Sorry to say I just didn't care for this book. At about halfway, I was racing to finish, but then the story just fell flat for me. I originally thought the premise was interesting but the story was depressing and somewhat boring. I don't understand what all the hype surrounding this book is about.

The beginning was explosive and I liked this book a lot almost till the end, but there was a not so good third and last part that made me change my evaluation of the book in its wholeness. I still consider this novel a very good one, but it seemed to me a story that didn't keep up with the expectations it has created in the first part of the book, but is just my evaluation and doesn't have necessarily be true for other readers.

L'inizio mi ha preso tantissimo e il libro mi é piaciuto moltissimo e poi molto quasi fino alla fine, ma la terza e l'ultima parte hanno in parte cambiato il mio giudizio sul libro nel suo insieme. Penso ancora che sia un bel romanzo, ma in qualche modo non ha tenuto fede alle aspettative create nella prima parte del romanzo stesso, ma questa é solo la mia opinione e non quella degli altri lettori.

THANKS TO NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

Four siblings in 1960s New York find out that an old woman can tell them the exact dates of their deaths.

It’s a simple premise. Kids seek out a fortune-telling lady who can predict the date someone will die. Being naive children who don’t think through the implications, they get their answers.

And their lives change forever in the wake of the five-minute fortunes they each received.

The siblings’ predicted lifespans vary from tragically short to long and protracted. One embraces life’s pleasures. Another is a frustrating exercise in missed opportunities. All four of them have the shadow of the woman’s prediction darkening their paths.

The Immortalists raises several questions related to fate and knowing too much. Here are four things to ponder. While central to the story, they also serve as interesting hypotheticals to ask ourselves.

1
If you could know the exact day you’ll die, would you want that knowledge?

2
If you knew your date of death, would it affect the way you live?

3
Would you see a prediction as a changeable suggestion, or immovable fate?

Say, for example, you’re predicted to die young. So you live with reckless abandon, indulging in vices and risky behavior, sucking the marrow out of life. Are you making the most of the time you have? Or are you, in fact, hurtling toward you own death? By living dangerously, did you turn the prediction into a self-fulfilling prophecy? Would you have died young anyway?

4
Would knowing your date of death change the way you love?

Think about the caution someone feels after heartbreak. In the wake of healing the battered and lovelorn heart, they may tiptoe into new relationships with care and reservation.

If you know when you or a loved one would die, would you hold yourself back, knowing it will all go away? You know it will hurt like hell when it happens. Do you keep at least some of that love to yourself?

The answers to the first two questions for the characters in The Immortalists are yes and yes. Yes, they want to know when they'll die. Yes, the knowledge alters their paths dramatically.

The third and fourth questions, though, take more pondering. Benjamin masterfully raises these questions through the narrative, leaving us to wonder about them still after finishing the book. Did they create their own fates?

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: I have a material connection because I received a review copy for free from Netgalley and the publisher.

How would you live your life if, as a young child, you were given the day on which you would die? That is the struggle thirteen-year-old Varay and three siblings face in the pages of Benjamin’s powerful novel.

Children of Jewish immigrants, they are taught to work hard, obey their parents and follow the ways of their ancestors. Amidst the traditions and expectations of the family, each of the children has talents and desires of their own. The oldest son, Daniel, is expected to take over his father’s dressmaking business, but he is determined to become a physician. Varay wants to go to University instead of staying home to raise children and the youngest two siblings have far grander dreams of how they will live out the days the fortune teller allotted them that steamy July day in 1969.

Benjamin’s magnificent work of literary fiction is magical and down to earth, heartbreaking and inspiring all at once. Within a few moments the lives of four siblings changed forever or were their paths set in stone? Benjamin gives the reader all of the information, but the interpretation is up to the individual reader.

I literally walked around with my Kindle, sneaking stolen glances at the pages while doing other things because I could not put this story down. Reading late into the night, I cried for the fate of Simon – or was it the path he had chosen? Either way, the characters came alive for me in the first few pages and I wanted them to all live forever if only on the pages. But true to life, love and loss go hand in hand.

