In 1969, the Gold family lives on the Lower East Side in New York City. Life is normal, boring even, until the four children hear a neighborhood rumor that a local gypsy can tell you the exact date you will die, and decide to see for themselves. After all, what could it hurt? It takes some time, but they finally track down where the woman lives. They must see her alone, so one by one, they enter her shadowy apartment and listen to her words. They never tell each other what she says, but they never forget their dates.

Simon escapes the trap of familial expectations to find love as a dancer in San Francisco. Klara, who has dreamed of magic her whole life, finds reality overpowering, and becomes a magician in Las Vegas. Daniel has a steady future as an Army doctor, but finds the expectations of his job may be more than he’s willing to give. And Varya becomes a researcher in longevity, seeking to unlock the key to a long life, despite the dreariness of her own.

All of them are shaped by the gypsy’s words, and seek to prove her prediction wrong, but sometimes fate is inescapable.

Let me say, first of all, that I think The Immortalists simply wasn’t a good fit for me. I was very intrigued by the premise, and I love family-saga stories, so it seemed a good match. However, the book is told in four segments, one for each character, and I never felt like I really connected with any of them. Briefly, yes, but not enough to truly enjoy the novel.

Benjamin’s writing is lovely and evocative; I could practically smell the streets of San Francisco and feel the heat of the spotlights, but I never connected emotionally with the characters. I did read this quickly, so perhaps, in a different frame of mind, my experience would have been different.

(Galley provided by Putnam/Penguin Random House via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

I don't usually talk about the story much when reviewing since the book blurb covers it. But this book deserves more than just I liked it, why I did, why I disliked it, etc. I saw quite a few DNF and 1 star reviews because of a portion of the book. One section doesn't make a book! It entitles the entire novel.

What if you were a child in 1969 and went to a fortune teller who told you the date of your death? How would it affect your life? This is what the four Gold children do and we follow them through the years after this incident.

The two youngest, Simon and Kharla, leave for San Francisco before Simon is of legal age to follow their dreams. Warning: if gay sex scenes bother you, remember this is when the Aids epidemic first began and Simon is gay. Don't give up on the book because of that!

We follow both of their experiences, Simon as a club dancer and Kharla as a magician. While the two older siblings are back at home with their mother, leading more ordinary lives than their siblings. But are they really just ordinary lives? Once told the date of your death, would you ever forget it?

When I first started the book, honestly, I wondered if the whole book was filled with sex scenes. And that is why I would hate for someone to miss out on such an interesting novel because of that. But as the book progressed with each family member, it told each of their stories.

I have to say, I truly enjoyed this book and thought the author did an excellent job at character development! You'll grow attached to the Gold family and after my iffy beginning, I grew to love Simon the best. Not everyone will agree with me, but that's why we write these reviews. And this is my opinion.

I found this to be a touching story of the lives of 4 children growing up and how different, yet the same we all are.

My thanks to the author for starting my year off with such a well written novel.

* I was provided an ARC to read from the publisher and NetGalley. It was my decision to read and review this book.

This book will be great for book discussions. How would you live your life if you knew the exact day you would die? Would you want to know that day? Marvelous story of 4 lifes affected by knowing their date.

When they were young, Varya, Daniel, Klara, and Simon Gold visited a neighborhood fortune teller who told each of them the day they would die. Perhaps if they had talked about it that day, they could have laughed it off and let it be part of the silliness and credulity of childhood, but they did not talk. Instead, they walked home, holding their fate in their minds and letting it gain power over their choices and their lives.

There is the youngest, Simon, who abandons the family’s plans for him and goes to the Castro, becomes a dancer, falls in love, and is one of the early casualties of the AIDS epidemic, dying young on the day the fortune-teller told him he would. Then Klara, the closest to him in age and inclination, who took him with her while she sought a future as a magician, finding love and motherhood, before forcing the prophecy to come true. She never would have encouraged him if she didn’t believe he would die young. Daniel, the older son, sober and responsible, comes unmoored when his day approaches, bringing on his own tragic end by letting anger and guilt overwhelm his normally sober nature. Varya, the oldest, the one whose death may be a long way off (2044) is the survivor, but she survives through circumscribing her life, by cutting herself off from truly living. She thinks she finds joy in order and routine but is satisfaction and comfort really joy?

