Monday, May 14, 2018

Books Set in the United States

The Immortalists, by Chloe Benjamin (2018)

Would you want to know the date of your death, and if you did know when you would die, would that impact your life?  That’s the premise of The Immortalists.

In 1969, the four Gold children, Simon, Klara, Daniel and Varya, aged 7, 9, 11, and 13, respectively, visit a mysterious woman said to tell fortunes.  As the children individually enter the woman’s apartment, she tells them the exact date of their death.  Some of the children share that date, the others keep it a secret.  But the children are just that ~ should they take the woman seriously?

The novel follows each of the four children.  Simon, the youngest, leaves home at age 16 to seek a new start in San Francisco.  Klara focuses on magic and perfects a death-defying trick of hanging by her teeth from a rope.  Daniel becomes a military doctor, and Varya becomes a researcher in aging.  Each child remains haunted by their early prophesy into their death.  This supposed knowledge also affects their relationships with family members and others they encounter.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  The author really made the character’s come alive.

Read:  May 14, 2018

4 Stars

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