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    The Age of Miracles: A Novel
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    The Age of Miracles: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Age of Miracles: A Novel
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Age of Miracles: A Novel

    Written by Karen Thompson Walker

    Narrated by Emily Janice Card

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    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

    With a voice as distinctive and original as that of The Lovely Bones, and for the fans of the speculative fiction of Margaret Atwood, Karen Thompson Walker's The Age of Miracles is a luminous, haunting, and unforgettable debut novel about coming of age set against the backdrop of an utterly altered world.

    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

    "It still amazes me how little we really knew. . . . Maybe everything that happened to me and my family had nothing at all to do with the slowing. It's possible, I guess. But I doubt it. I doubt it very much."

    On a seemingly ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, 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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJun 26, 2012
    ISBN9780307970701
    Unavailable
    The Age of Miracles: A Novel
    Author

    Karen Thompson Walker

    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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    Reviews for The Age of Miracles

    3.5/5

    1,510 ratings219 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I loved this book.
    • 3/5
      Five for the narration, 3 for the story. I had to listen to an Audie Award winning book for my Book Riot Reading Challenge this year. I scanned years of award winners, looking for books I had not already read, but were on my TBR list. A short list became a very short list when I searched our local library system, so this was the one. The narration was outstanding, and this is from a person that frequently complains about young female narrators. It's funny, but this is actually the kind of book I was expecting when I read Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands. This story is not new...young girl becoming an adolescent, experiences changes in friendships, first love, loss, learns some adult lessons..and so on. But how to keep that fresh? Why not have the Earth start to die? That was the interesting part for me, since I'm not a big fan of coming of age stories, or stories where no one is happy for more than 30 seconds.....So thumbs down on the YA drama, and thumbs up on the sci-fi-ish world-wide environmental disaster changing things forever.
    • 4/5
      If you enjoyed Life As We Knew it you'll really like this one!
    • 5/5
      This is a perfect example of a book that I probably would not have read if I wasn't doing readers' advisory. But should I be thankful that I am experiencing new stories and broadening my horizons or should I be shocked and terrified at the number of books I'm missing out on?The Age of Miracles asks us an unusual yet profound question: What happens when our concepts of "day" and "night" no longer exist? In the story, scientists have discovered that the Earth's rotation is slowing, to the point where society no longer operates on a 24 hour schedule. Crops start dying. Sickness and disease start spreading. Some people abandon clocks all together and attempt to function using their circadian rhythms. The Earth's gravitational force starts to shift. No one knows what's causing it and no one knows how to stop it.The plot occurs during the first year of the slowing and centers around eleven-year-old Julia. Julia is the story's only narrator, but she is recalling the events of that first year from a point many years in the future. This tells us that she survives the first year of the slowing, so there's no suspense as to whether or not she lives.In fact, the plot is not particularly important to the story. Julia goes to school, deals with boys, watches her family slowly fall apart, but these are not the important factors. What's important is how the characters handle the crisis, and how Julia copes with this insecurity in addition to the typical insecurities of middle school. This is a story of reactions, relationships, emotions, and complicated questions.Since the novel only takes place over the course of one year, the ending is not resolved. We know that Julia has lived, but we don't know what happens to her after that first year, and we don't know what will happen to her once the story ends. Generally, I prefer stories with more closure, but an ambiguous ending is really the only thing that works here.I classify this novel as literary science fiction, although I know many readers will probably find fault with the "science fiction" aspect of the story. The emphasis is on complex, unanswerable questions, lyrical writing, nostalgia, and a bittersweet remembrance of how life used to be before the earth slowed. I'm adding this title to my list of "Sure Bets," and I think this also makes a good suggestion for readers who don't generally read literary fiction. At just under 300 pages, it's not a time consuming read and it doesn't demand a lot of mental effort from the reader. I imagine it as a reading journey - the story captures you at the very beginning and leaves you with an ache in your heart and more questions than answers.Readalikes:The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold. The bittersweet and emotional tones are very similar, and both novels add speculative elements to an otherwise literary story. The Lovely Bones is more emotionally intense, however, and contains much more violent material than The Age of Miracles.The Last Policeman - Ben H. Winters. The genres are very different (mystery vs. literary science fiction), but both stories take place in pre-apocalyptic worlds in which the characters must go about their daily lives in the face of impending disaster.After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall - Nancy Kress. (From NoveList). Young protagonists struggle to make sense of their new societies & lifestyles in these bleak & thought-provoking stories. This book is more clearly defined as science fiction and may provide an appealing alternative to readers who wished The Age of Miracles provided more scientific realism.
    • 4/5
      This book is going to be one of my favorites of 2012, I know it's only January but it was such a fantastic book that it will be hard to top it.
      Set in present day, and based on the premise of Nostradamus' prediction of the end of the world in 2012, this book follows a group of people in California facing that very situation.
      I liked the book because it had an excellent story at the heart of it, a coming of age story really and totally relatable group of characters. I wanted to keep turning the pages to see what was happening to these people and the planet earth. It was frightening also, because the plot seems almost plausible.
      It's made my mind swirl with dark thoughts and I will never casually look at another news story about global warming, earthquakes or wildfires.
    • 4/5
      This was compelling enough to just keep reading because you HAD to find out WHAT HAPPENED. It was a somewhat "odd" book but the author certainly developed her ideas in depth---that was impressive as she really seemed to include everything that "I" could think of as to "what would happen."
    • 5/5
      Enjoyable premise. Have no idea how accurate the actual effects of such an occurrence would be, but read as well thought out. I loved it. And as important as a creative and well thought out premise is, a good story is also needed, and that is also great here.
    • 5/5
      The premise of this story is unique, a storyline no one (that I know of) has ever written about in the past.