This is the first book I’ve read by award winning author Chloe Benjamin. Her first novel, The Anatomy of Dreams, won the Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award. I cannot wait to read it and following novels by this talented writer.

Copyright © 2018 Laura Hartman

I'm a sucker for a tree. When I started this book, the beautiful cover is only thing I could remember about it other than the praise I read somewhere (thank you, whoever won me over with their words). Other than the main concept, I had no clue what I was heading into and damn if it didn't almost make me cry (I am not a book crier).

New York, summer of '69. The Gold siblings (Varya, Daniel, Klara and Simon) hear tell of "The Woman on Hester Street" with fortune-telling powers. Specifically, she can foresee the date of one's death.

"So this is how it started: as a secret, a challenge, a fire escape they used to dodge the hulking mass of their mother, who demanded that they hang laundry or get the goddamn cat out of the stovepipe whenever she found them lounging in the bunk room. The Gold children asked around. The owner of a magic shop in Chinatown had heard of the woman on Hester Street. She was a nomad, he told Klara, traveling around the country, doing her work."

Of course, the Gold kids track the woman down and knock on her door. Individually, they meet with her to learn the day they will die, a date they are told to keep secret. Over the course of the next several decades and hundreds of pages, Benjamin delves deeply into the lives of each sibling and how the words of the Woman on Hester Street impacted their futures and choices.

I was immediately immersed in the world of the four Gold kids, their family and the people they encounter on their wildly varied paths through life. Each is deeply and intimately drawn. This is one of those books I was drawn to read and couldn't wait to pick up each day. This is in no small part due to the lovely writing of Chloe Benjamin:


About the Golds' father, Saul, a tailor, who "works with total absorption, as if what he is sewing is not the hem of a men's pant leg but the fabric of the universe..."

About their mother, Gertie, who "sits shiva with a devoutness Simon did not know she could muster, for 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.

"On cool days, breeze from the window ruffled the family trees and old photos she keeps taped to the wall beside her bed. Through these documents, she tracks the mysterious, underground brokering of traits: genes flicking on and off and on again, her grandfather Lev's rangy legs skipping Saul for Daniel."

It's details like these that paint a full portrait of the family straight to the very edge of the frame and then some. Watching each Gold sibling take off on his or her individual path while influenced by their parents, siblings, and knowledge of their supposed date of death was joyous and heartbreaking. Diving into issues of family, love, friendship, destiny, fate and self-actualization, Benjamin has penned a wondrously beautiful story full of life, even though steeped in issues of death.

STREET SENSE: After I finished reading, I saw this billed somewhere as The First Great Novel of 2018. I can't disagree, it blew my socks off. If you like character-driven plots full of adventure and thoughtfulness, this will be right up your alley.

A FAVORITE PASSAGE: In New York, he would live for them, but in San Francisco, he could live for himself. And though he does not like to think about it, though he in fact avoids the subject pathologically, he allows himself to think it now: 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.

COVER NERD SAYS: I mentioned sucker for a tree, right? I was powerless over this art work. The tree even works its way through the letters, binding everything together. Symbolism, schmymbolism, it's just plain purty.

I had been hearing about this book for the last 6 months and could not wait to get my hands on it! Thank you so much to Netgalley for giving me a copy of this book. I have to say that so often, when there is a lot of hype around a book, I end up disappointed. That was NOT the case with this book. I absolutely loved it from beginning to end.
The book is about 4 gold children who, on a whim, visit a fortune teller who can tell them the day that they will die. The book tells the story of each child in succession as they get older. Will the fortune teller be right? Is the date of your death pre-determined or is knowing the day a self fulfilling prophecy in itself?
The book is very well written. Each of the "voices" of the Gold children were unique- a huge accomplishment for one writer. In addition, the book is intelligent and thought provoking. With each story, the characters become deeper on many levels. The thought processes of each child is haunting. I have heard different opinions on which child's story is the most interesting but for me, Varya was the character who made me think the most.
I finished it only a few days after I read it and I cannot stop thinking about it weeks later. I wanted to wait to write my review until I could get all my thoughts about this book clear. I love it although I am no closer to an answer to the question: would you want to know the day that you were going to die?
This book is the perfect way to start the new year. Happy reading.

