Search This Blog
April Reviews Link-Up
May Reviews Link-Up
June Reviews Link-Up
July Reviews Link-Up
August Reviews Link-Up
September Reviews Link-Up
October Reviews Link-Up
November Reviews Link-Up
December Reviews Link-Up
2024 Literary Escapes Challenge
- Alabama (1)
- Alaska
- Arizona (1)
- Arkansas
- California (3)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia (1)
- Hawaii
- Idaho (2)
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland
- Massachusetts (2)
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York (2)
- North Carolina (2)
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon (2)
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (1)
- Utah
- Vermont (1)
- Virginia (1)
- Washington (1)
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.*
International:
- Australia (1)
- Canada (1)
- England (7)
- France (1)
- Ireland (1)
- Italy (1)
- Scotland (2)
- The Netherlands (1)
2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Gentle Dystopians? Not For Bloodthirsty Me.
1:05 AM
(Image from Barnes & Noble)
Remember about a month ago when I said this book was the gentlest dystopian I'd ever read? Well, I might have lied. The Age of Miracles, a debut novel by Karen Thompson Walker, is also a quiet, mostly anticlimactic story about the end of the world. It's dystopian, but (mostly) without all the violent intensity of most books in the genre. It's a slow, ethereal kind of story, one that's deep, ponderous and, well, kind of boring. After reading two books like this, I'm finding that I need my dystopians to be taut and suspenseful. Otherwise, they just don't work very well for me.
At any rate, the story goes a little something like this: Julia, an 11-year-old California girl, wakes up one morning to find that the earth's rotation is slowing down. While the phenomenon seems to spell certain doom for the world at large, at first not a lot changes. Julia still attends school, hangs out with her friends and tries to make sense of her eccentric grandfather. As time crawls along, however, time becomes an unpredictable thing, a change so momentous that it leads to chaos, hate and even violence. Meanwhile, Julia's dealing with the usual tween woes—friend fights, tension between her parents, and trying to get a cute boy to notice her. While life moves slowly on, Earth's inhabitants are well aware that it's only a matter of time before life as they know it disappears forever.
Like I said, not a lot happens in The Age of Miracles. The book boasts some lovely writing and the subject matter is thought-provoking; all in all, though, it's just kind of dull. Depressing, too. A ho-hum read for me, this one failed to leave any big impressions, leaving me pretty much ambivalent. Yeah, 'nough said.
(Readalikes: Reminded me a teensy bit of Safekeeping by Karen Hesse and of The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta)
Grade: C+
If this were a movie, it would be rated: R for language (a few F-bombs, plus milder invectives) and mild sexual innuendo/content
To the FTC, with love: Another library fine find
3 comments:
Comments make me feel special, so go crazy! Just keep it clean and civil. Feel free to speak your mind (I always do), but be aware that I will delete any offensive comments.
P.S.: Don't panic if your comment doesn't show up right away. I have to approve each one before it posts to prevent spam. It's annoying, but it works!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(Atom)
Reading
Listening
Followin' with Bloglovin'
-
-
-
What’s Not Mine By Nora Decter5 hours ago
-
Bookish Quote of the Day!!7 hours ago
-
Daily Prompt 19 April Friday9 hours ago
-
43. The Mystery of Locked Rooms14 hours ago
-
2024 Reading Firsts17 hours ago
-
Sunday Post17 hours ago
-
-
The Gathering by C.J. Tudor18 hours ago
-
FO Friday: Nathair Mitts20 hours ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Reading as a retreat from reality2 days ago
-
-
-
Novel Love Story5 days ago
-
-
Invisible Woman by Katia Lief1 week ago
-
Reading Recap March 20241 week ago
-
Waiting on Wednesday - Think Twice2 weeks ago
-
-
March Monthly Wrap-up2 weeks ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
What Happened to Summer?6 months ago
-
6/25/23 Extra Ezra9 months ago
-
-
-
-
-
Are you looking for Pretty Books?1 year ago
-
-
-
-
-
Grab my Button!
Blog Archive
- ► 2021 (159)
- ► 2020 (205)
- ► 2019 (197)
- ► 2018 (223)
- ► 2017 (157)
- ► 2016 (157)
- ► 2015 (188)
- ► 2014 (133)
- ► 2013 (183)
- ▼ 2012 (193)
- ► 2011 (232)
- ► 2010 (257)
- ► 2009 (211)
- ► 2008 (192)
Um, if the world stopped spinning wouldn't it be completely disastrous?! This one sounds more like a contemporary with a apocalyptic element thrown in. :(
ReplyDeleteI'm going to skip this one. I need edge-of-my-seat suspense and fast-paced action in dystopian novels, too. (And apparently, I need hyphens in my comments :)
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear you were underwhelmed by this book. I'd seen it in the shops and been intrigued by the idea. I may still give it a go, but wait for the paperback or the library to get a copy, and not raise my expectations too high.
ReplyDelete