Was not looking for depictions of graphic gay sex. Hard pass.

I was drawn to this book because of its gorgeous cover but the story inside is amazing. If you could know exactly when you would die what would you do? That's the question these characters answer for themselves.

Upon finishing this book, I have two words: Have. Mercy.

When I tell you this entire treasure was stunning, it’s not hyperbole.

Benjamin grabbed me from the first page, and didn’t release me until the last: this story flowed from page to page, like the River Lea, and it left me pondering a million questions about how true a life I’m actually living—how much of a student am I still allowing myself to be?

While the concept is presented as four siblings being given an opportunity to know their date of death—and what they do with that information—this is not just some fantastical tale of witch craft and gypsies. No, more than anything it’s a story about “free will”.

Whether you believe in God or not, you can’t deny the fact that we’re all entitled to our choices. Some of us choose to make good ones, while others of us do not.

How we choose to live our lives, according to whatever circumstances we’re provided, is the difference between one person’s tragedy and another’s triumph.

What struck me about the road each sibling takes, following the revelation of their death date—and Benjamin brilliantly allows each sibling to have their own section—is how having that knowledge guided them into decisions they may not have otherwise made.

I won’t give anything away because the beauty of this book lay in the tremendous storytelling of Benjamin; but as I devoured the journeys of Simon, Klara, Daniel, and Varya, I found myself wanting to truly define the role fate truly plays in our lives: do we have actual agency or are we simply puppets in a play? …And I asked that as one who is a believer in a Higher Power.

I cannot day enough good things about this book, and I will definitely be recommending it to a few friends once its officially released. It’s one that would be fantastic for book clubs and it will certainly inspire a mass of conversation in the circles I traverse on a regular basis.

I loved it!

Fantastic story of four siblings and their childhood visit to a fortuneteller who accurately predicts their date of death. A psychological thrill ride through their lives and destinies as each seeks to beat the clock and live the life of their dreams knowing too much. Poignant, funny, and character rich, this novel will keep you reading. Gritty and raw at times, this story feels very "real" and is thoroughly engaging!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5

I will start by saying this book completely blew me away as I was expecting something completely different from what I got. The blurb itself doesn't really tell you much that there is to know about this book, and I actually love that.

I will also say this book is not going to be for everyone. It's a thinker for sure, and it also includes a couple gay sex scenes which I was not expecting. The descriptions were actually a little disturbing for me, not having read anything like that before. I wanted to point this out so other readers are aware.

Anyway, moving on, The Immortalists is my very first read from Chloe Benjamin and it will definitely not be my last. It is a pretty heavy read so make sure you go in knowing that. It was fairly depressing, but also hopeful at the same time if that makes sense. My heart really broke for this family and everything they experienced, and it really does take a deeper look into destiny vs choice like the blurb mentions.

This book was beautifully written and I was completely engrossed in it; I definitely had a hard time putting it down. I think this will be a very fast read for most people as well. My favorite Gold child was Klara, and I really loved reading her section. I think that is because of the magical aspect to her story. This book is also descriptive enough for me without going overboard like a lot of books do in my opinion.

Also, in small world randomness, this book mentions the college of St. Olaf which happens to be very near the place I grew up! I love when I can pick things like that out of the books I read.

Overall this was a fantastic read, and I highly recommend it.

Four young siblings visit a fortune teller who provides them with the exact dates of their deaths. How does this information affect their futures and the ways they choose to live their lives? Chloe Benjamin's profound novel provides intriguing insights into the power of knowledge, and whether too much knowledge provides control or instability. These real, deeply flawed siblings are dropped into four distinct and incredibly descriptive settings, backgrounds, and writing styles, resulting in a beautifully woven tale about life, love, guilt, and the power of knowledge.

This book can be divided into four sections which makes sense since this is about four siblings who are told the date they are going to die and therefore each section explores each one. The first and fourth ones are the strongest while the second and the third are just okay. The difference between these sections' strength depends on how obsessed the character is with the fated death day approaching. The ones that are obsessed are the weaker stories. I loved how the last one ended with SPOILER Varya not dying as opposed to her other siblings' sections always ending on their death.

Thank you NetGalley for sending me this book in return for an honest review .

This book caught my interest immediately & I was eager to get to reading. It is true what they "Not every book is for everyone ." While this book was not bad, by ANY means at all, it was just not my cup of tea.
I do feel that there is a big group of readers that will enjoy this book.

