Wow what a wonderful book. A truly heart wrenching read, which will stay with me for a long time. Such a unique premise that kept me gripped. A perfect book club read as so much to discuss and I am going to recommend it to everyone so that I can talk to someone about it!

Benjamin, pleasantly draws upon our thoughts about life and mortality by using the captivating idea that centres on the Gold children, who form part of a Jewish family living in the tenements of Eastside New York in 1969. They visit a fortune teller that individually tells them the specific date of their deaths which has a profound impact on their lives.

Their relationships with each other are complicated. There is seed of destiny versus choice planted throughout the story, which you can pause and reflect upon as each part of the book is designated around the lives of one of the four children in order of their deaths.

Their lives remain a struggle following their past experiences. Judasim still pulls at them, as they struggle with their mother’s traditional thoughts and ways as opposed to their need to experience life differently. From homosexuality and AIDs in the 80’s to magical shows and the illusions of life in Vegas to more traditional and grounded lives, there is a lot thrown in.

Being complicated characters, means they are not necessarily the nicest of people, but they have a good core. They lose their way, experience struggles, strife and are prone to self-absorption. It is bitter sweet and sad in a lot of ways. It helps us realise about how life shapes you and how you learn from it, even if this maybe later in the day, when you have been through a journey. The sadness is the extent of regrets and missed opportunities to keep in contact with family. A message that came through was that bitterness is not a good a feeling to hang on to, it is corrosive and leaves scars. With strong characterisation, it is entertaining, yet quite deep at the same time.

If you were told the exact date that you are going to die, how would you live?

This is the question posed to the Gold siblings when they seek out a fortune teller who, rumour has it, can predict the dates of their deaths. What follows is each child's story as they navigate that knowledge - do they believe it? Does it change how they see their time on Earth?

I loved the premise of this novel and had heard a lot of great reviews before I read it, which might have inflated my expectations a little. As an only child, I'm always fascinated by stories about siblings and this one had an added layer of intrigue in how they dealt with the possible knowledge of their sibling's deaths, let alone their own.

What I really liked is how the novel slowly worked it's way back to the age old question - is it better to live dangerously and die young, or live carefully and die old? What does it mean to live a fulfilled life? We see that the sibling who dies the youngest is the one who took the most risks; whereas the one who dies the oldest, has lived a life in fear. Perhaps that's not a particularly unique subject for a novel to tackle, but I thought it did so in quite a unique way. By the time it really started to make that question clear, I was open to it, rather than seeing it coming and being cynical about a novel trying to philosophise.

What I partly struggled with was the pace of the novel, though that can happen with literary fiction; but mainly that I didn't like any of the characters enough. Knowing when a character will die removes the jeopardy, so the characters have to be compelling enough to still care about it when it happens, and unfortunately I didn't really feel that way with any of them, though I got the closest with Klara and was gripped the most by Daniels' chapters.

Overall, a well-written novel with an interesting premise that I did enjoy, but not quite as much as I had hoped.

The Immortalists has been huge in America garnering critical acclaim for its author, Chloe Benjamin. I was extremely lucky to receive a pre publication copy and saved it until I had a weeks leave and a long train journey to London. I am sometimes sceptical about novels that receive huge publicity, often disappointed when I finally read so I began reading with few expectations.

From the first page to the last I can honestly say I was hooked, fully immersed in the story of the Gold family siblings, Varya, Daniel, Klara and Simon. The whole premise of the novel, that each Gold sibling knows the date of their death, was totally unique, but it does make it hard to review the novel without giving too much away.

What I will try to do is give an overview of each character.

Simon is the youngest and is persuaded, after the death of their Father, to flee to San Francisco by sister Klara. Once there he becomes involved in a world so far removed from the one he has fled. He is selfish, self centered, living everyday as if it his last.

Daniel is much more complex, the one who persuaded them all to visit the psychic and the one who seems to carry the burden of blame. A military doctor, married to Mira, they have no children yet he seems the most level headed and steady out of all the siblings. As the date of his death approaches he becomes slightly unhinged, hell bent on tracking down the psychic perhaps trying to reverse his fate and that of his siblings.

Klara is a magician finding herself on the verge of fame when she and her husband Raj get their own show in Las Vegas. It is everything Klara ever wanted but wracked by guilt over Simon’s death she finds herself in complete turmoil. Klara’s story was for me the most intense aspect of the novel. Her inner turmoil and complete breakdown was unbearable to read but the narrative was utterly compulsive.