I love the questions that the premise alone of The Immortalists raises, if you could find out the date you will die would you? If you would, how would that shape your life? Would you live in fear knowing the clock is ticking to a specific end date? Or would you live each day to the fullest and be fearless and daring? So much to ponder here and I predict this will be a popular pick for many book clubs in the months to come.

This read like a family saga that spans decades but it was presented in a new and unusual way. Each of the Gold siblings tell their story with each one taking up about a quarter of the book. It begins in the late sixties and ends in 2006 and while I found all of their sections compelling, I enjoyed Simon’s the most. His is mainly set in the early eighties in San Francisco and his gentle spirit and journey to finding what truly makes him happy really touched me.

This was a thought provoking read that will make you question your own mortality and manages to teach some important life lessons without being cheesy. Benjamin has a lovely way with words, I can see this being classified as literary fiction without that pretentiousness that sometimes accompanies that genre.

This is my first 5 star rating of a novel that I didn’t really even like until 90% of the way through. I am completely baffled by my own reaction. My best guess is that there are four pieces to this huge puzzle. None really unique in there own right, however, once these pieces come together the full picture is utterly amazing. This has touched me in a way I don’t think I will ever be able to adequately articulate. Would make a great book club pick... this yearns to be discussed and I’m really looking forward to others reactions & thoughts. Would make a great book club pick. ‘The cost of loneliness is high... the cost of loss is higher.’ 5 baffling stars.

2.5 stars, really. The idea for this book sounded really interesting: a group of 4 siblings in 1969 NYC go to a fortune teller and learn the dates of their death. The book follows the siblings through the following years as they live their lives and how they handle having this prediction hanging over their heads. The book tells each sibling's story more or less separately, and the siblings also isolate themselves from each other in a similar way to the construction of the book. The characters deal with some issues concerning sexual orientation, mental health, substance abuse, religion--it runs the gamut. The problem is that I really never liked any of the characters all that much.

**Some Spoilers Ahead:**
I also was a little put off by all the sexual references in the book, basically all front-loaded into the first part, actually--I can remember only one sexual reference at all after the first quarter of the book. In the first paragraph of the book, the author categorizes the oldest girl (at 13 years old?!) sexually by noting the "fur" between her legs. What was the point of that? It seems completely unrelated to anything else. And then the first part of the book is one same-sex sex scene after another. Maybe the author wanted to convey a feeling of tawdriness because of how events develop with that sibling, but it got gratuitous, IMO. (And, BTW, how does no one recognize that this character is only 16 years old?) In contrast, the rest of the book has no sex at all, so where's the consistency? Meanwhile, I know that, because it happens so early in the book, a lot of the patrons at my library will be turned off and won't finish the book at all.

No review, since I gave up on the book after the fifty page rule. I do not post negative reviews under two stars. It doesn't seem fair to the author.

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin follows the story of four kids who meet with a fortune tale as children. This fortune teller tells them each when they are going to die, and these predictions shape their actions for the rest of their lives. 

This book was a real treat and well worth the read. I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this book, but I was surprised by how much depth and development went into The Immortalists. 

The quality of writing in this book was fantastic. It was incredibly well-written and the amount of research and effort that went into this book was apparent.

The pace of the book was slow in the beginning, but it picked up once the book started following each individual sibling. 

The plot development of the book was thoughtful and well-executed. I loved the story concept and how the author chose to unfurl the story. I enjoyed following each sibling and how they chose to live their lives with the knowledge of their death dates. Each sibling is so different, so following each sibling was like stepping into a whole different world. At the same time, there was a decent amount of time spent on the relationships between the characters, both positive and negative. 

The ending of the book was somewhat anticlimactic, but at the same time, I appreciated the simplicity and the way the book was quietly brought to a close. 