On the marketing materials for Chloe Benjamin’s The Immortalists, we are asked what we would do if we knew the day we were going to die. I guess that is one way of looking at this novel built on the narratives of these four siblings, told in the order of their deaths–the reverse order of their births. But there is so much more to this novel than that.

It asks us what matters most, the quality or the quantity of our days. Is Simon’s short, but exuberant and love-rich life more tragic than Varya’s long and limited life of denial? Is it fate and magic at work or self-fulfilling obsession? Are they making the prophecy come true? And what if these four wonderful characters had ever just talked to each other? Really talked to each other without defensiveness and judgment. Did they meet their fated days because of some magical knowledge on the part of the fortune-teller or because of a conspiracy of silence that kept them from challenging her timeline? So much of what makes love work is communication and this family does not communicate. That is sad because they all have so much to say.

This is a story about superstition, religion, and reason. It is a struggle between tradition and modernism, between ritual and freedom. This book is rich in thematic ideas about the biggest questions that plague us. I love their mother, the very superstitious Gertie, who, when finally told of this “curse” on her family, asks “After everything I gave you: education, opportunity – modernity! How could you turn out like me?”

This is a story about family, about love that binds us even when we don’t get along. More than anything, this is about love and finding it in expected and unexpected places, about second chances and lost chances and no chances. I find it hard to describe the fullness of the book because there is so much it asks us to think about. And yet, and this is important. This is not a preachy, dogmatic book. It forces the questions, but does not answer many of them…that is up to us.

Many books will break your heart. A few will break it and mend it. Only the most precious can break and mend your heart again and again. If the mended are truly stronger, reading The Immortalists. will make you invincible.

I received an e-galley of The Immortalists from the publisher through NetGalley.

The Immortalists at Penguin Random House
Chloe Benjamin author site

This was a fascinating book with one of the most interesting premises I've ever heard....what if you knew the date of your death? If someone told you, would you believe them? How would you react, how would you change the way you lived your life, even if you did it subconsciously? With a beginning like that, the book had places to go, and the journey was very interesting!

The Gold siblings go to a fortune teller as children and each of them finds out when they will die. They don't tell one another, except in vague terms, and as they grow up their paths diverge wildly. The book tells each of their stories and how they intersect with one another. The book has a melancholy air about it, and I felt in each case I was waiting to find out how and when they each died. However, it's beautifully written and it's a very readable book.

I enjoyed it very much, and highly recommend it.

Thanks to G.P. Putnam's Sons and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not sure if I have the words to express how much I loved this book. But I also hated it too because it broke my heart into so many pieces. The idea of destiny versus choice is always fascinating and watching the lives of the Gold children unfurl hit uncomfortably home a few times. It also felt extremely organic - their choices felt real to them, which made some of their decisions more heart-breaking (except Daniel - you could see the author's puppet strings a bit more). Simon, Klara, Daniel and Varya broke me but they also reminded me that life is all about living, not dying.

Intriguing plot line that grips you from the beginning. The Immortalists is well written ; it kept me interested until the end!!

After a psychic gives siblings (Varya, Daniel, Klara, and Simon) their dates of death, their lives are forever changed.

If you knew the date of your death, how would you live your life?

Would you be more careful with your decisions ... or more reckless? This premise was intriguing and follows the Gold family in NYC as they grapple with the psychic's revelation. Imagine being only 13, 11, 9, and 7 when a stranger tells you that you will die on a specific date. For some of them, the date is decades into the future, but for others, the impending doom is much sooner.

