The World Ends…with a Fizzle, Not a Bang

This book has received a lot of professional praise but mixed reviews of the reading public (which I, generally, trust more than the professional reviews) and maybe it’s got something to do with the fact I’ve read a lot of really bad apocolyptic fiction but I really loved this book.

The world is coming to an end…and zombies have nothing to do with anything. 11-year old Julia wakes up one day to discover the world as she knew it was changed…but it wasn’t that big of a deal. Starting with an event called “the slowing” days and nights begin to lengthen, with 24-hours a day no longer the Earth standard. Now, I’m going to be perfectly honest especially coming from a family of scientists, you’ll need to suspend your disbelief of what is scientifically possible to enjoy this book. (i.e. gravity would not change on Earth unless the planet itself started to gain or lose mass but somehow it happens with no scientific explanation, etc…). So once I got over the “I don’t think that could ever actually happen” syndrome and just accepted this as a work of fiction I was able to start falling in love with this book.

What really set this book apart is the creative spin Walker puts on the end of the world. Scientific inaccuracies ignored, this is probably how our world will one day end. Not in an Earth shattering zombie apocolypse, not with a countdown to an asteroid heading for our hometown, but quietly, with no one really paying attention. We will think that we can adapt, change, and save ourselves, all while the inevitable slowly progresses us towards the end.

The real star of this novel, however, is not the plot but the narrative. Walker’s narrator looks back on the slow beginning of the end poignantly, with all the care of someone who is slowly evaluating their life and knowing, with almost certainty, that they will be there to see the end. Julia’s story is almost heartbreaking in its normalcy. While the rest of the world is planning top secret government missions to relocate Julia is worried about her mother finding out her father is having an affair, or scared all the people she cares about will be sent away.

This book is not perfect, but it stuck with me even after I’d finished it. While I didn’t really worry the world was slowing coming to an end I did start to wonder how knowing the world was coming to an end would change me. What relationships will be worth following, which ones will I willingly let slip away… Interesting questions to think about.