Chloe BenjaminRecensioni

I have a lot of mixed feelings about The Immortalists. The premise is intriguing: four young siblings living in NYC in 1969 go to a fortune-teller who tells them when they are going to die. What follows are their life stories up until the moment of their death, so we see how their life choices were affected by the information they got from the fortune teller. Basically, it's the old fate vs. agency story with some family drama in the mix.

This book lacks cohesion. It reads like a series of vignettes only loosely bound by the family ties. The ups and downs in writing were difficult to deal with and I was considering quitting for the majority of the middle part. Some of it was really disappointing to the point of absurdity (the end of Daniel's story).

Things only got better at the end of the final chapter when writing gets much better, but by then it's too late.
Of all the main characters in the book, I only cared for Klara, whose end was not convincing to me. However, the end of the novel was an hommage to Klara in a way, so Benjamin redeemed herself a little bit there.

The story didn't really live up to its premise. It opened a lot of interesting questions, which is fine if you want to discuss this in a book club, but the way it was executed was disappointing.

Overall, for a book that comes with so many trigger warnings, I'd expect more payoff. I was especially taken aback by the anti-Roma sentiment repeated throughout the book by multiple characters, the unnecessarily graphic sex references in the first story that didn't add anything to the narrative, the experiments on animals and the superficial treatment of suicide.

A 3.5 for me - some sections I really enjoyed some fell a bit more flat. I think I’d heard so much about this before reading it that it could never live up to the hype but I did like it and would recommend.

The premise: how would your life turn out if you knew the exact date of your death? It’s really interesting to contemplate. Could that information be real? Would you make yourself succumb to that end date just because you thought it was real? Could you ignore it? Would you tell people? Would you suppress it?

This book explores what happens to four siblings when they receive their death dates as children.

I am torn by this book, to me, a great number of people love the book yet I found it a bit slow to start. I did enjoy the characters and their interactions with each other. If you step back you are able to almost clearly picture pieces of the life these characters are living.

Chloe Benjamin colors a vivid picture and allows the reader to enjoy the ambiance of the story. I give the book 3 stars.

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?

I couldn't finish this. The male gaze was too strong. I should have known from the very first page, when literally (literally!) the second paragraph is describing the breasts of a 13 year old child. It doesn't get better. The author is a woman and it is so depressing to think this is what she thinks about children (or thinks readers want). There are more examples and I couldn't get past them. Not recommended.

I love Benjamin’s writing. Her prose flows so smoothly. Such an interesting concept. I rooted for Sylvia the whole book. What Gabe and Adrian did is so messed up. I can’t wait to read more books by Benjamin. I really loved The Immortalists, which is how I found out about this book.

I didn't like this story of 4 siblings who went to a fortune-teller to find out the dates they would die. Simon and his sister Klara escape New York City to San Francisco, where Simon becomes a dancer, and Klara a magician. Daniel becomes a doctor, and Varya researches longevity. They are all scarred by the visit to the fortune teller.
It is about fate, and grief, and siblings, yes. But also love and loss and family. .. I couldn't identify with any of the characters, and as usual, was angry with most (all?) of them for decisions they made. But who am I to judge?½

When this book first came out, I mentioned to my F2F book club that it looked interesting. When they chose it for their monthly read, I was out of town and showed up for the discussion unaware of their choice. I was dismayed when every one of them roundly hated it.

Most hadn't finished it, and the two people who had, gave it such a withering review that I quietly slipped it to the bottom of my TBR stack and forgot about it. When it re-surfaced recently, I approached it reluctantly, prepared to be disappointed. Now that I've read, and enjoyed it, I'm trying to figure out why it was so disliked.

Basically, it's the story of four children from a middle-class Jewish family in New York who sneak out one day to visit a fortune-teller who gives each of them the exact date on which their lives will end. The book then follows each of the four in separate sections, as they cope with the knowledge. All, one way or another, choose life paths that are informed by their level of belief in the prophecies.

Benjamin never really tackles the notion of predestination versus free will, nor does she attempt to prove or disprove the fortune-teller's gift. She simply follows these four very different personalities who came up through the same family but responded to its influences in very different ways.

Klara, the younger daughter, expresses her individuality by studying sleight-of-hand magic, and strikes out for San Francisco shortly after her father's death, searching for the fabled Summer of Love, but arriving as it has faded into a darker, sadder shadow of itself.

Simon, the baby of the family, goes with her, almost on a whim, and discovers his own sexuality in the free-wheeling gay community of the 80s, already being stalked by a mysterious disease that will change things forever.

Daniel, the firstborn son, seems to have put the prophecy behind him as he makes his way down the most conservative path -- college, a medical degree, and marriage. But a professional crisis and a run-in with a figure from the family's past, plunges him into a crusade he never sought.

And Varya, the eldest, the one whose future was predicted to stretch farthest of all, dedicates her career to the study of longevity, but forgets how to live along the way.

Each section has its own strengths and weaknesses. Daniel's seems the most unlikely and was the least satisfying, at least to me, and Varya's choices were utterly heartbreaking. Her story was also weakened by what seemed a most unlikely coincidence.