My take away: Live life fearlessly. Embrace and enjoy the little things. Don't be afraid to love and be loved. "I love you all, I love you all, I love you all." - Klara and Ruby

Members of the Gold family:
*Saul - father, owner of Gold's Tailor and Dressmaking shop, died at age 45
*Gertie - mother, forced to move on after losing a spouse
*Varya - the obedient eldest, studied molecular biology, scientist studying how to improve quality of later life
*Daniel - military veteran, doctor who determines if a soldier is fit for service, married Mira, no kids
*Klara - magician/illusionist, married Raj, daughter Ruby
*Simon - unburdened youngest, gay man living in 1980s San Francisco

Thank you to the author, the publisher, the Great Thought's Ninja Review Team, and NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! All opinions are my own.

My Takeaway

Every once in a while a book comes along that touches my soul. The Immortalists is one of those books. The novel is beautifully written and a phenomenal literary work. As a reader, I was transported and made a part of the journey with the Gold siblings: Simon, Klara, Daniel, and Varya -- and what a wondrous adventure! I mean think about it, would you live your life differently if you knew the exact date of your death? Pretty deep stuff, right? If you read this book you will find out how this vital piece of information affects each of the siblings and the choices they make throughout their lives. The book is cleverly broken up into four sections, so I really got to know and understand each of the sibling's unique personalities and perspectives. With all the positives I write about the book, I also understand this book is not for everyone. Some of the language and scenes might make a few readers uncomfortable - thankfully, not moi. Benjamin is a hell of a writer and I definitely agree with all the hype surrounding this majestic book. If you are looking for something unique and imaginative I hope you consider this extraordinary novel. Simon, Klara, Daniel, and Varya will remain with me for a long time.

Sincere thanks to Edelweiss, NetGalley, and G.P. Putnam's Sons for providing an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book was officially released yesterday, 1/9/18, and I wasted no time in buying myself a copy. :-)

I loved this book. It's central premise—if we knew our death date, would we live our lives differently—intrigued me from the outset. I became so invested in the four Gold children, who at a very young age, were given that very information by a neighborhood gypsy/fortune teller, that I had a hard time putting the book down. Exceptionally well done are Benjamin's descriptions of 1960s New York City's Lower East Side and San Francisco's wild '70s. I loved the writing and the story. Her thoughts about family, love, mortality, and forces beyond our grasp kept me flipping pages. I was sorry when it ended. Highly recommend this one.

When four summer weary siblings decide to seek out a fortune teller rumored to possess an ability to prognosticate the exact date of one's death, they unknowingly affect the manner in which they live their lives and their relationships with each other forever.

Chloe Benjamin's latest offering begins with the above scene and then becomes a four part study of the life of each sibling. While the siblings do not fully share with each other the prognostications they received, the reader generally knows and this bit of dramatic irony helped to build a low level but ever present sense of anxiety over each of the four studies. The novel becomes an excellent vehicle for philosophy, especially that of death and dying, and for examining familial roles even if it does veer at times toward the unlikely.

{My Thoughts}
What Worked For Me
The Novel’s Structure – Chloe Benjamin opens The Immortalists in 1969 with what seemed a lark, a visit to a fortuneteller. But, when she reveals to each sibling the day he or she will die, the fun is over. Their reactions run the gamut from tears, to anger, to disbelief, to satisfaction. From there her story quickly moves away from the lives of the four as siblings, and into their individual stories. Readers learn the effect of the woman’s words on Varya, Daniel, Klara, and Simon as they move from childhood into their adult lives.

Simon – I saw Simon’s story coming almost as soon as the book began and still I loved it. Even though I knew how it would end, the path Benjamin chose to get him there was original and satisfying.

Klara – In counterpoint, Klara’s story was the most unexpected, plus what’s not to love about a magician? Alternately funny and sad, Klara touched me more than any of the siblings as she struggled to make it in a man’s world while fighting her personal demons.

