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The Age of Miracles  By  cover art

The Age of Miracles

By: Karen Walker
Narrated by: Emily Janice Card
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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)

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What listeners say about The Age of Miracles

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Dear Diary, Met a Boy & the World is Ending

Age of Miracles has been on every "best summer novel", for months now, appealing to fans of speculative fiction with its brief description about a dystopian world. What was not mentioned is the specific target audience for the book - and there was a reason. Originally the book was aimed at a YA audience, then found to be too slow and unexciting enough for that particular market--(saturated as it is with fantastical supernatural creatures and amped up romance) Age of Miracles was actively re-marketed as an adult speculative fiction; suddenly gaining rave reviews from publishers and critics everywhere. Unfortunate for the YA market, and an unexpectedly sweet addition for adult readers. NOW I know that, but it took Walker's beautiful and smooth style, and the pure authentic voice of Julia to lure me in and thoroughloy convince me this was a book for adults. I relate this for a reason...

YA books are not my preferred genre. At the onset, I was disappopinted, thinking I had somehow been duped into purchasing a YA novel, and thus was expected to relate to the everyday events of a 12 yr. old girl. As the book progressed, I still wasn't loving this. I felt like I was being read a 7th grader's Dear Diary, listening as she wrote about training bras, boys, and snooty cliques - all more important than the sudden mysterious global changes. But, what author Karen Walker does so effortlessly and well is keep true and authentic to young Julia's view and voice; and I found myself getting to know this girl, and becoming engrossed in her sincere story. And suddenly the book worked for me.

Parents sometimes joke that egocentric teenagers see themselves as the center of everything, and the events of the world as a backdrop; but it is that concept that makes this story so appealing, and prevents the "spin" or scientific accounting of events from turning this story into just another end of the world read (which is actually all somewhat irrelevant here). Julia is more self aware and observant than this stereotype teen, but still has a bright innocence and naivete that endears her to the listener (reminiscent of the narrator in The Lovely Bones) and makes this story all the more wistful and bittersweet. We care more about this tender, observant young girl than the chaos going on around her. Emily Card does a remarkable, and very convincing job, reading and conveying the emotions of Julia.

It isn't a big speculative fiction blockbuster; there are no dynamic moments or peaks and valleys, rather, it is a consistent flow from the heart as Julia observes her self, her family, and her world, and the world (planet) on their propspective paths of change. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of this book, and the emotion it brings to the surface, and think it works equally well for adults and YA.

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Childlike Innocence Tinged With Adult Regret

There's been buzz about this book for quite a while now, and I have anxiously awaited it's arrival. While other books in similar situations recently have been a disappointment, this book deserves the recognition it's quickly garnered.

Our story is told by Julia, an 11 year old only child of a doctor and part-time teacher. She is enjoying a happy, typical childhood in Southern California, until the fateful Saturday that the news goes public; the rotation of the earth is slowing.

As both days and nights continue to grow in length over time, and the 24 hour clock looses all meaning in relation to the days and nights, the entire landscape of Julia's childhood and anticipated future begin to change. Some of these changes are easily anticipated, while others come as more of a surprise.

The book is told in past tense; allowing you to wonder as you progress through her story where Julia is now, and who we, her anticipated audience, are to be. The other benefit of the past tense is that while the story is being framed from the point of view of an 11 year old child, there is a subtle undercurrent of adult regret in the telling, as the older Julia tells us of that terrible first year of "the slowing". There is also something adult in Julia's growing discomfort of clocks; ticking away time she fears they no longer have, propelling them into a future she doesn't think she wants. The narration, performed by Emily Janice Card (yes, Orson Scott Card's daughter) also added greatly to the tone of the book, mixing child-like storytelling with tones of quiet nostalgia adults will recognize and respond to.

The author was very true to her point of view; at one point I found myself frustrated that we still hadn't really heard much about the economic fallout of the situation, until I realized; through the lens of an 11 year old girl, the focus will fall onto other matters. Once embraced, that fact seems to give the story it's authenticity.

At 9 hours in length, this book is not long; but as 11 year old Julia acknowledges, "Sometimes the saddest stories take the fewest words."

A well written, well read, sad and touching story.

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Pass the Prozac, please!

Great writing, wonderful performance, but without question one of THE most depressing books I have ever encountered -- and truly, I generally LOVE the dark stuff! Ready to pull out an old copy of Lord of the Flies just to cheer myself up after that!

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Not sure I can measure up...

...to the excellent quality of the reviews that have already been written here about Age Of Miracles. Like others have commented, YA is not my usual genre, and if this book had not been marketed as speculative fiction, I would surely have missed it.