The eldest Gold sibling is Varya, a research scientist investigating the anti aging process which sounds completely absurd considering they all knew when theywere going to die. Varya is the most complex of all the siblings, wrapping herself in the protective layer of obsessive compulsive disorder. Hers is a life lived to rules, no eating out, careful potion control, not too many calories, lots of hand washing and definitely no relationships or friends. I was enjoying afternoon tea in Covent Garden when I read Varya’s story and at first I found her cold and unlikeable and then oh my goodness suddenly Varya’s story changed. I can remember holding my breath and wanting to turn to the table next to me and tell them what had happened. It was this moment that I started to like Varya, the moment she felt like a human with feelings and emotions and I too wanted everything to be ok for her, for her to be happy and content.

Benjamin’s writing is brilliant, it draws you in and completely immerses you in the story of the Gold siblings. There is an intensity about it that I haven’t experienced in a novel for a long time. She made me feel a complexity of emotions and I felt a real connection to each of the characters and I really wanted them to have a happy ending.

Ultimately, The Immortalists is a story of family, love, grief and life. It makes you question our purpose, our actions and how much we must be grateful for what we have before it is too late.

There are three words I would use to describe The Immortalists. compelling, immersive and brilliant.

Thank you so much to Caitlin Raynor and Tinder Press for a pre-publication copy to read and review

What would you do if you were told the date of your death? Would it affect the way you live your life? Whether you believe in it or not, that date will e ingrained in your mind throughout your days. That's what I learnt from The Immortalists anyway - a story of four siblings, starting in 1969 when they get their futures read, throughout the trials and tribulations of their lives.

This is a gorgeous, emotive and intimate story. I expected it to be a little more supernatural, with a focus on the psychic who foretold the group's fates. But really, she doesn't take centre stage here at all. It's all about the four of them; Simon, Klara, Daniel and Varya and the way these siblings choose to live their lives.

The book opens with a short stint when this group are young, as the four of them visit a psychic who's skills have been heard along the grapevine.They quickly wish they hadn't as they all receive their varying death sentences.

We then follow them through their lives, starting with Simon, each sibling picking up where the last one's story left off. Each is intertwined with the other, yet their all their own people, and I'm sure everyone will connect with different siblings. Simon starts a new life as a gay dancer in San Francisco, Klara a magician in Vegas, Daniel a loyal husband and military doctor, and Varya a researcher on the topic of how to extend human life. For me Simon and Klara were front runners in terms of stories told - their fragile, young lives and points of views made them all the more vulnerable and endearing to me, but every one of them has an important voice which contributes to this story’s many layers.

This is a story which revolves around a death date, but really it's about life - and how this group chooses to live it. The storytelling here is utterly captivating - I love stories which span different time periods and places, and this nailed it on those counts. It captures times and places I've never experienced so personally they felt intimate and visceral; the characters like long-lost friends I won't forget any time soon. A stunning debut, I absolutely fell in love with this story, and I can't wait to see what the author does next.

3.5 stars
This book wasn't gripping but held my attention to the end. Well written, with interesting characters, it touched on several fascinating subject matters, but never delved deep enough. For me, it had a potential but didn't quite deliver.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

The Immortalists is not quite the magical-realism novel I had expected, but instead provides an in-depth exploration of the lives and behaviours of four very different, but related, people who have all received the same information: the date they will die. Seeing how each sibling deals with the idea of their own mortality and a known expiration date makes for a fascinating study of human psychology and how we relate to the world around us.

I particularly enjoyed how the structure moved from one sibling to another through the course of their lives, but without much overlap, so we get an entirely different perspective of events unclouded by the previous POV.

I was somewhat surprised at how emotionally detached I felt from the characters. I certainly enjoyed reading about them, but at no point did I really feel for them, or invest emotionally in their struggles. This was mainly due to the detached and precise writing style, which drew a breathtakingly realistic picture of this family, but in quite stark black pen lines rather than a softer or brighter colour portrait of emotional intimacy. I felt rather like Varya observing her monkeys with interest and pleasure but also a safe distance.

This is a great novel for those who enjoy considering moral and philosophical ideas in a fictional setting, and provides much material for thought and discussion, so I would particularly recommend it for book groups.

One word review: Captivating

Rambling review: I had conflicting expectations for this book. The American cover has been inescapable on bookstagram (kudos to their PR team) but the UK edition has a very different kind of cover.

I was captivated and immersed. The characters were utterly fascinating and I found myself willing them to make different decisions, to prove to prophesy wrong, to make amends.