The character development was exceptional. I liked the wildness of Simon, the stubbornness of Klara, the steadiness of Daniel, and the anxiousness of Varya. Each sibling is so different, each with their own quirks and personalities. I felt very close to Simon, Klara, and Varya, though my favorite character was Simon, by far. His character is so interesting and complex, and the lifestyle he leads is so loud.  I struggled a bit with Daniel. I felt I got to know him the least, and I was somewhat indifferent to his character. 

This book was very insightful. As stated earlier, it was clear that the author put in the time and effort into researching and understanding the topics she wrote about. From AIDs, LGBT relations, magic, OCD, and primate research--this book covered a lot of different topics! It never felt forced or contrived. Each character embodied their personalities and preferences perfectly. 

The Immortalists was very enjoyable and easy to read. I would highly recommend this book to others.  

Rating (1-10, 10 is exceptional)
Quality of Writing - 10
Pace - 7
Plot Development - 9
Ending - 7
Characters - 9
Enjoyability - 9
Insightfulness - 9
Ease of Reading - 8
Overall Rating - 4/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for providing the Kindle version of this book in exchange for an honest review. My review will be published on my blog on Monday, January 8th, 2018.

The Immortalists, by Chloe Benjamin, Jan. 2018
Benjamin poses a big question in The Immortalists: Would we live our lives differently if we knew the date of our death and would knowing impact our decisions? The four young Gold siblings visit a fortune teller on a sweltering summer day and the rippling reverberations of that encounter are felt throughout their lives. Even as the reader sees the handwriting on the wall, Benjamin’s brilliant storytelling makes this a difficult book to put down.

I love how this book was set up. Each section features a different Gold sibling and is told from their point of view. The next section picks up in time where the one before it left off but with the next Gold sibling (there is a pattern to the order that I loved, but don’t want to spoil it). The story flowed so well as time moved on that I hardly noticed that years had passed since the book started.

I wasn’t as sucked into this book from the start, it took me getting through the first quarter of the book before I got into the story line. I never felt the need stay up reading late reading to find out what happened to the Gold siblings. I also thought this book would have more magical realism from the blurb and what I’ve heard about it but that’s not the case at all. This story is definitely more literary fiction/family drama than anything else.

Some lines in the story were weirdly graphic/vulgar/crass for seemingly no reason and other parts almost made me cry. Which is all the more interesting because I never actually really liked any of the siblings when I was reading about them. There were moments when I understood why one of the siblings did something but I didn’t find myself rooting for them or agreeing with their choices.

The overarching question of did the siblings act the way they did because they believed what the fortune teller told them about when they would die or would everything have been the same if they had never known when they would die was done really well. The story kept circling back around to it in subtle and not so subtle ways.

I have mixed feelings about this book upon finishing. The story begins with a fantastic premise surrounding four siblings, and the remainder is divided into passages devoted to each individual. The first two portions feel a little too familiar and don't say much different from tales that I've read about similar characters. The second half is more focused and hits a little harder although is still plagued with minor issues here and there. The writing is serviceable, but not anything particularly special. I wish that Benjamin had capitalized more on the intriguing family dynamic presented at the beginning, which comes more into play late in the novel.

I was enthralled in this story from the moment the kids visited the fortune teller. It was so interesting to see how the experience affected each of them, even when they didn't believe what they heard. Really fantastic.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

“The Immortalists” began with an intriguing premise—four children discover the dates of their deaths—and from there we watch their lives unfold. This premise inspired me to read the book, but overall, I was disappointed. There were certainly important questions posed throughout the novel by each of the characters but their answers and their struggles fell flat. The characters were unlikeable and unrelatable; rather than engaging with them, I pushed through merely to finish the book.

This book explores complicated themes related to familial relationships, mortality, and psychology. Told over several decades and from the perspectives of four characters the reader initially meets as children, the plot is successfully woven from each point of view and period of time. My only wish would be that there was more connectivity between the siblings and time periods, as the reader only gets to know each character in depth for their specific sections based on their point of view. Nonetheless a very good, emotional, thought provoking and engaging read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Penguin Group for this ARC.

