“It was, at the beginning, a quite invisible catastrophe.” The Earth slowly stops spinning. What is going to happen to Julia and her life?

I loved The Age of Miracles. Really, it’s been a while since I read such a good novel.

First of all, the apocalypse motif is something different: the end comes from a subtle change in the Earth rotation cycle. A subtle change at the beginning, which slowly gets bigger and deeply impacts on the life of the people and of the living things on our planet.

(do you think that’s an unrealistic scenario? uhm…it’s already slowing…read this article: The Slowing Spin of Earth)

I also liked the narrative point of view. Julia, the main character, is a real character, far from the usual heroic stereotypes so typical in this genre. She lives and internally reflects the changes in the outside world, while dealing with changes in her body, in her family, in her friendships, in her love. The Age of Miracles can be easily read as a Bildungsroman.

Yes, the book bends slightly towards the Young Adults mood, but the plot is well built, the prose contains a few gems, and the overall book keeps you reading for hours, without losing tension.

Well, I would have liked more on the apocalyptic effects, more on the repercussions the slowing has on human society, more on how the society would cope with this end-of-world, but the choice of the author to focus on the “microcosmo” around Julia is what makes this book original.

And if you want more around the slowing, the book has been marketed with an ad-hoc website: http://theslowing.com (well, quite empty).

In addition to that, there are two official websites for The Age of Miracles: an official website for the US edition of The Age of Miracles, and an official website for the UK version, where you can get more info, interviews, and a reader’s guide.

What do you think of this book?