On a lark, four young siblings visit a psychic to find out the date of their death. One by one, Benjamin traces how their lives play out in response to that knowledge. Some are more interesting than others (I'd be happy to read an entire book about just Klara's life) but the concept and family dynamics drew me in. I couldn't put it down.

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

We've all thought about what we'd do if we were told we'd die at the end of the day, or tomorrow, or the end of the week. But what if someone told you your exact date of death 20 years from now? 30 years? 50 years? 70 years? How would you consciously or subconsciously lead your life knowing that your death date has been set in stone?

The Immortalists is about 4 young siblings and their trip to a fortune teller who ends up telling them each of their dates of death. Some get to lead long lives, while others were foretold that they'd die young. We then follow each of them to see how this one stranger's predictions ended up impacting their lives.

This book has an interesting structure where we follow different characters until they die and it picks up with the next person to die up until the last one. I think Simon's story and Daniel's story utilized the decades they were in well, whereas Klara and Varya's seem like they could have existed in any decade. The first 2.5 stories did a good job capturing my attention, but the last 1.5 seemed to have petered off, particularly in the middle of the 3rd story. While the last story wraps the book up well, I think that the book didn't end as strongly as it started.

It's hard to say how much of their lives ended up being a self fulfilling prophecy, or if the fortune teller was actually omniscient. But it's clear to the reader how much the characters allowed the fortune to dictate their lives.

4.499/5 rounds to 4. 4.5s round to 5 and I couldn't do that based on how weak the third sibling's story ended up being.

This book was so excellent. I couldn’t put it down. It is a story of four siblings who encounter a fortune teller who predicts the day of each of their deaths as the consequences they face after hearing that. This book is heart breaking, moving and beautifully written. I love how it is told from four points of view and each character has a distinctive sound and character. Very well done.

This was an incredible ride of a family drama... I don't know quite what I expected, but it wasn't what I got - but not in a bad way. The story starts out with four siblings headed to a "fortune teller" in New York City - a woman rumored to be able to tell anyone who visits her the exact date of their death. That fateful trip sets their lives on individual courses that are intense, insane, and incredible - with the never-answered question being whether the prophesy drove their lives or their lives drove the prophecy...

After the opening chapter, the book divides into timeline narratives chronicling each sibling's life and experiences as they live under the knowledge of their prophesied death date. The stories can be rough - particularly the first two, for the youngest siblings. This is raw, gritty life - and death. The four sections are all well written, and the characters' voices are distinct and strong (even when the characters themselves are not), exploring the particular personality quirks and foibles that make each sibling unique and eminently human. Some of the stories resonated more strongly with me than others; this is not a particularly astute observation, I suppose, since the life that each story relates is so different, but it surprised me nevertheless to find myself skimming chunks of some stories and poring over each line in others. Benjamin's writing is lovely and poignant and delicately difficult to bear at times; she has a marvelous talent for highlighting human weakness in a way that resonates like a raw nerve. It's rough going at times, but you can't help but learn something about yourself in the process - kind of like living life...

I don't know that I could re-read this one; knowing the heartbreak facing this family (particularly their poor mother, eek...) I don't think I could keep turning pages again - but the initial read was a devastating trip I am extremely glad I took.

Four siblings in 1969 go to a witch to hear the day of their death. Some of them take their day and run towards it by doing everything recklessly. Others try and pretend it won't happen. You follow each sibling leading up to their death. Once the first sibling dies you move on to the sibling who dies next. Generations span in an instant and everything moves very quickly even though 50 years pass. I liked all the characters a lot and I definitely liked hearing each point of view. I didn't care for the ending so much, and the last sibling wasn't my favorite, but the plot was interesting and kept my attention. Definitely recommended!

What would you do if you knew when you were going to die? Would you change everything, trying to change fate? Or would those changes simply be what they were supposed to be, carrying you to the end of your days, exactly how it was predicted?

The Immortalists is a thought provoking read, pulling you into the lives of 4 siblings who learn when they will die from a local gypsy. Each part of the book focuses on each sibling, where each story is equal parts predictable and surprising. You devour this book, needing to know how it all ends. Was the prediction true? How did it shape their lives? And most importantly, when do they die?

Thank you to the Great Thoughts Ninja Review Team for a galley of this book. All opinions are my own.

I was honestly kind of disappointed with The Immortalists. I was super excited to read a book about how knowledge of death can influence life, because my favorite book of all time ever, Everything Matters! deals with this topic in a way that is so perfect and relatable it's just magic.