I also found the book highly educational, diving into areas of history which I haven’t previously explored in depth. Whilst the AIDs crisis is something I feel confident referring to as a period of history, a thing, I hadn’t read any first-hand accounts or fiction which specifically focused on it. Similarly, I hadn’t read fiction before which explored Judaism in this way. In some ways, it reminded me of Transparent – how modern American families hold their Judaism close and, in doing so, educate the reader or audience about their traditions. It was also fascinating to learn more about the Rom – I was more familiar with their story, but had no idea they originated in India.

Until Varya’s chapters, Raj was my favourite character as he was the most complex and unnerving – his bitterness and resentment towards the Golds was fascinating, as was his drive and determination in the face of tragedy. But Varya’s blew me away, I loved Benjamin’s exploration of her OCD, her drive for longevity, her fear of loss, her sense of purpose. Truly fascinating. Daniel was my least favourite character. His hatred against Bruna spewed into racism and his resentment was often immature.

My only wish for the book was that it explored Klara’s mental health and addiction in more depth. There were bipolar tendencies and an obvious alcohol problem, but from the reader’s perspective her suicide wasn’t driven by those factors. It felt like it was driven by a resignation to fate. Perhaps that was to leave doubt about Bruna’s steer on Klara? There certainly is a strong argument for her belief in the prophecy being intrinsically linked to her mental state, and I would be happy with that answer I think, I just wanted it to be explored more.

P.S. The all-important question, would you want to know?!

Star rating: 5 stars

Year published: 2018

Publishing house: Headline Books, Doubleday

Amazon Summary: It's 1969, and holed up in a grimy tenement building in New York's Lower East Side is a travelling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the date they will die. The four Gold children, too young for what they're about to hear, sneak out to learn their fortunes.

Such prophecies could be dismissed as trickery and nonsense, yet the Golds bury theirs deep. Over the years that follow they attempt to ignore, embrace, cheat and defy the 'knowledge' given to them that day - but it will shape the course of their lives forever.

I felt that the premise of this book started off extremely well. Four children being given a date for their death. The book is then written in four parts telling how this information may (or may not) have affected their lives. It turned out to be a very bleak story (for each of them) and I could not find any real endearing characteristics in any of them. I did not understand their motives. I read just over half the book and them skimmed the rest. Not for me I am afraid.

The book is set in 1969 and centres around 4 siblings who go to a fortune teller and find out the exact day each will die. The book then splits between the 4 of them as we find out who differently this information has affected each of them and how they live the rest of their lives.

I think the only downside to this book is that Simon and Klara are the far more interesting characters and their stories are told first. Which means by the time we get to Varya’s, which includes a lot of scientific research, I tended to lose interest slightly. The family as a whole were fascinating enough that I continued reading to the end though.

Some of the events are a little predictable but I still loved reading their stories.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

I usually enjoy books set in this time period, and was enjoying the details of Jewish life revealed in the funeral of Saul. However, shortly after I came upon a very graphic m/m sexual encounter and that stopped me reading on.
I won't be offering a further review. I would never have requested this book had I know it contained graphic sex - I'm not a prude, and have no problem with same sex partnerships, but I really don't want to read the nitty gritty details.

If you knew your future would it affect how you lived your life?

At its heart this is a family story but having had their futures told do you try and change what is written in the stars or does this become a self fulfilling prophecy?

I enjoyed this book but did find some of the characters a little annoying. A good 3/4 stars

The plot of The Immortalists is truly wonderful and incredibly clever. Four siblings visit a fortune teller when they're very young and they learn the exact date of their deaths. The book is split into four sections, one for each sibling, which follows their lives and their deaths. Each section follows on from the last one in terms of date so there's no overlap. You only see each sibling when they're about to die or, in Varya's case, after the death of Daniel. This is a really clever choice because it keeps the narrative moving along smoothly but you can still find out more about each sibling's life through flashbacks etc.

Simon, the youngest Gold sibling, knows that he'll be very young when he dies and so he decides to live his life to the fullest. He abandons everything he knows at the age of 16 to move to San Fransisco where he can finally be himself. Simon's chapter follows his life as a gay man who dances and his relationship with a wonderful man, Robert, who we see again at the end of the novel. Since Simon's chapter is set in the late 1970s and early 1980s I knew how he was going to die. It's a heartbreaking moment when Simon dies and it should be the saddest death of the book because he's so young and his death is so unfair but, oddly, it wasn't the saddest death in my opinion. 

