Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I wanted to like this book--I expected to like this book--but somehow I can't. What we have here is a science-fiction themed coming-of-age story that narrates a year or so in the life of an 11- or 12-year-old girl. If I'd understood that this is a book for children / young adults when I started reading it, I might not be as disappointed as I was. Age of Miracles is definitely not for adults. The writer's voice is too earnest, the science too soft, the plot and point of view explicitly adolescent. I did find things to like about this book. On the whole, it is quite readable. The premise of the book is an interesting one, and Thompson is a writer who understands rhythm and cadence. Her voice is strong and consistent (if a bit stilted). The main character, a thoroughly unremarkable, somewhat timid woodland creature of a girl, is well-realized and persuasive; her concerns, thoughts, and actions rang true. I expect many readers, like me, will readily identify with her and want to care about what happens next to her. Sadly, not much does. The book is readable, and yet somehow hollow and unsatisfying. The back story--that the earth's rotational spin is slowing down--would seem fertile ground for exploration, yet the devastation and chaos that would surely ensue remain stubbornly in the background and unbelievably muted. If the protagonist is well-developed, the same cannot be said of the supporting cast. They are either overtly one-dimensional or so mysterious as to remain shadow figures. There is a flat, dead aspect to everything about the book. Perhaps that is intentional, a literary tip of the cap, as it were, to nihilism, apathy, resignation. If so, I don't think it serves the writer or reader well. I can appreciate the author exploring the idea that there are situations that come from out of the blue, that aren't anyone's fault, that have no solution. But if everyone has emotionally checked out and nothing much happens, who cares? Who cares?