The Age of Miracles / The Leftovers

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker, Random House June, 2012


The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta, St. Martin's Press, June 2011

I thought I’d review these two dystopic/apocalyptic novels together because they explore similar themes.  In Miracles a young girl comes of age in a world that is slowly changing and perhaps ending as the earth’s rotation slows.  In Leftovers a young man, previously something of a slacker, matures as a significant portion of the population disappears from the earth. 

Some Spoilers

Leftovers is written almost as a social satire.  The characters are colorful and somewhat exaggerated.  The story starts five years after ‘The Rapture’. On one day over twenty per cent of the earth's population has disappeared.  Every race, religion and age group are represented in the losses.   Kevin Garvey is the mayor now and is trying to bring normalcy to a highly unusual situation.  Everyone has had family and friends disappear.  His wife has joined a new cult that vows silence, smokes constantly and looks to serve as a living reminder of god’s judgment.  His daughter has morphed from a normal high achieving high school student to a troubled rebellious teenager; his son Tom has left college to follow a fraudulent “prophet” Holy Wayne and his new girlfriend has lost all of her family in the disappearance.  Each of these characters provides fodder for the author to explore different responses to events and chart character transformations.  Unfortunately for me many of the characters including Kevin, lacked emotion in their response to events.  When characters are impassive I tend to care a whole lot less about what happens to them.  This story started very well, with an interesting premise and it contained some humorous sections but in the end it fell short I think because the author could not decide whether it was a character based story or a satire.  Not satisfying! 

Miracles is really a coming of age novel that is set during an apocalyptic time.  Julia is an eleven year old suburban girl when the story opens.  The earth’s rotation is slowing and the days are lengthening.  The author does an excellent job of describing through Julia’s eyes the impacts of this slowing. The sense of impending doom is supported with all of the detail provided.  The ocean’s whales die (very movingly), the trees die, crops fail, birds fall from the sky, the electric grid falters and some people develop a strange sickness.  The adults in the story while considerably unnerved try to provide a ‘normal’ life for Julia.  Despite all of this life goes on, Julia’s teenage years are centered on Seth Moreno a neighborhood boy she likes.  Her parents’ marriage totters but in the end stands. Her grandfather disappears.  Seth becomes her boyfriend and she grows up.  This was a well written interesting story.  The lead character Julia's love of life was well contrasted with all of the death around her.  Her voice very believable.  Julia grows and changes as the story progressives.  The ending was abrupt and somewhat unsatisfying although I would not have had a clue as to how to end this fascinating story.  Recommended

The Uninvited Guests

by Sadie Jones, Harper, May 2012

...skip this one and do something useful with your time

The story is set in an isolated English country house in the early years of the twentieth century.  The house is owned by the Torrington-Swifts - mother Charlotte and three children, Clovis the nineteen year old son, Emerald the twenty year old daughter and Imogene a nine year old.  In true English fashion there are of course  some servants.  Friends from the city are invited for a weekend house party and the family and staff are deep into preparations for the party when word is sent that there has been a train wreck and survivors will shelter at Torrington-Swift house.  The weekend guests arrive and the stranded passengers soon behind them.   The only survivor from the first class section, Charlie Haversham immediately attaches himself to the house party while the other survivors are sequestered in one room of the house.  Things get very weird after this.

Let me count the ways I disliked this book.  Charlotte, Clovis and Emerald were the most unlikeable major characters I have come across in a long time.  They were arrogant, vain and obnoxious.  I do realize that the author might have been writing satire but whatever,  I did not find it enjoyable.  The subplot that involved Imogene and a pony was truly ridiculous and mostly beyond belief.  The prose was dreadfully unwieldy; the author never used one word when six were possible.  Lastly, toward the end of the book the story completely jumps the shark (and the genre) and becomes a zombie story! 

I get offered a large number of books to review and I usually don’t accept books unless I have an expectation of liking them; this one came with recommendations from Jacqueline Winspear (Maisie Dobbs) and Ann Patchett (State of Wonder) some of my favorite authors.   Did those women read the same book I did?  Do they indiscriminately lend their names to these book jacket blurbs?  I do hate to trash a book in a review but skip this one and do something useful with your time.