But all in all, it's an interesting premise and an entertaining read -- bearing little resemblance to the train wreck my book-clubbers described those many years ago.½

Omg! This was a spiritual,entertaining, and insightful novel. Four Jewish siblings (all children) visit a psyche who predicts their death. The reading experience was like engaging with a friend telling a fascinating tale. Each child has a unique profession-magician, gay dancer in San Francisco, animal researcher and military doctor. Lovingly written with emotion and heart.

I've always been fascinated by dreams so as soon as I spotted this book I knew I wanted to read it. It became clear very early on that there was something very fish about the dream research Dr. Keller was doing. So when the author kept it from the reader for more than two hundred pages I was expecting something big. When was all revealed my feeling was "that's it, oh hum.

3.5/5 stars
After reading the first two parts of the novel, I was certain this was going to be a favorite, but as the story got to Daniel and Varya, I felt more disconnected to the characters; although this may have been intentional (as a symbol of their detachment from their family/life), it felt more like poor execution of a great premise.

Middling. That's what this damn book is and it's so frustrating because with a premise like it has it could have been so much more.

In 1969 four young siblings living on the Lower East Side go see a fortune teller who tells them each individually the day that they will die. The book then follows each of the four in separate parts over the following decades and across the United States. We watch teenage Simon find himself and his sexuality in San Francisco in the 1980s. Then we follow Klara as she chases her dream of being a magician all the way to Las Vegas. We spend time with Daniel in upstate NY as he struggles with himself as an Army doctor whose job is to medically evaluate men and ship them off to war. And finally we watch stand-offish Varya who has committed herself thoroughly to her scientific research on longevity as she questions her world.

Each of these characters, and even their individual stories, had SO MUCH POTENTIAL. There was scope to really investigate fate vs free will but nope. None of the characters or their stories felt complex in any way. Maybe that's down to the way in which Benjamin split them; there's not enough time with any of them to build an attachment. Everything felt superficial and rushed.

Of the stories, one was overly predictible, one was lacklustre and frustrating, one was wholly unrealistic and downright preposterous, and the last was pathetic and depressing. And that last one was probably meant to be uplifting in the end. Let's not even start on the weird saccharine ending that doesn't relate to the story all. There were seemingly cloying attempts to elicit emotional reactions from the reader which pissed me off, too.

All that said, it was highly readable and I can see where people would be impressed with its ambition. It goes big and, to be fair, Benjamin does not fall on her face here. My main impetus in finishing wasn't the characters (who I found all pretty unlikeable on the whole) but was wanting to know if any escape their fate and/or how they die. Harsh but true.

So, yeah, middling. I'm not angry I read it but I won't remember it.

In the late 1960s New York City, four young siblings seek out a woman they've heard can tell you the date of your eventual death. Each has an audience alone with the woman, and all are shaken. This is a story of how their lives proceed beyond that day, and how the knowledge(?) of their eventual demise has a long-reaching and potentially devastating influence.

The Immortalists had been on my TBR for more than four years, and for some reason I just never got excited about picking it up until just recently. However, once opened it took just a few chapters before I had a hard time putting it down. While disturbing and tragic, the story is highly engaging, and offers substantial food for thought regarding fate vs. free will.

So slooooooow. I finally got to part II and you know what? I don't care. Nothing is happening. Wow, she disagrees with her boss and cleans the attic. I can't believe I'm hiding the review because of that sentence. Maybe I'll finish this, but I'm not invested in the story at all.

This book is gorgeous, really. It's sad in the way that life is sad, and brings that rush of emotion that you feel when realising that yeah, we're all just another human beings.

I loved the way that the characters embraced magic as a real possibility, and then how they diverged from there. I loved Simon, and the depiction of his life in San Francisco was truly delightful. And also... well.

The reflection on immigration and the importance of family was also quite touching. I wasn't expecting to see this thread, but the pressures of being many generations in were quite touching. Mental illness was also portrayed with more intensity than I would have guessed.

I wish there had been more talking about the whole prediction, and I was wholly unimpressed with the way that Daniel went down, but on the whole, this was solid. And Ruby's character tied everything beautifully together.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting story to read how 4 siblings were given the knowledge or the exact date of death. To see how each lives their life it makes you wonder if the choices they made in life were because of this "gift" or "burden". The stories run the spectrum between "I'm going to die anyway so live it up" and "what can I do to extend life" though extending life doesn't necessarily mean living that life. Made me think which of the characters would more likely to be me and I honestly don't know.

In many senses, this book was the opposite of The Midnight Library.

En 1969, en el Lower East Side de Nueva York, se está corriendo la voz sobre la llegada de una mujer mística: una adivina viajera que asegura poder predecir la fecha de la muerte de las personas. Los hermanos Gold, Simon, Klara, Daniel y Varya, son cuatro adolescentes que consiguen localizar a la adivina y saber qué les depara el futuro.
Pero lo que los hermanos Gold no entienden es que este secreto conlleva un gran peso, que no todo el mundo es capaz de soportar... ¿Tenemos un destino predeterminado o podemos cambiarlo con nuestra voluntad y acciones?