Klara, the second youngest sibling, is the next to die. She's obsessed with magic and she's a successful magician but she's also an alcoholic and deeply depressed. Her magic act is titled 'The Immortalist' because she is determined to defeat death and live beyond the prophecised date of her death. I didn't find her death sad because it felt like an inevitability due to her behaviour but her character is amazing. She's such a complex character, full of flaws and contradictions, but there's a wonderful quality about her that leaves you in awe of her. Klara is full of life, even when she places herself into the jaws of death, and she truly believes in magic.

Daniel is the complete opposite of Klara. He's dependable, an army doctor who settles down with a Jewish girl and takes up the religion again. After Klara's death, he becomes obsessed with the idea that both his siblings have been murdered (or at least forced to die in some way) by the fortune teller. For me, Daniel's death is the saddest because it was his own fault in a way. However, I didn't like Daniel much as a person. He's a well-written, well-rounded character and I can't fault Chloe Benjamin's characterisation at all but I just don't like him.

Varya is the last sibling to die and she knows that she's going to have a long life because the fortune teller told her she would die aged 88. Despite this, she works as a scientific researcher in anti-ageing or longevity. Varya is a restrained character, like Daniel in some ways but completely different to Simon and Klara, and she's eventually diagnosed with OCD. She gives up her job when her son, who she gave up at birth, finds her and shows her that to prolong life is to stop living to the fullest. There's so much more to her than you realise at first and her chapter is all about discovery. We discover her as she discovers herself. Chloe Benjamin didn't write about Varya's death, just her new beginning, and it was the perfect ending to the novel in my opinion because she's finally accepted her fate and she's learned how to live.

If I knew when I was going to die, whether it'd be in 5 years or 50 years, then I'd try to make the most of life and enjoy it. I feel like Simon and Klara had the right frame of mind and chose the right path even though their paths may have led directly to their deaths. 

The Immortalists is a captivating novel. Chloe Benjamin's writing style is stunning and her characterisation is wonderful. I can't recommend this book enough. I'll definitely be buying it when it is released because I know that I'll want to re-read it in the future.

I read the opening section of The Immortalists with mounting excitement and was convinced I was absolutely going to love this book. Because the novel starts so brilliantly - with four siblings daring to visit a fortune teller who can apparently predict the exact date you are going to die, The atmosphere crackles, the children's anxiety and doubts are very well portrayed and a really unique and interesting situation is set up. I read this far and thought YES, AMAZING. This is going to be good!
But then, as I read on, and the narrative diverged to feature each of the four characters separately, I began to lose my conviction. I have to say that, for me, after such a blockbuster beginning, the book never quite reaches its potential.
The four characters are Simon, Klara, Daniel and Varya; they are siblings and live in New York. The book examines the question - How would you live your life if you knew when you were going to die? - with each character's story coming in turn. This was a major problem for me: that we never see all four siblings together again, having captured the family dynamic so well in the opening. So we have Simon who goes off to San Francisco; Klara, who becomes a magician; Daniel a doctor and Varya, a scientist and they each tread their own paths, barely interacting with one another. I thought this lack of connection was a missed trick, to be honest - and unfortunately, I didn't really care enough about any of the characters as individuals to really enjoy the rest of the book, I found myself reading it quickly so as to finish it and move on to something else.

The author is clearly a good writer - there are some beautiful, evocative passages of writing, and the overall idea for the book is excellent. However, some of the dialogue and exposition is very clunky and unconvincing. The execution in general fell a bit flat for me and I was left feeling disappointed and underwhelmed.

Opinion really seems to be divided on the book - I've read some utterly rapturous reviews so perhaps it all comes down to taste. Despite my initial enthusiasm, I'm sorry to say this wasn't one for me.

Thanks anyway for letting me read the book.

The children of the Gold family go to see an old gypsy woman who gives them all the dates that they will die. An interesting and scary prospect. This book follows each of the for children as adults in turn. It is left for the reader to judge whether the predictions given in childhood affect the adult lives. Well written and entertaining.

Thank you to Net Galley for the chance to read this book in return for an honest review.

I was so looking forward to reading this book and thankfully it did not disappoint. This was a great book and will recommend to others.

If you could know the exact day of your death, would you want to find out? If you did find out, how would knowing that information affect how you lived your life? These questions are at the heart of The Immortalists , Chloe Benjamin's deeply affecting and beautifully written new book. And the question that should be asked is would you believe the word of a stranger? How much do you believe in destiny?

Chloe Benjamin tells a remarkable story of 4 siblings who all are told the date of their deaths. Whilst may not be the most innovative topic for a book the story is told well. The ending was strong and solid and tied everything up. Book told the story of each sibling and how they came to meet their demise if that was what was deemed to be. Very dark in places not a light hearted book. A good read which I thoroughly enjoyed and will be recommending to people.