“Klara can turn a black scarf into a single red rose and an ace into a queen. She can produce dimes from pennies and quarters from dimes and dollars from nothing but air. She can do the Hermann pass, the Thurston throw, the rising-card illusion and the Back Palm. She is an expert in the classic cup-and-ball routine, passed from the Canadian master Dai Vernon to Ilay HLavacek and then to her: a dizzying, dazzling optical illusion in which an empty silver cup is filled with balls and dice and then, finally, one full, perfect lemon.

What she cannot do – what she will never stop trying to do – is bring her brother back.”

Varya – Initially I wasn’t sure about Varya’s story, but the pieces began to meld together into a satisfying conclusion. Varya came last in the book and with her, a clear picture of the love and pain these siblings shared.

What Didn’t
Daniel – For me, Daniel’s story was the weak link. He was the most usual of the siblings. His life progressed on a fairly steady path, so when his story took a rather random turn, I struggled with understanding why. His part of this sibling saga felt forced and weighed down the middle of The Immortalists. Even when Daniel popped up in the storylines of his siblings, his role seemed almost an after thought.

{The Final Assessment}
I’d long been looking forward to reading The Immortalists, so when I finally turned to 2018 books, it was my first. Happily this family story of relationships, life, death, and above all love, did not disappoint. My reading year started out right!

Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review.

Favorite Quotes:

There is no air-conditioning in the apartment, and this year— the summer of 1969— it seems something is happening to everyone but them. People are getting wasted at Woodstock and singing “Pinball Wizard” and watching Midnight Cowboy, which none of the Gold children are allowed to see.

Gertie has always believed in superstition more than any God. She spits three times when a funeral goes by, throws salt if the shaker falls over, and never passed a cemetery while pregnant, which required the family to endure constant rerouting between 1956 and 1962. Each Friday, she observes the Sabbath with effortful patience, as if the Sabbath is a guest she can’t wait to get rid of.

What if the woman on Hester Street is right, and the next few years are his last? The mere thought turns his life a different color; it makes everything feel urgent, glittering, precious.

He’s angry with the disease. He rages at the disease. For so long, he hated the woman, too. How, he wondered, could she give such a terrible fortune to a child? But now he thinks of her differently, like a second mother or a god, she who showed him the door and said: Go.

I know they’re your family… But if they weren’t, you wouldn’t like them, either.

They began together: before any of them were people, they were eggs, four out of their mother’s millions. Astonishing, that they could diverge so dramatically in their temperaments, their fatal flaws— like strangers caught for seconds in the same elevator.


My Review:

The Immortalists was one of those prickly heartbreaking books that tend to keep me on edge and in conflict while reading. It was also stunningly observant, painfully insightful, carefully paced, and hard to leave alone. The premise, plot, and subplots of this epic tale were ingeniously creative, multifaceted, complex, and inexplicably intriguing. Each of the main and many of the secondary characters were deeply flawed, in possession of questionable mental health, fractured, prone to self-loathing yet selfish, full of secrets, and living in their heads. They were uniquely fascinating and exquisitely baffling and peculiar, while also periodically frustratingly inconsistent and irrational, or disappointingly irresponsible. In other words – they were real. The writing was top-shelf, although there were a few times where the story felt bogged down by an influx of medical and research minutia and/or complicated details that appeared unnecessary, although I also found myself absorbing many interesting facts about nature and magic tricks. This will undoubtedly be one of those books that will forever remain in my memory banks and sense that I will be living with these unique characters rattling around in my headspace for quite some time, as I am rather reluctant to let them go.

If you follow book social media, this novel has probably popped up on your radar as one of THE essential books to read this year. It certainly drew me in with the obviously intriguing premise of knowing the date of your death. The description gives off a sort of fantastical or whimsical vibe: what WOULD you do? Would you go crazy feeling invincible? Would you check off your bucket list as soon as possible if your day was sooner than you thought? Would you spiral into despair? Far from fantastical, Benjamin weaves this compelling family story with a surprisingly gritty and melancholy tone.