"If you knew the date of your death, how would you live your life?" Would you let this date define you? Would you run from it, embrace it, protect it? The four Gold children all react to the knowledge differently and this story follows each one through the choices they make and how they choose to live their lives. Haunting and unforgettable, we see how the family falls apart and yet ultimately strengthens.

“There are two major theories about how to stop aging…”
“…It sounds like you’re saying we can choose to live. Or we can choose to survive.”

Chloe Benjamin’s The Immortalists is a thoughtfully executed novel written in simple, yet often poetic, prose that allowed the characters’ voices at their most forceful to shine on their own past the narrative itself. More than that, it is a novel crafted around a question we all ask ourselves more often than we’d care to admit: “Is it more important to truly live or to survive? To dare to dream at our grandest or to play it safe?” And, if you knew the exact day on which you’d die, would you live your life any differently than you would without that hateful knowledge?

In their youth, the Gold siblings follow a rumor to the home of a Gypsy fortune teller who gives them the knowledge they seek: the exact dates of their deaths. These prophecies propel them forward for the rest of their lives, influencing their decisions, changing the courses of their lives and plunging the question into the forefront of their minds forever: Was the fortune teller right, and, if so, can they change the course of their own fates?

It’s an intriguing idea, we must all admit. A scary one. A downright chilling one. And the leitmotif Benjamin poses to her reader manifests itself throughout the novel with compelling force, from the exploration of God and country’s place within our existence, to what the prophecy of one’s own death does to such beliefs. Do we cling to such notions and ingrained dogmas all the way to the end, cowering under them safely like warm, childhood blankets, or using them to fortify us in our resolve and everyday decisions—or, do we slough off and away such religious and secular beliefs and become our own reason for living, our own life force, whether to our own detriment or benefit?

The Immortalists bounds along a timeline spanning five decades, trotting through the start of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco—

“You weren’t terrified?”
“No, not then…When doctors said we should be celibate, it didn’t feel like they were telling us to choose between sex and death. It felt like they were asking us to choose between death and life. And no one who worked that hard to live life authentically, to have sex authentically, was willing to give it up.”

¬–toward Las Vegas in the 80s and into the early years of this century, tackling tough questions, such as the logistics behind increasing the human lifespan—and the politics of attempting such a thing. For readers who enjoy novels of sweeping timelines, they’re sure to find a treat in Benjamin’s latest novel. The period settings weren’t quite as immersive as I’d hoped—the societal and technological differences in backdrop between the decades were noted but not submerging in a way that allowed me to really feel I was moving from decade to decade with true authenticity. However, what I did take from this book were lessons to carry with me, delivered by poignant phrasing that outshone the actual stories of the four siblings’ lives. And that resonated loudly enough to forgive such specifics.

I had an interesting relationship with this novel as I continued my reader’s affair with it. I could not relate specifically to any one of the characters in this book. I would not have been friends with any of them in real life, and I did feel that some of the plotlines were predictable. BUT, I learned a lesson from every single one of the siblings that I took with me until the end, and each of those moments of recognition were special.

What do you want?...and if [she] answered him honestly she would have said this: To go back to the beginning. She would tell her thirteen-year-old self not to visit the woman. To her twenty-five-year old self: Find Simon, forgive him…She’d tell herself she would die, she would die, they all would…She’d tell herself that what she really wanted was not to live forever, but to stop worrying…”

This is a novel with a strong core and a big heart, with a moral and a central theme to tie all the threads together. Chloe Benjamin’s second novel continued her thus-far-established trend of exploring existential questions in our everyday lives, creating a brand for her that is sure to glimmer and shine, attracting new readers from far and wide. 4 stars ****

Are we really the masters of our own destiny? Or does the universe already know what’s in store for us? These are the questions at the heart of Chloe Benjamin’s book The Immortalists. The four Gold siblings visit a fortune teller as children, and she reveals the exact date of each of their deaths. Simon, Klara, Daniel and Varya bear the burden of this knowledge differently, and we see how it impacts each of their lives in turn. We see how they struggle with questions of fate versus free will, and how their individual choices reverberate throughout the family. Well written and thought provoking, these characters will stay with me for a long while. This would make a good book club choice.