The Age of Miracles

A Novel

By: Karen Walker

Narrated by: Emily Janice Card

Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Nominee, Science Fiction, 2013

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. "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.

©2012 Karen Thompson Walker (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

Advance praise for The Age of Miracles
: "[A] gripping debut....Thompson's Julia is the perfect narrator...While the apocalypse looms large-has in fact already arrived-the narrative remains fiercely grounded in the surreal and horrifying day-to-day and the personal decisions that persist even though no one knows what to do. A triumph of vision, language, and terrifying momentum, the story also feels eerily plausible, as if the problems we've been worrying about all along pale in comparison to what might actually bring our end."( Publishers Weekly)

"In Walker's stunning debut, a young California girl coming of age in a dystopian near future confronts the inevitability of change on the most personal level as life on earth withers. She goes through the trials and joys of first love. She begins to see cracks in her parent's marriage and must navigate the currents of loyalty and moral uncertainty. She faces sickness and death of loved ones. ...Julia's life is shaped by what happens in the larger world, but it is the only life she knows, and Walker captures each moment, intimate and universal, with magical precision. Riveting, heartbreaking, profoundly moving. ( Kirkus Reviews)

"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 Prep)

Quirky premise, great writing, imaginative

This read is engrossing and original. When the earth slows its spinning, the unexpected effects on human life become almost a character in the story. The premise is very imaginative and well-described.

The point of view of the young girl is exquisite and satisfying. I recommend this listen if you can suspend disbelief as you might do to enjoy science fiction. The characters are beautifully detailed and believable. The writing is terrific. My only small gripe: I don't understand the title, though -- it didn't seem to fit or relate to the story. Highly recommended for something readable and different.

Compelling story line

Wonderfully fresh story line -- I was compelled to see how the author would end it. Really interesting to hear how things are impacted as the world slows down. Some slow (pardon the pun) spots, but really clever. Glad I read it...Now she's got me thinking about global warming...

Sci-fi meets teen nostalgia, a no regrets read.

My love of dystopian novels brought me to this one, and if you've got a 12-17 year old, this will be an awesome read for them. Of course, if you want some nostalgia of your young teenage years mixed with an interesting "what if?" scenario of the Earth's rotation slowing down, then I promise, this is a no regrets read.

Coming of Age in the Apocalypse

Beautifully written. A little depressing.
Extremely relevant. The narrator does not rush the text and allows each carefully crafted line it's own time to resonate. Overall a wonderful book.

Beautiful story.

It's hard for me to really fall in love with a book and give it a 5 star rating. This book is definitely a favorite. The storytelling is poetic. The character development was very touching.

Fantastic debut novel

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I'm recommending this book to all my friends because it's a beautiful coming of age story set at the end of the world. The perfect combination of literary and science fiction.

A Future look at Earth

it's a bit scary because this could happen. they teller did a a great job.

riveting story from a youth POV

I just finished listening to the story four times.

Yes I wish there was more science and a happy ending but I think much of it is true to science. I think this would make for a great movie with a little bit more detail of how the rest of the world was affected, and perhaps some of happier ending. if there were years, perhaps we could populate Mars.

Dumb Fantasy

The world's spin is slowing down, and gravity is affected, but only a little bit and only at the beginning. OK, so it's fantasy and I am supposed to go with the flow of it, but the scientific basis is so weak that I just cannot get into this one. Besides, the characters are supeficial, the story dull and pointless.
Who gave this book a good enough review to have motivated me to try it. I kept waiting for some redemption at the end, but the writer also ran out of steam by then too.

Perverted Can't believe school reading

This book was perverted and I painfully listened to the beginning with my sixteen year old son; he was given this book as summer homework in order to be in 10th grade AP English next year. I was disgusted. I had to stop after it mentioned one teenager was not born knowing how to give a hand job... What is that doing in school reading? I don't know what chapter or how far we got, audible says middle of chapter 5, but I wish I had stopped sooner. It was painful to listen to. Though it did have some suspense, it dragged and didn't seem to be going anywhere good.
I have to talk to my son's school and see what is going on. Now I am reading these reviews because I wanted to see if I was the only one that didn't like this book. I plan to go back through the book and get with the teacher. Anybody out there have the same issues?
I can't say much about the performance because the book was so horrible.