Since I'm a fan of dysfunctional family drama, I got wrapped up in the journey of each Gold sibling and especially Klara the Vegas magician. Yes, I'm a big fan of Vegas, especially during the period of time in which Klara inhabits Sin City. But, I felt that this part of the book was the most wrenching collaboration of magic, spirituality and motherhood:

"She understands, too, the loneliness of parenting, which is the loneliness of memory - to know that she connects a funture unknowable to her parents with a past unknowable to her child."
"Always it's like this: the family that created her and the family that she created, pulling her in opposite directions."

The book holds up a mirror, sometimes harshly, to the ways in which we fail to fully live and embrace our lives. There is hopefulness, but it is rather on the depressing side. It would be an excellent pick for a book group with many big themes to dissect on God, fate, family bonds, faith and destiny, to name a few. If for no other reason, it would be fun to discuss the central question of whether you would want to know the date of you own death and why. As for me, that'd be a big fat nope! And if you read the book, you would probably understand why - Benjamin articulates these themes beautifully.

Thank you to Putnam and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review!

Four adolescent siblings growing up in New York City learn that a traveling psychic has hit town, a woman that can tell each person the date that he or she will die. Against the wishes of their parents, they sneak out to find her. I received my copy free and early in exchange for this honest review, thanks to Net Galley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons. This book is now available to the public.

The book is divided approximately into fourths, a quarter for each of the Gold children and across five decades. To my own way of thinking the first half of the story is far more resonant than the second half. Simon, the “golden boy”, dies of AIDS before the disease has been named, but before he is gone, the San Francisco of that time period is set out in such meticulous, immediate detail that I feel as if I am back there, back then. The portion of the book devoted to Klara, who becomes a magician, is nearly tangible in different ways, and older women that have worked in unconventional professions—before the year 2000, that meant just about all of them—will recognize themselves when they see how she is dismissed, harassed, and stigmatized.

Then I read a review by someone that felt exactly the opposite, claiming that the story didn’t really wake up until the second half. And so I suspect that the age and background of the reader will inform which part of the book stands out best.

However, once I have seen Simon and Klara die, I have other reasons for reading more slowly. If both of them die during the first and second quarters of the book, I have a pretty good idea what is about to happen to Daniel and Varya in the third and fourth quarters. These characters, a Naval physician and a primate researcher, don’t reach me the way that Simon and Klara do. With Simon and Klara, I am right there with them, and at times I am peeking out and seeing the world through their eyes. With Daniel and Varya, I am along for the ride, checking to see how many pages are left in this thing so I can go write my review and be done.

Benjamin’s greatest gift is setting. There are aspects of each place and time that I remember, and others that I have nearly forgotten until she brings them back again. But for those expecting to see a fantasy plot, as this has been billed, or magical realism, it’s going to prove disappointing; really it is literary fiction, and some reviewers will be unhappy because of the genre issue.

Those that love good literary fiction are going to want to read this novel. There’s been a tremendous amount of buzz, and there’s nothing else like it.

I went back and forth so many times during The Immortalists as to whether or not I liked it, but after reading the thing as a whole, I can definitely say that I liked it, even if it took me a bit longer than usual to get into it. This was because I expected some sort of magical realism or realization of the idea of "immortal," but aside from the fortune-telling, this never comes into play; The Immortalists is an non-magical contemporary that details the journeys of four siblings, each with varying different dreams and personalities. As children, they went to a fortune-teller to know the day that they would die, and it affects them each in different ways, but leads to the same outcome: the day of their foretold death.

This is a story about following your dreams, and the ways our dreams can lead us to a drastically different lifestyle than we ever imagined living. Along the way, it deals with issues like what we owe to our families, the hold that our families have over us, the role of love in our lives, and the lengths we go to to be "successful."

