantly alluded to, but the author Karen Thompson Walker steers well clear of an actual explanation. Interesting in it's description of the break-down of society but ultimately it's an account of a young girl getting her first training bra and her feelings about her parents, friends & first-crush - which is set at odds to the far more interesting situation unfolding around the characters.

Resultantly, this reads like a young girl's diary set to a back-drop of apocalypse. I would have liked more scientific substance, but that's me - I still feel compelled to warn you that this isn't an account of a decline into dystopia though, it's an extremely middle of the road read weighing in at a meagre 268 pages that focus on the musings of a child. If that appeals to you then fair enough, but I was much more intrigued about why birds were falling out of the sky, rather than watching Julia's parents marriage fail. Hope this helps make up your mind on this book!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars Great premise, but rather downhill from there 8 Feb 2013
Format:Paperback
Eleven-year-old Julia lives with her parents in California. This is the story of (about) a year in her life, as her parents' marriage flounders, as her crush on a boy develops into a pre-pubertal relationship, and as society begins to crumble due to the progressive slowing of the earth's rotation.

I was drawn to the book because of the Sci-Fi element but this was a mistake as the story is really more about Julia than the science.

Indeed, as the whole thing is told from Julia's point of view, we really learn nothing about why the earth is slowing down, or even why society is falling apart. Everything is viewed from the perspective of an 11-year-old girl. Which might be fine if you're a (pre-)teen or enjoy fiction written from that point of view.

Also, Julia's voice is a little too removed, a little too dispassionate. The story is told as though she is in her mid 20s, looking back to how she was when she was 11-12, what she felt, etc.

With some strong language, and references to things like "handjobs", I'm not sure it would suit readers under, say, 14. It's definitely a YA book so mature readers may be left wanting a lot more from it.

I loved the premise. For me, though, grafting a YA story onto a SF backdrop, and not telling us very much at all about the science, just didn't work.

5/5
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating idea, compelling read 14 May 2013
Format:Paperback
I couldn't put this book down, it was so compelling to read once I'd taken on the idea of the earth slowing. The author had such a great idea which fitted with adolescence - the world ending in your head with a boy ignoring you at the bus stop, buying the wrong bra, losing childhood friends..... and all linked with the huge earth event of the slowing down and lengthening of days. The ideas were often too big for the novel and a debut novel which was flawed in some of the writing. However, I found it compelling in the innocence of Julia's character. The development of the relationship with Seth is so innocent and sad, and I felt very drawn to its tragedy. The ambiguity of the Syndrome, the disappearance of people, and Julia's lack of knowledge on adult themes all compelled me to this book. Absolutely loved it - and so sad it's over!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting and thoughtful debut
One day, the world wakes up to find that the rotation of the earth has begun to slow. As the days continue to stretch and the minutes pile in, the very notion of time is distorted... Read more
Published 3 days ago by Macey89
1.0 out of 5 stars Embarrassingly lightweight
Can't think what Waterstones is doing, making a fool of itself touting this pap, possibly of appeal to American teenagers, as an adult read. Read more
Published 12 days ago by ReadInBed
5.0 out of 5 stars Ideal introduction to a different genre
My daughter, aged 11, has found this book to be an eye-opening introduction to a genre that she had not previously considered. Read more
Published 1 month ago by MR PATRICK GALE
3.0 out of 5 stars The end of miracles?
It was an interesting insight as to what might happen if the world suffered this phenomenon of slowing, but the underlying human tragedies were depressing
Published 2 months ago by J Winters
3.0 out of 5 stars Didn't end as expected
I love the premise of the book, although I wasn't particularly fussed on the ending, however I do understand why it was written that way
Published 3 months ago by K. Wright
3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed
I wanted to read this since I heard the
Author on Simon mayos radio show a while back. It was not what I expected, the ending was weak, story lines not finished, gaps in the... Read more
Published 3 months ago by SEH
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I have ever read
Forget the mean spirited comments made about the science not being right, The Age of Miracles is not a text book but a keenly observed account of a sequence of events. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr Duncan Gaylor
4.0 out of 5 stars Strangely gripping
A view of a world undergoing a slow decline. I got this book after hearing about it on the radio, plus another called `The art of fielding`, both are excellent reads and for what... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr. John Wyper
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting premise, but never really lives up to the promise
The earth slowing is a good vehicle for an interesting novel, and as usual the novel is really about something else: growing up. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Patten Jack
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved!
Although this is a teenager's book I was captivated . It is the sort of book that you think about long after you have finished reading. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Gill Salver
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