The Immortalists

Wat doet het met de mens als je op heel jonge leeftijd de exacte datum van overlijden te horen krijgt?

“She has a classmate at PS 42, Eugene Bogopolski, whose three brothers were sent to Vietnam when Varya and Eugene were only nine. All three of them returned, and the Bogopolskis threw a party in their Broome Street apartment. The next year, Eugene dived into a swimming pool, hit his head on the concrete, and died. Varya's date of death would be one thing - perhaps the most important thing - she could know for sure.”

Ga je reuze voorzichtig zijn, of wordt het een self fullfilling prophecy? En sprak de waarzegster eigenlijk wel de waarheid? Feit wel is dat de vier kinderen allemaal doodgaan in het boek, en helaas ook op volgorde van aflopende likeability :-)

I will think about this book until the end of my days.

I believed Richard Russo's quote on the back that I would care deeply about these characters but wow was he wrong. Couldn't get past that, and a lot of the trite writing didn't help. I gave up when there was a reference to dead fathers hanging out together in heaven.

This book started off really strong but I was really disappointed in the end.

This book revolves around four siblings who go to a gypsy woman (a psychic) as children. There's Varya, Daniel, Klara, and Simon...they are each told their date of death. We do not know what date each child is told until they have a conversation as adults after their father's death. We then get four different stories for each sibling. Simon as the youngest at 16 moves to San Francisco to a part of the gay community, Klara is a vagabond who loves magic and has a stint and success in Vegas, Daniel who is a doctor for the military, and Varya who has dedicated her life to science.

The stories of Simon, Klara, and Daniel are very touching and really make one think of the power a person allows a suggestion to take over their life. But then we get Varya's story and I just feel the story lost its luster at this point. I'm not sure if the author wanted things to be tied up in a nice little package but it definitely fell flat for me. I gave this book three stars because I absolutely loved 3/4 of it!

What a beautiful, magical story. I loved reading the story of these 4 siblings. When they were children they visited this woman who told them each what day they were going to die. Reading from each one of their perspectives, following along their journey was a great way to tell the story. I felt so many emotions as I was reading this book - anger, sadness, happiness...definitely a book that will stay in my heart for a long time.

This book is a journey. My god.

This was just really subpar.

I liked Simon's story but the middle was really bland. Clara was relentlessly annoying and nothing about Daniel's POV made any actual sense. I found myself bored and confused for much of the book.

Varya's section was painful, but luckily I liked the ending quite a bit. I liked the twist Benjamin gave to Varya as it was unexpected. Otherwise, I would have rated this even lower.

disbelief: suspended
pay-out: pretty good

i get why people were a little disappointed with this book. it markets itself as more of an adventure/thriller novel with the premise that all four characters know when they're going to die. however, the immortalists turns out to be more of a book about human nature, and i really liked that.

my only gripe is that varya's life and chapters seemed very disconnected from the rest of the siblings, and left me wanting more from the finale. while the other three were very interconnected in how they shaped each other's lives and deaths, there seemed to be little to no effect on varya, which made me sad. perhaps that is simply the life of an eldest sibling.

Excellent writing, but too dark for me.

t's 1969 and the four Gold children, oldest 13 hear of a mystical lady on the Lower East Side of NY who can foretells the day one will die. “The Immortalists” is the story of these four siblings, Simon, Varya, Daniel and Klara as they grow up and come to terms with what their “day” is. Does the knowledge of when one going to die impact the choices they make that lead to that outcome? Everyone wrestles with mortality, but what does knowing the exact day of your death due to your psychological outlook, the life choices you make?

The novel is structured around each character in the order of the year they die, earliest to latest. I loved the premise of Chloe Benjamin's novel and was fully immersed through the first half of the book, following the lives of Simon and Klara. They were the most fully realized and developed of the characters and the existential question raised by Benjamin's book, did knowing the date of their death lead to a set of decisions that resulted in fate being realized or was it just fate. I felt the momentum and connection with the characters started to flag midway through Daniel's story. While there were moments of brilliance, particularly the Thanksgiving visit from Varya's widower and daughter, there were some plot twists that were forced and left the final part of that “chapter” trite and predictable. By the end of the novel, I was a bit disappointed, for what started out with so much promise ended with a little bit of a whimper. In my mind, “The Immortalists” may have been stronger structurally if it centered on no more than three siblings instead of the four.

I'm somewhat torn between giving the book three or four stars, but lean toward four given the strength of the first half to two thirds of a tale well told about one of those timeless questions — What if you knew exactly when you were going to die?

