The Age of Miracles: A Novel

Karen Thompson Walker

Jun 2012 · Sold by Random House

About this ebook

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY
People ∙ O: The Oprah Magazine ∙ Financial Times ∙ Kansas City Star ∙ BookPage ∙ Kirkus Reviews ∙ Publishers Weekly ∙ Booklist

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
 
“A stunner.”—Justin Cronin
 
“It’s never the disasters you see coming that finally come to pass—it’s the ones you don’t expect at all,” says Julia, in this spellbinding novel of catastrophe and survival by a superb new writer. Luminous, suspenseful, unforgettable, The Age of Miracles tells the haunting and beautiful story of Julia and her family as they struggle to live in a time of extraordinary change.
 
On an ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, Julia awakes to discover that something has happened to the rotation of the earth. The days and nights are growing longer and longer; gravity is affected; the birds, the tides, human behavior, and cosmic rhythms are thrown into disarray. In a world that seems filled with danger and loss, Julia also must face surprising developments in herself, and in her personal world—divisions widening between her parents, strange behavior by her friends, the pain and vulnerability of first love, a growing sense of isolation, and a surprising, rebellious new strength. With crystalline prose and the indelible magic of a born storyteller, Karen Thompson Walker gives us a breathtaking portrait of people finding ways to go on in an ever-evolving world.
 
“Gripping drama . . . flawlessly written; it could be the most assured debut by an American writer since Jennifer Egan’s Emerald City.”—The Denver Post
 
“Pure magnificence.”—Nathan Englander
 
“Provides solace with its wisdom, compassion, and elegance.”—Curtis Sittenfeld
 
“Riveting, heartbreaking, profoundly moving.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
 
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Ratings and reviews

Interesting premises, but the author seems to want to focus on the storyline of a rather dull and uninteresting teenage girl who has crush on a guy that doesn't notice her, instead of the cataclysmic event. It only mentions the slowing of the earth and its effects in brief moments, and deepest social changes we see are the extremely underwhelming clashes between the "real-timers" and the "clock-timers." For those in search of a more realistic apocalyptic book, I would suggest "life as we knew it"

I just finished reading "The age of miracles" by a relatively new author, Karen Thompson Walter. I often will pick up a "best-seller" if the story line looks appealing. This book was well written and the author does a very good job describing the landscape as our planet "goes south" due to the shifts in magnetic fields. But I have to say it was a rather depressing read. After the first hundred pages I realized I shouldn't read it before going to bed; the time when I most often pick up a book. But what really stayed with me was her description of how our population dealt with the lack of food, high solar radiation, the long stretches of daylight and night, and the personality/health changes suffered by some people as the "slowing" progressed. How some folks adapted, while others just couldn't; true to Darwin's concept. Well worth the read, but judge for yourself as to when best to read it!

This book is 292 pages of boring. Please tell the author that a fiction book needs to have at least a little bit of excitement. The premise of the book and the hype all encouraged me to buy this book... but after reading the book... this was the most boring and disappointing book that i have ever read. Do not waste your money on this book.

About the author

Karen Thompson Walker is the author of The Age of Miracles, which was a New York Times bestseller. She was born and raised in San Diego and is a graduate of UCLA and the Columbia MFA program.  A former editor at Simon & Schuster, she wrote The Age of Miracles in the mornings before work--sometimes while riding the subway. She currently lives in Iowa with her husband.