I'm very glad that I did not. Seeing the changing world through young Julia's eyes is quite remarkable, and the author maintains a rhythm and a style (throughout nearly all of the book) that is both consistent and powerful. "Of course," I eventually thought, "this is exactly the way it would happen. People would continue to live their lives, fall in love, argue with family members, interact with their pets, make plans, have dreams of the future." This simple and pure quality is what distinguishes The Age of Miracles from other dystopian fiction I have read, and it takes the voice of a child on the brink of adulthood to convey it.

I also agree, however, that the ending is abrupt, and damages the otherwise smooth flow of the novel. I'm not sure what else there was to say, but the transition of years could have been more artful, and I am surprised that her editors did not insist on it.

While this is not always the case, I am quite certain that I would not have enjoyed this book as much in print. Emily Janice Card takes on a challenging task and does it flawlessly. She is apparently in synch with the author's intentions and does not distort the characters with her own interpretations. I sometimes think that the worst readers sit down with a book, completely unfamiliar with it and its intentions, signal for the mike to go live, and start to read. Clearly, Ms. Card understood this book before she began, and it is a masterful performance.

To those of you who are undecided about spending a credit for this book, I urge you to do so. I seldom just sit and listen to a book, preferring to let the book accompany me as I do dishes, clean house, or paint. I sat and listened to this book until it was finished. I will not forget it soon.

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Kinda like if your friend told you a story

Great idea! The rest is kinda ehh. I liked the concept and that science of the earth slowing down was interesting but I never became invested in the human story. It was like a series of sad and unfortunate tales. Could have been way better.

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Too Accurate To Be Captivating

Karen Thompson Walker animates her characters using such brilliant gestures that I felt transported into her protagonist, Julia's slowly changing world. Unfortunately, when the earth's rotation slows down, so does the plot. The excitement of the premise is intentionally set in the background while 10-year-old Julia frets about fashion, friendships, and boys. The changes in the length of a day are so gradual that they don't really matter to the story, just the setting. Every major action the characters made could have occurred in a novel without the earth's slowing. Greater spans of time between chapters would have made for a much more dramatic/ epic narrative. Still, at the heart of the novel is a delicate girls heart: just as fragile and small a thing as our worlds place in the universe, but equally beautiful and important.

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Short on the science

Another pre-teen love story with another unusual challenge. The Earth's rotation is slowing, and every living thing on the planet must adapt quickly or die.
Walker focuses mainly on the relationship among characters, and the science receives an honorable mention here and there. Of course, what's happening to the Earth is affecting how everyone behaves (or misbehaves).
I found the most interesting characters to be the adults, however, especially the relationship between granddaughter and grandfather.
A decent listen, but mainly for young adult listeners.
Lynda,

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Good but not what I expected~

Age of Miracles is a thoughtful novel.

I was dissappointed as I was hoping for something like 'One Second After' or 'Life as We Knew It' and it is not. It is told from the perspective of an 11 year old and is an innocent yet poignant coming of age (a bit early in my opinion~) story.

The changes occurring on earth are merely a back story. I believe if I had different expectations I would have become more engaged.

This is a good book but the synopsis is misleading. I suggest it would be a wonderful read for middle school child. (probably best for a girl as it deals with crushes and first bras!!!!)

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Too slight and narrator reads too slowly

Any additional comments?

The book was all right, in that I finished it. But I wouldn't have read it knowing what I know now. The main problem is that the book is too slight.

I knew this was the story of the Earth slowing and life being upended as seen through the eyes of a youngish girl so I wasn't expecting "The Stand" or "The Road" but I just didn't think the observations were deep enough and there wasn't any action. Some young adult literature works for adults but this was just about right for ages 11 to 13 and truly mostly for girls. I can't imagine a boy being interested in the narrator's training bra dilemmas (although I thought it was one of the book's better examples of getting into the character's mind).

And for a sort of apocalyptic tale, I felt no anxiety about what was happening because it just wasn't told in an interesting way and I felt no grand ideas at play. Disappointing.

Then there's the narrator who reads so slowly, there's no sense of urgency — although it could be argued that it fits the dazed, melancholy vibe of the narrator. If read at a normal speed, an hour could've been shaved off the running time — and getting the book over with was more important to me since it wasn't very good than having her capture the author's tone.

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There Is Already a Better Version of This Book

Consider instead, Life As We Knew It, a YA novel from 2006 with a nearly identical premise and a much better-developed arc in terms of the tension and feeling of impending and realistic peril.

I am almost tempted to reread The Age of Miracles, even though I didn't like it, to see if it was the performance rather than the writing which imparted such a wistful, infuriatingly passive quality to the main character.

Walker relies a lot on descriptive generalizations rather than creating scenes, often referencing the future ("That would be the last time I ate a grape..") which took me out of the story. I also felt she didn't get the age of her character accurately. Julia's concerns did not seem like those of an eleven year old.

I can't recommend this book, at least in its audio book form.

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