Chloe Benjamin has pulled off a hat trick. She tells us early on what is going to happen to these four siblings, yet we can't tear our eyes away from the page, perhaps hoping against hope that fate will not win and free will triumph. I heard her speak about this book two years ago and read it shortly after but am just now taking the time to post a review. It has lingered in my mind all this time, its blend of urgency and sensitivity resonating with me. Her prose is gorgeous, the plot fascinating, but it's the four characters who will win your heart and stay with you. Highly recommended

I read this on a recommendation and wasn't disappointed.

One of those addictive, page turning reads that you can't seem to put down.

And what an interesting premise!
4 siblings visit a fortune teller as children and she predicts the exact days of their death.
What follows is a vivid journey into self-fulfilling prophecy and the battles faced.

A bit disappointing. I was looking for the magical thread to run through it and tie it all together, but it wasn't there.

Achei lento e revelador na maneira como os povs se sucediam. Achei que fosse abandonar antes de terminar, mas spesar de td fiquei curiosa o suficiente para ir até o fim.

My review today is going to possibly change. Maybe I missed something with this read. I just simply did not enjoy this book at all. It was almost one that I did not finish. [b:The Immortalists 30288282 The Immortalists Chloe Benjamin https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1493015963s/30288282.jpg 50766250] is the story of four siblings with a shared experience in childhood. That shared experience is a visit to a psychic known for telling you the date of your death. So sets the premise of the story. As a reader you are not told what each child is told. You enter into their stories separately with the book being divided into quarters, one quarter for each sibling and their lifespan. Im sorry to say that I just found myself wondering “what is the point here?” It appears to me that the author wants us to believe that each character is driven by their “death date” and that this changes the ways in which they all live their lives. The question is does it change their lives for the better or for the worse. I have my thoughts on what I believe Chloe Benjamin would say...I will leave that up to you to decide. My complaint is that I found some of the decisions and outcomes completely contrived and in the case of several of the siblings the velocity at which their story takes a right angled turn in order to end up at the outcome that the author writes for them is jarring and simply not believable. I am going to read other reviews. Perhaps my mind will change but this is one that I would not recommend. The concept had me pick up the book, the execution left me disappointed.

I enjoyed this book and the characters quite a lot. I do feel like I have to mention that the last portion of the book had a lot of animal suffering/animal experimentation on display. I don't fault the author for this, and I see the purpose, but I would have skipped this book had I known this is where we were headed.

Other thoughts:

I really think the book is not as clear cut as the description made it seem, or as clear cut as I've seen in other reviews. I think an argument could be made for the characters working to fulfill the dates of death they'd been given.

Simon's fate seemed a matter of luck, choice, and belief. His dying on the "right" date persuaded Karla, who believed anyhow, and then she took her death date in her own hands. Daniel didn't know for sure Simon's date came true, but I think he still believed, and after Karla was left with guilt, survivor's guilt, and anger. If Simon has survived his date, his siblings would have probably done the same. They were dominoes

I think the details of Simon's story were somewhat worthy of an eye roll. Once he moved where he did, when he did, it was hard to miss where the author was headed. I don't think she was being intentionally homophobic, but considering how these men were treated at the time like they were getting what they deserved... And then to have a character who an argument could be made pursued AIDS, well, I don't know. I have to say that it lacked imagination.

I very much appreciated the idea, in Daniel, that we stack up our regrets concerning family as time goes on, and then realize the weight of it all. We think we have time to fix everything, some day, and that almost always is false.

I very much hate that my heart is still breaking for that poor little starved, neglected monkey. And for Varya as well, but I went in expecting that.

I seriously am amazed how many critical reviews act like the book is a smut-fest. Yes, the beginning of the book focuses on Varya having hit puberty, and mentions pubic hair, but I don't think it was pointless, as people allege. Chloe Benjamin is asking the reader to remember their own confusion and awkwardness, not to mentally ogle a child. Simon's scenes reflected his mindset, his experiences living in a place where he could be as free as any heterosexual person in any other major city, and eventually the scenes spoke of sadness. But I think of all of this as a really small part of the book.

Also, swear words are ... words. You're reading a book. An author should have access to all the words he or she feels are needed. A “naughty” word will not make you crumple, and I don't understand adults acting like they've been sprayed with acid. Find it off putting, sure, but becoming a 19th century school marm?

