So, I really don't get the title. The Age of Miracles.... Where exactly are the miracles in this book? This story was not at all what I thought it would be. It was sad, tragic, frightening and disturbing. Sickness, death, accidents, people turning against each other. Just not sure how it provides "solace", as one reviewer stated. Where was the hope? Even in the book of Revelations there is hope at the end of all the tragedy!
The narrator of the book is Julia, a lonely, basically friendless, 11/12 year old. She is an only child, so she doesn't even have a sibling to talk to. Her mom is sick; her dad is having an affair and lying to both of them about several different things. Hanna, her BFF at the beginning of the book, moves away, comes back and completely dismisses Julia as a friend. Julia ends up having a few happy months with Seth, who is sad because his mom died of cancer, but then Seth gets sick and moves away. Her grandfather puts all this effort into saving the four of them, and then dies from falling off a ladder, on her birthday nonetheless. Honestly. This is one depressing book! The birds die, the whales die, plant-life dies, people die from suicide pacts, some people are ostracized because they want to live on "real time" vs. "clock time".
Is this supposed to be a forewarning of things to come if we don't stop the ozone from depleting? Then why not just write a book about that? Instead, the world comes to an end as we know it because the earth slows down its rotation, but not its orbiting. Why?? If the author can come up with this unique dystopian idea, then maybe she can come up with a reason why! If the point is that there is no explainable reason, then I guess (for me) there needs to be a message of hope at the end. I need one or the other!
Since this book was so depressing, it won't be a leap for me to start my next book tonight, a non-fiction book on Alzheimer's.
Wendy's Rating: ***
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