What if you knew the date of your death? How would that affect how you lived?
This is the central question posed to the reader in the novel, The Immortalists. The four siblings of the Gold family go to a fortune-teller in New York, 1969. She gives each child a date and the story follows how they each live with this knowledge and ultimately, die.
Author: Chloe Benjamin
Genre: Literary
Page count: 352
My rating: 4/5 ♠♠♠♠
Each of the siblings react differently to the knowledge of their fate. Quiet Simon is given the push he needs to leave home and be who he really is, living the high life in San Fransisco. The reader is left wondering: Is it right to live every day as if it is your last even if it hurts others?
Klara studies the magic tricks her grandmother used to do. She is chasing a dream of glory in the death-defying circus tricks that she performs. Daniel is the steadfast and solid one who becomes a military doctor. He embarks on a search for the fortune-teller. Varya spends her life researching the genetics of ageing. As each of them approach their death-dates, the children question everything; their upbringing, religion and how each of the others handle grief and care of their mother.
“She understands, too, the loneliness of parenting, which is the loneliness of memory—to know that she connects a future unknowable to her parents with a past unknowable to her child.”
Benjamin writes very well and packs a lot into this book, including controversial topics such as AIDS, suicide, animals in laboratory testing. I felt the family frustrations were universal; worry about care of parents, finding self vs leaving the family etc.
“Most adults claim not to believe in magic, but Klara knows better. Why else would anyone play at permanence – fall in love, have children, buy a house – in the face of all evidence there’s no such thing? The trick is not to convert them. The trick is to get them to admit it.”
The pace picks up about a third of the way in and from there, it is hard to put down. The writing style is simple, which leaves the characters’ actions up to the reader to judge. I loved the concept of the book and all the thoughts it makes you ponder. However, I thought the story could have gone slightly deeper into the ways people try to control their destinies and/or stop ageing.
The Immortalists is definitely worth a read. Just a warning – It has some pretty intense and confronting scenes in it. Confronting seems to be a theme of the books I have read this year. It is still a page-turner which will draw you into the characters in this fascinating family. If these questions about life and free will or fate fascinate you and you like books about imperfect families, then you need to read this.
Buy links:
Book Depository – Free Delivery worldwide – 28% off The Immortalists
Also check out my list of other book recommendations if you are after something to read.