Overall, I found it to be an interesting novel that weaves the stories of the siblings together rather well, picking up where the previous sibling leaves off. Because of that, I felt some disconnect to the two later stories, because we meet them at such a later point in life. The stories of the first two siblings are much more vibrant because they're at younger, more transitional periods in their lives when we meet them. I wish the author had at least attempted some coverage of the last two siblings' earlier days, but oh well.

This wasn't a terribly uplifting book -- there's a lot of death and sadness, but what I liked about it was how it wove together the relationships between the siblings and how their common link was their determination to fulfill their dreams and their tough journeys to get to where they were. Overall, this book is about life and how we live on in the face of death of others, and how the memories of our loved ones live on inside of us.

The writing is stellar, and while not all of the characters are particularly likeable, they are at least believable and complex. This is something you pick up when you're in the mood for a bit of a rumination on our existence and what it means. It definitely gives you things to think about and reflect upon. I would recommend this for anyone looking for a more literary read.

I started 2018 with a book that I will remember far after this year ends and one everyone is already talking about. The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin is a gut-wrenching and unforgettable novel, which is told with beautiful sorrow. Imagine the film Only You with Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey, Jr. filled with death and heartbreak rather than romance – and you get The Immortalists.

I realize that sounds depressing. And, it is. But, but, but. I love a well-told depressing novel – especially if it ends hopeful. And, this one does, even when I had given up hope. Now, that I have set this one up, let me tell you the gist.

This novel focuses on the Gold siblings. When they are children, the four siblings visit a fortune teller who tells the children their death dates. These death fortunes change the trajectory of their lives. Their relationships with one another become stranded. And, they begin to make major life choices because of their individual fortunes.

The novel is set up in five different sections. The first section introduces the fortune teller and the young children. Then, each section tells the life story of each sibling told in his/her voice. The author does a brilliant job at crafting unique siblings with separate, but intertwined stories. The whole time, as a reader, I kept wanting to find out if the fortunes were true and hoping they were not. (Not going to spoil it for you.)

My favorite character was the third child who is the magician, which will come as absolutely no surprise to anyone who reads my blog. But, I mourned along with each sibling – and I expect you will too.

With that being said, this book deals heavily with homosexuality, sex, suicide, alcoholism, magic, fortune telling, mental illness, and so on. There were some sex scenes that were much more detailed than things I typically read; however, these scenes purposely develop character and plot. As a mature reader, it was evident that the scenes were not salacious, but they were important for the overall themes of the novel.

Four siblings visit a fortune teller. Each were told the date of their death. This impacts them in ways no one can imagine.
This book is divided into 4 sections. One for each of the Gold children. The first section starts with Simon. I can't imagine a better starting point. Simon escapes his family and travels to the west coast with his sister Klara. Simon and Klara learn more about themselves than they planned on. Simon stops at nothing. This is not necessarily a good thing.
Klara makes a name for herself. She follows her dream to become a magician. This eventually leads her to Las Vegas. Has she hit the big time? Is she happy?
Daniel becomes a doctor. He recently hits a snag in his career. This takes him down the path to find the fortune teller. Did the dates she give them change the way they all approached their lives?
Then there is Varya. She becomes a scientist. She researches responses in monkeys to determine life span. Is she going to control her date of death? Or what does she plan on achieving?
These four characters all have flaws. Simon is the most heart wrenching story. Klara is a character I most related too. Her tenacity, witt, and determination are not to be messed with. Daniel is a little bit of a conundrum. He is intelligent. Too intelligent to do what he does. The there is Varya. She is almost too smart for her own good.
All four of these young people's lives have been changed based on one visit to this medium. This is like four spirits intertwined about one past day. The characters and their stories are riveting, heartbreaking, momentous and so on.....
Well! I started the new year off with a super good read! The Immortalists is not to be missed. Mesmerizing, captivating....I could keep going but you get the picture.
I received this novel from Netgalley for a honest review.

I just could not get into this book so I won’t be reviewing it anywhere. Thank you for the chance to read it though.