Cannonball Read 11

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The Dreamers – Wait, What?

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker

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A mysterious sleeping sickness hits a small town in California. This is the first act of an apocalyptic novel that doesn’t quite get off the ground, or at least, doesn’t get off the ground in the way I have come to expect from an apocalyptic novel. I couldn’t put this down and read the whole thing in two days because I was excited to see what happened.  I picked it up to begin with because the front cover has praise from Emily St. John Mandel, the writer of “Station Eleven,” an excellent apocalyptic novel. That might have prejudiced me though. […]

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5/18/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:20 |

“The things that could have happened but did not are just as crucial to a life as all the things that do.”

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker

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This is the second book by Karen Thompson Walker (the first being The Age of Miracles), whereupon finishing the book, I was unsure how I felt and needed to sit with the story for a while. With TAOM, there was a lot to like — interesting premise, selfish tween narrator, fascinating vignettes of the day to day life that we take advantage of — but I always felt that maybe the book was a bit too much like “literary fiction” to be believed as the words and thoughts of a middle schooler. The Dreamers has much the same feeling. I […]

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Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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3/20/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:13 |

You are getting very, very sleepy

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker

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This book was a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, I could hardly put it down and the lyricism was mesmerizing. On the other hand, it kind of went nowhere with the plot and left me wanting more and not in a good way. I kept waiting and waiting for something new to happen and it never really did. And yet, parts of it were super compelling. I guess I’d recommend this to readers who love prose and setting and are ok with things light on plot and character development. The premise of the story is that one […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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2/23/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:22 |

A strange age

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

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My library recommended this to me after I finished More Happy Than Not, and I can see why — while the plots have almost nothing in common, the style and theme seem similar. Basically, another coming-of-age story set against a slightly science fiction-y background (although the sci-fi in this story impacts the plot quite a bit more than the memory removal service in More Happy Than Not). “How much sweeter life would be if it all happened in reverse, if, after decades of disappointments, you finally arrived at an age when you had conceded nothing, when everything was possible.” Julie, an eleven year […]

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9/14/2015 's CBR7 Review No:176 |

Growing up is a miracle

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

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The Age of Miracles is a coming of age story against the backdrop of a celestial/environmental disaster. Rather than going into great detail about the science behind the event, the novel focuses on how the seemingly mundane aspects of life are affected by our actions when we no longer can take the stability of the world around us for granted. Goodreads summary: “On a seemingly ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, 11-year-old Julia and her family awake to discover, along with the rest of the world, that the rotation of the earth has suddenly begun to slow. The days and […]

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3/27/2015 's CBR7 Review No:43 |

“…as if he knew even then that there existed under everything a universal grief”

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

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I suppose that The Age of Miracles can be viewed as a dystopian novel. In it our narrator, Julia, tells us about the year she turned 12 and the Earth’s turning slowed down, eventually leading to weeks of daylight and weeks of darkness. It can also be said that this is a sad book, about the dying and destruction of our world. These things are true, but somehow Karen Thompson Walker prevents the novel from being as unbearably sad as the description might have you believe. Julia tells us the story as reminiscence, as a woman in her twenties looking […]

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4/21/2014 's CBR6 Review No:15 |

Not with a bang, but a whimper.

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

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 What would happen if the rotation of the earth slowed?  Beyond the  physical effects on the earth, what changes would occur socially?  How would a young person moving into their teen years deal with both the transition to adulthood and a crumbling society trying to stay afloat?  This book came highly recommended but ultimately left me a little cold.   I thought it fell short of its full potential.  The science fiction geek inside wanted a little more meat to conflict set up regarding earth’s slowdown.  Still, an overall satisfying read that I believe would resonate with most readers.  Full […]

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1/3/2014 's CBR6 Review No:1 |


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