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.
