The Age of Miracles – Karen Thompson Walker

The Age of Miracles was without a doubt a very unique work of fiction.    Something has happened that has caused a “slowing” of the earth and the length of the days begins to get longer.  This would almost put it into a genre that I generally don’t have much use for.  The end of the world type of story.  However, this one is very different mostly because of the way it is told.  For its told through the voice of Julia, who is about to turn 12. Julia’s voice gives it a very different tone than would be expected from such a novel.  For its almost a calm narration of how a would would react to a change in everything they know.  As the slowing continues, there emerge all that we would expect from a reality of such a situation.  The religious fanatics preaching the end of times the doomsayers, the deniers.  Eventually, you get a split in society with the clockers (those that choose to run on the old 24 hour clock regardless of the ever increasing length of days and nights) and the real timers who live by the sun’s time. Julia goes through life doing her normal daily schedule and commenting on the people that come in and out of her life.  How people change, things change, the sickness that affects many including her mother.  And through it all, she still speaks with the dreams and wishes and fears of most any girl her age. Its a beautifully told tale.  Though I do have to say that the one thing that didn’t fit well was that Julia’s voice did not come across to me as that of a 12 year old.  I would have put her age by her voice as that of a teenager.  But, that if that is the worst I can say of a person’s writing, then she did quite the job.  And it seems the other reviews on her book seem to echo my sentiments as well.  Karen Thompson Walker is most definitely a voice worth watching for in the future.