A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Washington Post • NPR • Entertainment Weekly • Real Simple • Marie Claire • New York Public Library • LibraryReads • The Skimm • Lit Hub • Lit Reactor AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER“A captivating family saga.”—The New York Times Book Review“This literary family saga is perfect for fans of Celeste Ng and Donna Tartt.”—People Magazine (Book of the Week)If you knew the … captivating family saga.”—The New York Times Book Review
“This literary family saga is perfect for fans of Celeste Ng and Donna Tartt.”—People Magazine (Book of the Week)
If you knew the date of your death, how would you live your life?
It’s 1969 in New York City’s Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children—four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness—sneak out to hear their fortunes.
The prophecies inform their next five decades. Golden-boy Simon escapes to the West Coast, searching for love in ’80s San Francisco; dreamy Klara becomes a Las Vegas magician, obsessed with blurring reality and fantasy; eldest son Daniel seeks security as an army doctor post-9/11; and bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immortality.
A sweeping novel of remarkable ambition and depth, The Immortalists probes the line between destiny and choice, reality and illusion, this world and the next. It is a deeply moving testament to the power of story, the nature of belief, and the unrelenting pull of familial bonds.
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Didn’t care for characters or details of story
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin is a fascinating study in the nature of young people faced with the truncation of their future. Most of us go through life thinking of our life as a limitless string of experiences, but for those of us who understand our mortality, it can look very different. For the young, to know their fate ahead of time is to have great power, however it can certainly be damning, as was the case here.
Benjamin’s writing style is gripping and beautiful, I am very much looking forward to her next work, whenever that might be. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wonders if their life is meaningless.
I also love the cover art, it was what attracted me to the work in the first place.
“Thoughts have wings.” Four children visit a fortune teller and learn the exact date of their death. Those words take flight in each of their lives. Do those words define them or doom them? There are some really deep questions to consider while and after reading this book. It should make for an interesting book club discussion!
This is another book that i wish i could give a half star on the rating for a 3.5. For the most part, the book was well written after the first section, especially. The beginning is hard to read due to the coarse and graphic sexual content describing Simon’s life. After that, the author seemed to settle down and not find it so necessary to be so graphic to tell her tale. It was hard to really like characters who made you feel such pity for them.
Ultimately this family saga is a tale of loneliness, mental illness, heartbreak, depression, and separation. There were glimmers of hope in places, but only through the grandchildren. The pain and feeling of guilt and betrayal were too strong among the nuclear family. For them as Simon puts it: the prophecy is a ball and his belief is its chain.
Loved it ,and it’s the world today
I love the inherently flawed characters and a plot line that makes me wonder if I would want to know the exact date of my death. Beautifully written and engaging all the way to the end.
I think this book has completely left me speechless. Which is very difficult since I always have something to say.
4 young children visit a psychic in 1969—she tells them the day each one of them will die.
What follows is an account of how each of them lives as a result of that knowledge. One at a time, you see their futures playing out. Are these “death dates” self-fulfilling prophesies or is the psychic really…psychic? Or is it all just a hoax?
This book really shook me to my core, resonating with me in a way that a book rarely does anymore.
I, too, had a fortune teller give me a “death day”. Not the year, just the date. I don’t know if that is a blessing or a curse to be honest. I guess if it was far in the future, I would be less anxious—the date wouldn’t come every year, me on edge, wondering if this is the year the prediction comes true. And if it was sooner, well, maybe I would convince myself that life is worth living a little more freely, simply because I wouldn’t have much time.
This novel really brought out the fears and the anxiety that one goes through when contemplating the future, with or without exclusive knowledge. It was astonishing to see how each of the children’s futures were somehow shaped from that one interaction, how their ingrained personalities caused their destinies. I would highly recommend it—I read it in less than 24 hours.
I am not sure if I should review this book as I didn’t finish it. It is the story of 4 siblings told by a fortune teller the day they will die. I got through 2 and 1/2 of the siblings. The tragic lives of these siblings broke my heart. I put the book down. Perhaps there was redemption somewhere but I was unable to find it. My adult daughter quit the book, too. Just to sad for me!
I loved this book! Ms. Benjamin did a fantastic job in creating her main characters from the beginning of the book when they were children until they had become adults. I don’t want to give anything away, but this novel, although at times was heartbreaking and very sad, I loved the way she brought her story to a close. Bravo Chloe Benjamin! Keep entertaining the devout readers of the world (like me) with your wonderful storylines and characters.
I really enjoyed this book! Even though you know “the ending” from the 1st chapter, delving into each character and how they got to the “ending” was full of twists and turns.
Waste of time
see my review of this title in the Washington Independent Review: http://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/index.php/bookreview/the-immortalists-a-novel
Absolutely stunning. I loved every minute of reading this.
I thought it was very well-written. It was very realistic and kept me intrigued. I didn’t particularly fall in love with any of the major characters, but I loved some of the other characters, such as Ruby and Robert. It would make a wonderful TV min-series. It’s definitely very thought-provoking and a book that will stay with me.
Unique different story
Excellent writing and very original!!
An examination of fate and free will, The Immortalists is a character driven page-turner. Thoroughly enjoyable!
great book to discuss. Would you really like to know the date of your death? Would you lead a more destructive life because you felt immortal or would you deny yourself happiness for fear of impacting your future?
Well written. I think the author really did her homework so that these characters all had different personalities
Loved this book. It’s an epic story told by four different people, a family of 2 sisters and 2 brothers who as children go to see a fortune teller who tells them when they will die. Is she for real? Maybe yes, maybe no but this information has an impact on their lives. Do her predictions come true or does the idea of her predictions change the course of their lives? Very engrossing story.
This is an amazing story of siblings who go to a gypsy fortune teller and learn the date that each one will die. They are children when they go and the story follows each one as they grow to adulthood. I don’t want to give the plot away, but it was a book that you wanted to keep reading to find out what happens to them. The characters were well written and you have a great sense of who each one is and how their lives were shaped by the knowledge it was given.
This is absolutely the best book I’ve read in the past year – I just loved it! When you race through a book because it’s SO GREAT but you never want it to end and when it ended, I cried. Who would have ever guessed such different characters from the same family. Many thanks to the wonderful author.