the age of miracles

Title: the age of miracles

Author: Karen Thompson Walker

Publisher: Random House

ISBN: 9780812982947

Length: 269 pages + "A Reader's Guide"

Obtained: Library book discussion copy

Comments:

This was a book discussion selection.  Unfortunately, I missed the discussion (one of the dogs was being tested for her CGC that night), so I don't know what the rest of the group thought.

Julia's life (as well as the life of everyone around her) is upturned when time begins to slow.  The day lengthens, the magnetic field (and gravity?) is altered.  Animals and plants respond poorly, and humans do not fare much better.  Response is varies, so people try to follow the standard 24 hour day, while others try to follow the daylight.  Sleep cycles, metal stability, physical balance and health are all at risk with these changes.  End of the world measures are taken by some while others try to live as normally as possible.

This is something of a dystopian, but it addresses the time of becoming and immediately after, rather than society after all changes are said and done.  It is also something of a coming-of-age story.  Julia recounts her life as an 11/12-year-old during the slowing - complete with puberty, a crush, changes in friendships and relationships, bullies, family drama, and death.  I mostly felt sad while reading this, and the deaths upset me, but I obviously didn't fully connect, or I would have been sobbing.

I finished it, it was okay, the premise was interesting... I just didn't love it.