This is the story of four people, children when we first meet them in 1969, who hear of and pay a visit to a strange psychic woman who, rumour has it, can tell a person the date of their death.
They all come away with dates. Some are more happy than others to learn how soon / far away these dates are and the rest of the book follows Simon, Klara, Daniel and Varya as they grow up and towards their respective date. The main premise of the book being how much knowing and believing when you are going to die actually influences both your decisions and choices in life and, more importantly, what happens in your final days and how much of that is contrived because of it.
I really enjoyed this book which was weird because it was obvious from the start that everyone had a good chance of dying within the book. It's hard to invest in a character when you know that is looming, especially when it is also evident that some may not be around for quite as long as others, and I do like to invest in characters in a read of this nature.
For four children who initially grew up together, they are all very different in both character and personality. How much of that is influenced by the knowledge of their own mortality is very debatable and, without giving anything away, more obvious for some than others.
As I was reading, as the characters made some of their life choices, I couldn't help but question some of their motives. Would they really have done this had they not known their date of death. But then that breeds a second question; did that choice directly or indirectly lead to or contribute to their death. It's hard to explain without an example (spoilers though) but it is very well illustrated in the first story we get in the book. If that character didn't know they would die young, would they have chosen to do what they did which, with hindsight, directly contributed to them dying young. Food for thought most definitely.
The other three stories gave me mixed reactions. Their lives were interesting enough but the lead up to their final days didn't really quite work for me. But then again. I don't know when I am going to die so I really have no right to pass judgement on how someone would act in that situation. Just, for me, there wasn't quite that realism.
With the main topic covered in the book being that of death, there was a chance that the book would be too dark, especially as the majority of people do die but, and I can't put my finger on exactly why, it wasn't. Maybe it was the rich and interesting lives that some played out, maybe it was the overall feeling of family, maybe it was the ones left behind that were enough to lift the tone, I have no idea. There's also quite a bit of mature content in this book. But that's to be expected given the nature and span of the story.
All in all, an interesting concept and story which did make me think. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

A really fascinating idea for a story. If you were told the date that you were going to die, how would you react? Would you believe it? Would it haunt you? Would you try to live your life to the full? Four siblings are told the dates they are going to die and their separate stories are then told. I enjoyed most of the story. The descriptions of San Francisco and New York were really good. I could imagine the atmosphere and the sights. This book is definitely worth reading and the issues it brings up are thought provoking.

Thanks to Net Galley and Tinder Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
Four siblings, Daniel, Simon Klara and Varya visit a fortune teller, they are young and frightened by what she tells them, giving them each a mortality date. It affects each of them as they make decisions, Klara and Simon leave New York and their family, Klara wanting to bring her magic to others and have her own show. Simon, only sixteen, gay and wanting to live his life not the one his mother wants for him.
Daniel and Varya are angry that their siblings have left them at home with their mother, who is aging and a widow,
We read each siblings story of their life span and how they each deal with the knowledge of their demise.

If you could know the date of your death, would you want to hear it? And if you did listen, how would it affect the way you live your life? That is the fascinating premise of this touching and page-turning book from Chloe Benjamin. It's a subject that manner of idly chat about at some point in our lives, so it's good to see this finally being turned into a novel.

The scope of that question is huge but Chloe has taken this and turned it into an intimate story that follows four siblings - Varya, Daniel, Klara and Simon - who, as kids, visit a fortune teller in 1969 New York where she tells each of them the date of their death. Do they believe her? Do they not? Is it just a stupid game, or has the woman actually revealed their date with destiny to them?

We then follow these four kids in their adult years, as the shadow of the fortune teller's predictions loom around them - some more so than others - and as their lives take very different paths; from life as a cabaret artist to coming out in 1980s San Francisco, and even to a career experiemnting scientific breakthroughs on animals.

These seem disparate but the point is well made by Chloe- what is life? Do you seek to use it up and wear it out, or to extend it out for as long as you can? Some fo the more siblings are more affected by the fortune teller's information than others - so does the fortune teller's predictions come true *because* of what she said? That is also posed here.

I won't ruin it for you by telling you whether or not the predictions come true but what I will say is that this book affected me far more than i expected it to. It's engaging, and the characters are well formed, complex and nuanced. What starts of as an engaging read with a great hook draws you in and I did have a lump in my throat at the end. This takes a big subject and allows us to examine it through ordinary lives.