Saul & Gertie Gold are the parents of 4 children, Varya, Daniel, Karla & Simon. Saul is a tailor of great reputation. Simon is the youngest child and has more to do with his father's business than the other children. When Saul passes away, it is assumed that Simon will carry it on.
The children sneak away one day to visit a psychic who they believe can tell them the actual date of their deaths. When they reach the woman's apartment on Hester Street, each child is allowed entry alone. So they are given the dates without anyone else knowing what they have been told.
We then proceed to get to know each child for a short period before their endings. Simon and Karla decide that they do no want to stay where they are and leave for California. While Simon is only 16, he already knows that he is attracted to men. Being in California opens that up for him, as it is during the late 70's, early 80's. Karla is the magic woman, taking points from her grandmother, who was not talked much about at home. She is very into magic and doing her grandmother's famous rope trick involving using her teeth to hang on to ropes. Daniel is a medical person. He works for the military and feels strongly about that. Varya is a scientist and has her own quirks.
I kind of didn't like that you only got to really know each character for a very short period of time before their demise. The characters were all very likeable in their own sense. You definitely fell in love with each, no matter what their particular quirks were.
The children sneak away one day to visit a psychic who they believe can tell them the actual date of their deaths. When they reach the woman's apartment on Hester Street, each child is allowed entry alone. So they are given the dates without anyone else knowing what they have been told.
We then proceed to get to know each child for a short period before their endings. Simon and Karla decide that they do no want to stay where they are and leave for California. While Simon is only 16, he already knows that he is attracted to men. Being in California opens that up for him, as it is during the late 70's, early 80's. Karla is the magic woman, taking points from her grandmother, who was not talked much about at home. She is very into magic and doing her grandmother's famous rope trick involving using her teeth to hang on to ropes. Daniel is a medical person. He works for the military and feels strongly about that. Varya is a scientist and has her own quirks.
I kind of didn't like that you only got to really know each character for a very short period of time before their demise. The characters were all very likeable in their own sense. You definitely fell in love with each, no matter what their particular quirks were.
Basically, this novel is the story of four children from a middle-class Jewish family in New York who sneak out one day to visit a fortune-teller who gives each of them the exact date on which their lives will end. The book then follows each of the four in separate sections, as they cope with the knowledge. All, one way or another, choose life paths that are informed by their level of belief in the prophecies.
Benjamin never really tackles the notion of predestination versus free will, nor does she attempt to prove or disprove the fortune-teller's gift. She simply follows these four very different personalities who came up through the same family but responded to its influences in very different ways.
Klara, the younger daughter, expresses her individuality by studying sleight-of-hand magic, and strikes out for San Francisco shortly after her father's death, searching for the fabled Summer of Love, but arriving as it has faded into a darker, sadder shadow of itself.
Simon, the baby of the family, goes with her, almost on a whim, and discovers his own sexuality in the free-wheeling gay community of the 80s, already being stalked by a mysterious disease that will change things forever.
Daniel, the firstborn son, seems to have put the prophecy behind him as he makes his way down the most conservative path -- college, a medical degree, and marriage. But a professional crisis and a run-in with a figure from the family's past, plunges him into a crusade he never sought.
And Varya, the eldest, the one whose future was predicted to stretch farthest of all, dedicates her career to the study of longevity, but forgets how to live along the way.
Each section has its own strengths and weaknesses. Daniel's seems the most unlikely and was the least satisfying, at least to me, and Varya's choices were utterly heartbreaking. Her story was also weakened by what seemed a most unlikely coincidence.
But all in all, it's an interesting premise and an entertaining read.
Benjamin never really tackles the notion of predestination versus free will, nor does she attempt to prove or disprove the fortune-teller's gift. She simply follows these four very different personalities who came up through the same family but responded to its influences in very different ways.
Klara, the younger daughter, expresses her individuality by studying sleight-of-hand magic, and strikes out for San Francisco shortly after her father's death, searching for the fabled Summer of Love, but arriving as it has faded into a darker, sadder shadow of itself.
Simon, the baby of the family, goes with her, almost on a whim, and discovers his own sexuality in the free-wheeling gay community of the 80s, already being stalked by a mysterious disease that will change things forever.
Daniel, the firstborn son, seems to have put the prophecy behind him as he makes his way down the most conservative path -- college, a medical degree, and marriage. But a professional crisis and a run-in with a figure from the family's past, plunges him into a crusade he never sought.
And Varya, the eldest, the one whose future was predicted to stretch farthest of all, dedicates her career to the study of longevity, but forgets how to live along the way.
Each section has its own strengths and weaknesses. Daniel's seems the most unlikely and was the least satisfying, at least to me, and Varya's choices were utterly heartbreaking. Her story was also weakened by what seemed a most unlikely coincidence.
But all in all, it's an interesting premise and an entertaining read.
I LOVED the concept of this book, but was let down by the execution of it. A group of siblings secretly see a fortune teller who gives them the date of their deaths. This knowledge impacts the decisions they make for the rest of their lives. The book is then divided into four parts, one for each sibling. This just made for four underdeveloped stories which seemed disjointed. The reader was left with many unanswered questions.
I did enjoy this one. It was raw and real and gave me the sense of roller coaster craziness that life is always dishing out. What I didn't like was the choppiness of the story- tho I don't really know how else this could be written. Each sibling had their own dedicated section of the book and they didn't cross pathways or stories or lives much at all- which was distracting for me-- but all in all, this was thought provoking and sincere- a little bit nutty, but easy to believe.
This was not my favorite book as I didn't like the characters very much. But it is a great book for book clubs as so many different things happened that you can talk about. Much of it felt over done or absurd, yet many of those things really did happen and it gives the club a chance to open up about some things that might otherwise make them uncomfortable.
This book had a thought provoking premise - if you knew the day you were going to die, would you live your life differently? How would it affect your day to day? Four siblings go to see a fortune teller when they are children and she tells each of them when they are going to die. I have never had any interest in knowing this kind of information from a fortune teller and still have none now! The books is told in four sections, one for each sibling. I knew how Simon would die from the very beginning - gay in San francisco in the early 80s = AIDS. Klara's cause of death was a little surprising and Daniel's more surprising still. But what wasn't a surprise as you were reading was the fact they were going to die. And they knew it even though they didn't want to believe it. Varya - the oldest sister and the only one to make it to "old age" - was a sad personality but it is good at the end to see how she comes full circle and begins to have relationships with others. She has spent her life as a biologist studying longevity but finally realizes sometimes the quality of life is more important that the length of life. So the overall ending was good but lots of sadness along the way.
The first section of the book reads as if it was written to take place in the 1920s and then VERY clumsily transposed to the 1970s. For example: Hester St., the father a tailor, the names given to the children and several other details. It had a creepy effect for me and I could not continue to read.
If you knew the day you were going to die, how differently would you live your life? Does your belief or lack of belief in that piece of information determine your choices? These are the questions #TheImmortalists by Chloe Benjamin grapples with. A memorable book that leaves me with the firm belief that I do not ever wish to pursue the knowledge given to these children. True or not, believed or not, it changes lives. Words matter, and thoughts matter.
Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2018/03/the-immortalists.html
Reviewed for #NetGalley
Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2018/03/the-immortalists.html
Reviewed for #NetGalley