      I also really liked the main character, Julia. Despite the potentially catastrophic global event that is being covered day and night by the news, she behaves much like an ordinary teen would - by watching her parents reactions to what's happening, worrying about her family and how they will deal with what may be coming, all the while maneuvering through the day to day dramas of today's current teen environment. Old friends come and go, new friendships are forged, and meanwhile, in the background, there is the constant presence of this "slowing," and Julia's observations about how the people around her are handling it.

      Given what was happening, I was really curious as to how the author was going to conclude her story, and when I got the end, I had mixed feelings. Eventually, I decided it was realistic, yet I had wished for something more, and I think that's because I was enjoying the story so much. Her sentences are beautiful in many ways, although there were times I thought she was overdoing the analogies to some degree. But in the next paragraph, she'd break out a line that would make my heart clutch.

      All in all, this book deserves five stars...
    • 5/5
      What if you woke up one day to discover that the day and night cycles were becoming progressively longer; that the earth's rotation was slowing down. Would you continue to operate on clock time or would you shift to real time? What if the government allowed compliance to one or the other option to be voluntary? How would you behave toward the other group? How would the migratory and other animals be affected? What about the tides and weather? These are the issues that our protagonist, 11-year old Julia, experience as she attempts to lead a normal childhood, e.g., school, friends, childhood crushes, parent - daughter relationships within an apocalyptic situation.

      This debut fiction was disturbing as the earth's rotation causes the days, periods of light and dark, to expand to multiples of their traditional 24 hours lengths and society is disrupted. This novel effected me as viscerally as when an elementary school general science book discussed how life on the earth would end when the sun was extinguished. If the author's subsequent work is as emotional as this one, I will definitely pick up the next novel.

    • 4/5
      A little heavy-handed with foreshadowing as a literary device ("that was before the..." and, "we didn't know yet that..."--That sort of thing). But overall a compulsive page turner and a beautifully down-to-earth story set against a sci-fi backdrop that will give you nightmares. The Age of Miracles has all the bittersweet poignancy you expect in a coming of age novel without waxing too treacly. I recommend. Do not read the author's blurb if you are a perfectionist writer with a bent toward envy.
    • 4/5
      A poignant coming of age book set at a time when the earths rotation is slowing and the end of the world is imminent. A creepy sense of dread becomes an everyday event. People adapt to the unknown. As seen through the eyes of an 11 year old girl we attended middle school and see the effects of "clock time" vrs real time on society. Birds fall from the sky, whales beach themselves. All vegetation dies as the sun beats down 72 hours and then the long frosty nights take over. Snow in California. Awesome read.
    • 3/5
      three star adult book; four star YA.
    • 4/5
      I started it and couldn't put it down.
    • 4/5
      It was difficult to get into this book, but once I did and accepted what I saw, I was repaid. It was somewhat frustrating to accept that the narrator had no answers for what was happening around her. It turned out to be a somewhat maudlin ending.
    • 4/5
      I was reluctant to read this book because I thought it was going to be a bit sci fi with the subject matter. It was not. The earth is slowing down and days are becoming longer and longer. But the novel is so much more. It is about a twelve-year-old girl coming-of-age during this time. I would have liked to see the children have a more fearful reaction to the slowing as I think most children would. But I liked Julia's character and how the author dealt with the issues of friendship, first love, parental issues and so forth, as well as dealing with the slowing of time. I enjoyed the author's writing style as well. People would most definitely have to go on with their lives is such an event were to occur and this story shows that happening. I just wish a bit more panic would have been written into the book, as I think that would be present in this situation. Overall, a good, different kind of read.
    • 5/5
      Julia is 11 years old when the rotation of the earth starts slowing down. "The slowing", as it is soon called, steadily increases the lengths of the days and nights and has a profound effect on the living creatures and plants on the earth. As the days grow longer, citizens are encouraged to continue to follow "clock time" rather than to pace their days with the sun, which causes some people to reject "clock time" altogether, and to attempt to live their lives by adapting their circadian rhythms to the ever changing days and nights. This story is told from Julia's perspective and is not only about the effects of the slowing, but also about her family and friends, her coming of age, and her budding romantic relationship with a boy at school. Although this novel is dystopian and disturbing, it is also hopeful and lovely. I was very surprised by how much I lenjoyed this novel. It was enthralling and moving. Probably one of the best books I've read all year. I highly recommend it!
    • 2/5
      The premise of this dystopian novel seems promising: one day the earth's rotation begins to slow and as it slows, everything from climate, to agriculture, to gravity, to whale populations are effected. The novel focuses on a teenage girl, Julia, and her parents as they struggle to adapt to the unimaginable. As conditions worsen, Julia's parents are forced to face cracks in their marriage that become too large to ignore. At the same time, Julia is dealing with her first teen romance, which may also be her last.Despite my interest in the effects of the slowing, the novel didn't work for me. It read like a young adult novel, although it's not being publicized as such. Julia's coming of age angst didn't resonate with me, and running her parent's marriage through her teenage eyes deprived their relationship of deeper analysis. The writing was, to me, mediocre. I don't think I was a good match for this book, given my personal interests and tastes, and I know others have enjoyed it more.
    • 2/5
      Weakly science fictional and so bloody boring. Dreamy, dopey prose that did nothing for me except make me feel like my time was being wasted.
    • 3/5
      Loved the idea of the book and in parts it really drew me in....but all in all the project as a whole fell flat for me.
    • 1/5
      I cannot find one redeeming quality about this book. The story begins with the earth having more minutes in the day, and the set times and periods of the day run amiss. The story centers on an eleven year old girl, Julia, and her family and friends, as people feel the end of time draws near. The story line is tedious and mundane. Nothing could compel me to finish the book.
    • 3/5
      An eerily haunting book about Julia and her family in the days after the earth's rotation slows. It's an interesting depiction of human behavior and how some people adapt, others stubbornly hold out and everyone has fear of change; how they handle it is the beauty of the book.
    • 3/5
      This book wasn't quite what I was expecting it to be. Instead of a book that deals with the implications of a world that loses it's rotation, this story was about children on the cusp of adolescence growing up in a slightly altered world and dealing with normal adolescent things, like parental problems, losing friends and liking boys. I liked the premise, the setting of the book but I really wanted to know more about earth's problem and less about Julia's problems. The ending felt really rushed. There was no real explanation about how the loss of rotation ultimately affects the world long term. Too bad. Perhaps it was just written for a young audience and didn't want to get into the details. If that's the case I will have to be more careful about searching out the audiences of books before I put them on my lists.
    • 2/5
      The premise of this book is really interesting but I have to admit I was probably expecting a little more. I was hoping for more of a chilly dystopian angle however it fell short of that and was just a bit sad and depressing.

