The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker--Review & Giveaway!

The Age of Miracles, with its eleven-year-old protagonist, does not fit my normal preference in some ways--I don't always care for young adolescent narrators--but I loved it, beginning to end. 

One ordinary morning, eleven-year-old Julia and her family wake to find that the Earth's rotation has begun to slow.  Julia is not too worried at first, even experiencing a bit of a thrill at the upheaval of all the normal routines, but soon even she can see undeniable evidence of the slowing in her world.  The days and nights increase by hours or minutes each day, showing no signs of stopping.  Before long, animals are dying, food is becoming more difficult to grow, and even gravity is affected.  Amidst all these changes, Julia must continue to navigate the winding path of daily life--school, friends, parents, and boys.

In her excellent debut novel, Karen Thompson Walker delves into the intricacies of everyday life in the midst of what is quickly becoming a global crisis.  Though Julia is recounting memories from an unspecified later time and there are moments of omniscient foreshadowing, the bulk of the narration is in her eleven-year-old voice.  Using Julia's perspective to tell the story, Walker does an outstanding job of explaining and showing just enough about "the slowing" to keep the reader's interest, without getting bogged down in the minute scientific details--the "how, why, when" particulars that would have been too overwhelming for this book.  I read somewhere that Karen Thompson Walker is a former editor, and her experience shows.  It's hard to believe this is her first novel, and I will definitely be on the lookout for more from her in the future.

I have seen The Age of Miracles described as science fiction, dystopian, and a coming-of-age story, and I'm not quite sure how I would classify it myself.  A science fiction label would have deterred me from reading this book, so I won't call it that.  How about an insightful coming-of-age story with a unique and thought-provoking backdrop?  Close enough!

Put it in whichever genre you would like, just READ it. 

**I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through TLC Book Tours.  For more reviews and giveaways, check out the full tour schedule here.

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~GIVEAWAY~

I am excited that the publisher, Random House, is offering to give away a copy of The Age of Miracles to one reader!!

• To enter, just leave a comment on this post and make sure your email is linked, or to leave a way for me to contact you.
• I will select a winner at random on Sunday, July 8 at 10:00 p.m. central time.
• U.S./Canada residents only