Not so much here, unfortunately. While there are definitely good parts to it, overall I felt it was a swing and a miss. I was expecting to read an examination of the consequences of believing in pre-destiny and it's effects on the individual lives of 4 siblings; this was more just a story of their lives and deaths, only some of which had to do with the fact that they knew their destiny. She was more successful in some stories than others. For instance, Varya's story was a direct reflection on the result of the whole "fortune," whereas Klara and Daniel's fell very flat. I didn't get a sense of who either of them were as characters and thus their actions did not make very much sense to me.

I will say that the Simon portion of the book was phenomenal. It was the first one, it was well done, relevant and it really had me excited for the rest of the book. Perhaps the book would have been better if it had been constructed a little differently. I thought the flow was kind of weird that it was completely chronological - I understand why this was done to an extent but it really just made the whole book feel disjointed and choppy. Also, the really good bits were at the end and the beginning.

Overall, I felt that the concept behind the book was interesting and it definitely had the bones of a great novel, but I just didn't feel like it was quite there yet. Concepts like fate and predestination need to be handled with care and quite frankly I didn't feel like the author had the writing chops to pull it off. This coincides with many of the reviews I read about her other book, The Anatomy of Dreams. Maybe I'm being to harsh, but I don't think Benjamin's style is right for me.

You're told that you're going to die on a specific impending date. What would you do with this information? Is it true? Is it nonsense? Do you alter the way you live to "beat" the date? All questions pondered by a group of siblings after a visit to a local seer which uncovers their fates as youngsters. It's a game and they all laugh about it until the visit is over and then they don't.

As time progresses, Simon, the youngest, picks up with Klara, the free spirit, and moves to San Fransisco in the 80s to begin the lives they feel they would be denied within the walls of the Gold family. Daniel and Varya, the more stable, level-headed of the kids, go to college and move through life as expected to proceed into the workforce with jobs of security. As the prophecies begin to evolve, the siblings question the authenticity of the word of the mystic they heard all of those years ago.

When one sibling dies, supposedly due to medical complications, the seer is not even questioned, but as all of the siblings begin to be impacted by her words, not only do they suspect the possibility of truth to her words, but others including law enforcement become skeptical of the mystic's words. The power of suggestion comes into question as each remaining family member comes closer to THE date.

Written in a format that discusses each character separately while weaving in the experiences of life with the family unique to them works well from this talented author. Nicely done.

want a book that will make you think. What wold you do? Honestly now would if you could??? Should you if you could?? Loved this novel

Is it good or bad to know the date of your death. Will it give you time to make the most of your life? Does it give you permission to keep that date? Or is it something that can destroy you? That is the question and perhaps the answer found in this book. Yes it can be a good thing to know, but it can also destroy you.

How would you live your life if you knew when you were going to die? That is the somewhat contrived premise of this book. Even without this premise however, this is a very good book about four Jewish American siblings in New York City, their fraught relationships and the choices that they make. The Gold family is comprised of the parents Saul and Gertie and their four children Varya, Daniel, Klara and Simon. One day in 1969 the children decide to go see a fortuneteller who supposedly can predict the day on which you are going to die. When Gertie finds out about this visit many years later her reaction is similar to mine "How could you believe that junk?" However the children, to one degree or another, are all affected by that prediction.

After this opening setup the book is written in four sections covering a period in the life of each of the siblings. I think that it is hardest to see how the youngest child, Simon, is affected by the prophecy. He moves to San Francisco with Klara when he is a teenager and goes to work as a dancer in a gay club. When it is apparent that he can't dance, he is sent to a ballet school. Young man on his own for the first time, predictably he has a lot of sex, just like all of his friends who were not similarly burdened by a death prophecy. Klara is the closest to Simon and is more affected by knowing the day she is supposed to die. She is a magician and mentalist and perhaps believes in magic too much.

Daniel and Varya are much more closed off and unlikeable characters than the other two. The prophecy either messes with their lives in a major way or they use the prophecy as an excuse. I was pretty much destined to hate Varya once I found out that her studies on the science of aging involved primate research, and there is one particularly painful scene at the research facility. Frankly, I wanted Varya to die at that moment.

This was an involving, well written book regardless of how much you buy into its premise and I would read more by the author.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Absolutely incredible book. I was hooked from the first page, and couldn't stop feverishly reading until the very end. The relationships in this book, not only between the characters but between the characters and the reader, are what makes this book so special. It's impossible not to fall madly, hopelessly in love with all of them, although I must admit, the eldest sister seemed to me the least likable until I read her section. You can see fate careening toward each of them, and you know you can't stop it, but you want to love them and squeeze as much time with them as you can before it comes. [Spoiler included in goodreads review and excluded here.]