      Overall I found it highly readable and enjoyable, but I wish it was a little more complex. It did, however, really make me stop and appreciate the comforting regularity of 24-hour days.
    • 3/5
      The focus of this book was on relationships, character development, and the growing pains of life, rather than on the supernatural elements. So this book should be categorized pretty much as contemporary fiction rather than science fiction. I really enjoyed the "coming of age" aspects of story, which was done very nicely and made me reflect on aspects of my own childhood and of growing up. However, I just wish there were a bit more explanation and depth on the scientific idea of days growing longer and longer, but no answers were provided.
    • 3/5
      Lackluster ending to an otherwise interesting book.
    • 4/5
      Like Margaret Atwood's "Cat's Eye" meets Cormac McCarthy "The Road." We'll worth reading, beautiful, concise, powerful language.
    • 2/5
      The narrator relates the story of her early-adolescent years, which coincides with the beginning of Earth's spin slowing. This coming-of-age story set in a less-than-violent apocalyptic environment seemed full of possibilities. The story reads as though the Earth's slowing spin will be the main narration, with the narrator simply commenting on people's reactions. But when the reader finds that the author never makes it to narrator's present time, one finds that it is just a generic coming-of-age story. The story does focus a little bit on the psychology, individually and culturally, of the slowing, as well as infrastructure adjustments; however, these almost seem like asides that wouldn't impact the memories of the narrator. Or maybe it's only because the "memories" are being related by a youth that they seem so unimportant. Additionally, since the story never reaches the narrator's present, there seems to be a lack of climax or ending.
    • 5/5
      Amazing! Couldn't put this book down!
    • 3/5
      The story of the gradual end of the world told through the eyes of a 12 year old girl. With the Earth's rotation slowing, Julia's life manages to maintain some sort of normalcy - loneliness and awkwardness are more troubling to her than the slow disintegration of life. I liked the way things progressed slowly - everyone tries to maintain the fiction that life is going on as before, that things will somehow be okay (although surely there'd have been more rioting/crime than seems to occur in this version of events). I wondered if this was meant to reflect the kind of self-absorption of a 12 year old and her inability to take in the dramatic changes that were unfolding around her.

      Other reviewers have critiqued the science of the book, but the author sets up the slowing of the earth as a kind of magic - something beyond the understanding of humanity - and I think that gives her leeway to be loose with its effects. It's a striking concept as written here anyway.

      In the end I didn't quite care enough about the narrator (in the end this is basically a coming of age story), but the writing was dreamily effective and the idea bold enough to carry the book.
    • 4/5
      A book that really makes you think about the things we rely on each day and their permanence. I would recommend this one.