It’s hard to write a book about the end of world and make the reader feel good about it. I avoided this book for a while, it’s whimsical cover, and the seemingly wafer thin plot. The world slows down, it spins slower, and The Age of Miracles is what happens when things stop happening. It was very hard for me to put this book down, even while I managed to finish NW by Zadie Smith, I was peeking at this book, reading it on the sly, cheating on Zadie with KTW.
Julia narrates this story, she’s coming of age, and we get to see her with all her girl jitters: boys, bras, and social cliques that she doesn’t fit into. KTW perfectly populates this world, and slowly lets it disintegrate as the story moves forward.
During “the slowing” birds fall from the sky, and most importantly, the sun rarely sets. Gravity, it’s not only a good idea, but the law. This throws everyone out of rhythm, and suddenly the population begins to splinter into those who live by the clock, and others who don’t. The nights are days, and the days are night, kids still go to school, people to work, and life goes on. Days that never end, truly, never come to an end, and darkness only arrives like an unwanted stranger.
KTW keeps the end of the world right around the corner, like something you just can’t catch up to. You’re trying to figure out what will happen, or how it will end, while Julia and her family slowly implode. Her father is a doctor: stoic, tough, sensible, but he shines brightly for the neighbor. Julia’s mother is hysterical over the climate changes, and all signs point to her having arrested in her development at the age she married. Julia is stuck in adolescent want, sex is a mystery, and boys a welcomed intoxication. She tries to fit in and can’t because the social structure is nervy and arrogant. Julia’s natural calm and novice charm drive this story. If Julia grew up, I’d like to meet her.
Meanwhile the earth is falling apart. Tides are fantastically high, and the coast of California where this book takes place is flooded. There so many beautiful and thrilling scenes; when they wander through the flooded houses on the coast, or when Julia hides in a bomb shelter inside a friend’s house during hide and seek. Julia falls hard for a local skateboard silent type that is very slow to show his feelings for her. But listening to her pine for him exciting just the same. The writing here is magnetic and detailed, but not so much that you lose interest.
KTW leaves a lot for the reader to imagine, and lets you in while doing it. This is a kind of poetry, a fable, or a tale you tell at campfires, and just as scary. Julia grows up while the world ends, and you savor this book, slowing down while you read it, so it won’t end too soon.