I read an advanced copy of this book provided by the publisher

11/22/63

11/22/63:A Novel  by Stephen King, Scribner, November 2011

It is part historical fiction, part sci fi, and part love story...rewarding and enjoyable

Nothing appeals to me quite as strongly as a good time travel story and this is a good one! The protagonist is Jake Epply a high school teacher who becomes a time traveler. He always returns to the same date in Maine in 1958. Each trip provides a complete reset, that is any actions Epply took that changed the past in a prior trip are erased. Initially Epply works to prevent some local tragedies in Maine but eventually he decides that preventing the assassination of John Kennedy in Dallas in 1963 will lessen the world’s problems. He sets out to prevent Oswald from killing Kennedy. I really don’t want to reveal too much of the plot here because the suspense is key to enjoyment here.

Let me spend a few words on why I thought this was such a good story. The period detail that the author brings to this story is great, he gets the 1950s early 60s just right, down to the music, the clothes, and the simplicity of the life style. The details of the Kennedy assassination are spot on. The characters are very well drawn and you end up caring about all of the major characters. For me the love story between Epply and Sadie was brilliant, I enjoyed it as well as any other part of the story. I thought the plot was superb, there were enough twists and turns to keep you interested and while the story was a sci fi, I found it believable or at least not outrageous. The decisions that the Jake Epply made were very human not contrived in any way. Lastly, I loved the ending which was clever and heartening.

So if you haven’t read much Stephen King, and I haven’t because I am not a horror genre fan, you should consider this novel. It is part historical fiction, part sci fi, and part love story. It is a big book (800+ pages) but one I found rewarding and enjoyable.

I read a copy of this novel I bought.

Doomsday Book

Doomsday Book

by Connie Willis, 1993, narrated by Jenny Sterlin, 26 hours, 30 minutes

...a total immersion experience

(spoilers ahead)
I think I am late to the party with the Doomsday Book! First published in 1993 this sci fi is anything but standard fare for the genre. The book won both the Hugo and the Nebula awards when it was first published. It uses time travel in an unusual way, not to go forward to a high tech future but to travel back in time to the Middle Ages. Set in 2048, Kivrin, an Oxford graduate history student travels to 14th century England. The book alternates between her situation in the 14th century and events in the 21st century. Her journey is supported by her mentor, Mr. Dunworthy and although he does not exert the control over her journey that he would like, he is strongly in her corner. Through human error she ends up right in the middle of an emerging bubonic plague epidemic. She is found by a village priest, Fr. Roche and is taken to stay with an upper class family. The medieval characters (called “contemps”) seemed very genuine and their actions are rooted in the reality of the time. They have no understanding of disease transmission, their language rings true, the religious practices are appropriate to the era; the whole setting is just perfect! I understand that Connie Willis, the author researched this material for five years and it really shows in this story.

Events in the 21st century in Oxford travel on a parallel course with Kirvin’s journey back in time. While the midcentury is mostly disease free, mutant viruses can challenge the population. Kirvin’s support system (Mr. Dunworthy, Badri the tech controlling her time travels, Mary her physician and many others) are infected with an unknown virus. The illness and resulting quarantine impede the ability of the characters to help and support Kivrin.

I am once again backing off from describing much of the plot because I really can’t do it justice in this space and with my meager writing skills. Suffice to say, that the plot elements are very good and in what I consider the highest praise at no time did I think wow this stuff is not believable. Almost hard to imagine for a sci fi, there was no need to suspend belief.

What I will rave about is the author’s ability to create three dimensional characters that you really care about. Her characters seem so human, they have flaws but also an immense decency. The story is full of humor, compassion, bravery and despair- many characters displaying each of these qualities. I loved the character of Father Roche, while the author portrays him as a simple, uneducated village priest, he represents what is good and wise in all men- a character I won’t soon forget.

While the story is long (600+ pages) it is a total immersion experience. I listened to the audio book, it was recommended as one of the top ten audio books and I agree.  Jenny Sterlin, the narrator did yeomans work conveying the emotion and drama of this story. I think it would read almost as good but am not sure, so try the audio book for this one.
I listened to an audio copy of this book that I bought from audible.com