I think this book gave an interesting take on where the trajectory of your life would take you if you knew the exact date you were going to die. This story follows four siblings who live in America, who visit a fortune teller in their youth who tells them the day they are going to die. From there the story follows each of the siblings individual lives till they die. I loved that each of the four siblings took very different paths in life and had very different stories to tell. My favourite stories to listen to (audiobook) was Simon and Clara's as they were the most intense and passionate but I also enjoyed listening to Daniel and Varias stories as well. I also loved the host of minor characters in this novel such as Gurdy(the mother), Ruby (Clara's daughter), Robert (Simons BF) and Luke (Varia's son). I think the story posed some interesting thoughts on destiny and mortality and I found I got so much out of the book by listening to it on audiobook. I would recommend this book to most contemporary literature fans.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It was very well written and focused on character development which is what I love about literary fiction. I was intrigued by the concept of how these children's lives would unfold after being told their “death date.” The stories of each life were unexpected, which was a plus. I did also enjoy the questions that were raised about life, quality of life, fear, relationships and the purpose and meaning of life. Thus, I guess my only complaint is that the story was slow moving and not quite as compelling as I had expected it would be. Highly recommended for literary fiction lovers.

3.5 stars
The audiobook reader was super!
A fascinating, but depressing story of The Gold family - cursed, disconnected, and yearning for love and acceptance. How could so much bad happening to one family?

Absolutely heartbreaking but full of faith; in family, in God, in magic, and in oneself. The book is a bit of a slow burn at the start but once it gets going I couldn't put it down. A beautiful meditation on the nature of sibling relationships and whether our choices affect our fate or if it might be the other way around all together.

The author has a great grasp of craft. And I'm really impressed with how much research she did into the various fields and interests of her main characters. There are some books where the author has a great premise and then fails to deliver on that premise. But in this case, the author delivers incredibly well. I was quite impressed, and look forward to her future work.

(This review can also be found on my blog.)

Spoiler-free review of an ARC provided by the publisher as part of a Goodreads giveaway.

I am sitting down to write this review over a week after finishing The Immortalists and realizing I wrote myself very few notes to refer to, so I'm going to have to go off of what stands out to me the most from this book. I remember being struck by the writing right away. I found myself pulled into the story, having no idea where it would go. I tend to add books to my TBR and then completely forget what drew me to them. I avoid re-reading the blurb directly before diving in so that I have no expectations. What I'm saying is, I went into this book almost completely cold.

When Klara peels a dollar from inside someone's ear or turns a ball into a lemon, she hopes not to deceive but to impart a different kind of knowledge, an expanded sense of possibility.

I found the format very interesting. Without giving anything away, I'll just say that you gain insight into the perspectives and motivations of each sibling in turn. I will say a little about my feelings regarding each character. I thought Simon's section was precious and sad, I had a lot of emotions while reading it. Klara was maybe my favorite sibling, I felt really strongly for her and wished that I could reach into the book and save her from what was going on. Daniel's section was the weakest, in my opinion, and I found it hardest to relate to him. I felt very strongly for Varya as well; it seemed to me that she and Klara were separate sides of the same coin and I related very solidly to different aspects of each of them.

Years later, a different therapist asked her exactly what she was afraid of. Varya was initially stumped, not because she didn't know what she was afraid of but because it was harder to think of what she wasn't.

Most of my experience reading the book involved me poring over the pages, trying to figure out what would happen next. There are a lot of surprises, and a lot of unanswered questions. If you want everything tied up neatly with a bow at the end, this may not be the book for you. Like I said above, Daniel's section felt the most difficult to relate to. The book faltered a little for me there, which is mainly why it didn't end up being a five-star read for me. Other than that, though, The Immortalists was kind of a masterpiece.

I recommend this book to people interested in familial relations, existential crises, and heartbreaking stories.

Other people speak of the ecstasy to be found in sex and the more complicated joy of parenthood, but for Varya, there is no greater pleasure than relief — the relief of realizing that what she fears does not exist. Even so, it's temporary: a blustery, wind-swept pleasure, hysterical as laughter — What was I thinking? — followed by the slow erosion of that certainty, the creeping in of doubt, which requires another check in the rear view mirror, another shower, another doorknob cleaned.

I'd found this while researching books coming out in early 2018 for a display I was doing, and the description sounded interesting, even though it didn't work for my display. And it was interesting-sad in the way that sticks with you after you close it. It's not my favorite book ever, and I'll probably never re-read it, but I'm glad that I did read it.