- The idea of time slowing down captured my interest.
Summary from GoodReads:
Luminous, haunting, unforgettable, The Age of Miracles is a stunning fiction debut by a superb new writer, a story about coming of age during extraordinary times, about people going on with their lives in an era of profound uncertainty.
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 world, that the rotation of the earth has suddenly begun to slow. The days and nights grow longer and longer, gravity is affected, the environment is thrown into disarray. Yet as she struggles to navigate an ever-shifting landscape, Julia is also coping with the normal disasters of everyday life—the fissures in her parents’ marriage, the loss of old friends, the hopeful anguish of first love, the bizarre behavior of her grandfather who, convinced of a government conspiracy, spends his days obsessively cataloging his possessions. As Julia adjusts to the new normal, the slowing inexorably continues.
My Review:
The Age of Miracles is making a big splash for being such a quiet little book. When I started to read it, I was hooked by the innocent voice and the strange things which puzzled that voice. It’s such an interesting idea – the idea of the earth slowing down and time being prolonged.
Shortly into the novel I realized this is not your typical science fiction, or even post-apocalyptic type of book. This is the book that shows us the other side, you know.. the side we never see in movies. While we’re used to seeing the astronauts out to save the world, or those last minute government decisions, very rarely do we get to see the side of the average Joe and how he, his family, his neighborhood, and his community handles a crisis like this. And the narrator of this story professes a very similar sentiment.
There are no big disasters in The Age of Miracles. There are just small things that get a little larger – things that you wouldn’t expect to bother you, but … give them enough space and it’s clear that they just might after all. I was sincerely moved as I journeyed through this story with its young narrator, and I found myself wondering what would happen if something similar happened to us.
There are no real answers in the book, so don’t go into them expecting to receive a clear-cut one (hear that, Stephen King? No aliens needed). Rather, I think this book is made all the stronger for not having one because it opens the imagination and gives the reader something to think about, long after the pages are closed.
Don’t just take my word for it! Check out what these bloggers say!
Alison’s Book Marks| Coffee and a Book Chick | The Book Smugglers
