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A review by sarahetc
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
4.0
I'm glad I don't know much of anything about physics. If I did, I'm sure I'd be disappointed in this book. Or I'd be at least distracted enough by what are apparently faulty physics principles that I wouldn't have been able to enjoy the lyrical prose and precise, very lovable characters. And The Age of Miracles is full of lovely, light poetry about people and places and things we take for granted. It never becomes didactic or heavy-handed or trends into hard sci-fi territory. There are beautiful hints and allusions to hard sci-fi, which enhance the text and pique the reader's interest, and remain delectable and ephemeral, like the tastiest of amuse-bouches you get at a fancy restaurant.
Walker is all about the characters and the scientific oddity is merely a McGuffin to show reasonable people in extremely unreasonable circumstances behaving as reasonably as possibly. I connected with the protagonist, Julia, who is older before her time and wise beyond her years, yet still without the life experience that will let her understand why she feels the way she does. Her parents are messy and real. Her neighbors are strange but average. Her friends are typical, and in being so, completely unforgivable.
Aimee Bender's quote is the first of many on the back of the book. I didn't notice it until I had finished, but I spent the last third thinking, "This feels a lot like that lemon cake of sadness book." Take that for what it is-- light sci-fi, strange, but character-driven in a beautiful, resonant way.
Walker is all about the characters and the scientific oddity is merely a McGuffin to show reasonable people in extremely unreasonable circumstances behaving as reasonably as possibly. I connected with the protagonist, Julia, who is older before her time and wise beyond her years, yet still without the life experience that will let her understand why she feels the way she does. Her parents are messy and real. Her neighbors are strange but average. Her friends are typical, and in being so, completely unforgivable.
Aimee Bender's quote is the first of many on the back of the book. I didn't notice it until I had finished, but I spent the last third thinking, "This feels a lot like that lemon cake of sadness book." Take that for what it is-- light sci-fi, strange, but character-driven in a beautiful, resonant way.