How would you live if you knew (or thought you knew) the day you were going to die? This is the question Chloe Benjamin takes on in her medium-sized novel, The Immortalists.

In the prologue, Varya, age 13, Daniel, 11, Klara, 9, and Simon, age 7, living on Clinton Street on the Lower East Side in 1969. become fascinated by a fortune teller they learn of, and pay her a visit. Seeing each child separately, she reveals the date of their own death. The youngest will supposedly die the soonest, on up to the oldest, who will live until she is 88.

The novel first follows Simon, leaving high school his junior year to move to San Francisco with his older sister Klara, and breaking his mother’s heart in the process. Simon immerses himself in the free and open gay culture of Harvey Milk’s San Francisco. He dies, at 20, of AIDS, precisely on the day predicted.

Then comes Klara, who lives her dream of becoming a magician, like her hero Howard Thurston, marries Raj Chamar, an Indian with equally big dreams, and bears a child, Ruby. Her death date falls upon the opening of the couple’s magic show in Las Vegas, but the knowing is too much for Klara, and she commits suicide, at 31.

Daniel becomes a doctor, but is overwhelmed with guilt, for it was his idea to visit the fortune teller. After he gets into trouble on his job doing physicals for army recruits, he becomes obsessed enough to track down the fortune teller the Gold children visited so long ago, and in the process ends up getting shot, age 48.

Although the last chapters of the book are about Varya, we don’t witness her death, but rather her eventual recovery from the trauma she has endured over the deaths of her siblings. Thus the book ends on a hopeful note.

I found the book well-written. The stories of each of the children are fascinating and divergent enough to incite the curiosity to keep reading. The concept of the book is original, and provokes questions about one's own brief existence. Worth the read.

The final few chapters are redeeming, so I'm glad I finished feat of writing for Varya's fugue. however, I felt the premise too contrived,and the characters cold and too caught up in their victimhood. I do believe this novel to be well-written, smart, and interesting. Just missing heart.

3.5 stars. Four siblings find out the date of their death when they are kids from a fortune teller, which ends up being accurate. Are our choices already predetermined for us? Do we have any control over our future? I liked how it followed each sibling through an ongoing time-line.

This book examines the question: “How would you live your life if you knew the date of your death?” Would it cause you to live life to the fullest or live in fear? Four siblings visit a fortune teller and are each individually told their “death date.” The author focuses on one sibling at a time, and follows each through a portion of his or her life. Since they are siblings, each is influenced to some degree by the actions of the others, and lots of family dynamics are at play.

The storyline is creative and the characters are extremely well-developed. I almost felt as though I knew each of them personally, and could picture the psychological burdens they carried. The stories are interesting, touching on topics ranging from gay life in San Francisco in the 1980’s to performance magic to military medicine to scientific research on longevity. It brings up questions on the meaning of life, and does so in an entertaining manner. It shows how a single event can have far-reaching psychological repercussions. It explores how much of what one believes to be true leads to a self-fulfilling prophesy. Themes include science vs. religion, the power of words, dealing with uncertainty, the impact of knowledge (both good and detrimental). There was a bit of graphic sex in one of the parts, and another was a bit of a stretch on the suspension of disbelief, but overall, I found it almost spell-binding and particularly enjoyed the author’s elegant writing style.

Highly recommended to readers of thought-provoking literature. It would be an excellent pick for a book club. I received an advance copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for a candid review. This book will be released in January 2018.

I fully expected to not like this book. It was so incredibly hyped that I thought there was no way it would live up to it. And the very first opening page turned me off completely. I read the bulk of this on a flight between DC and Albuquerque, after finishing two other books. So I started this, and then the next thing I knew, the plane was preparing its descent and I had less than 100 pages to go. I ended up finishing the book that evening.

How would you live your life if you knew the day you would die? Benjamin crafted a thoughtful story that explores that question, and delves into quality vs. quantity of life. The four Gold siblings visit a psychic who tells them their death dates, which span from tragically young to old age. The book is divided up into sections focusing on each sibling, and after one's death, the narrative - like passing a baton - passes to the next sibling.

The story has that self-fulfilling prophecy paradox that makes my head hurt if I think too hard about, and that I so love. By knowing their death dates, that influences the actions of each of the siblings. Whereas if they hadn't known, then their lives would have gone off in a different course and would they still have died on those dates? Shades of Macbeth here!

The last section of the book was perfect, even though at the time, I didn't think it would be. But it really delves into the quality vs. quantity issue - yes, we can prolong how long we live, but is it a life worth living?

There were a few issues I had. First, the random throwaway sexual references which just seemed odd and out-of-place instead of edgy. The book opened - and this was the passage that made me think I'd hate the book - with a description of Varya's body post-puberty, complete with references to her breasts and her pubic hair. (Um... okay?)

Second, problematic portrayals of gypsies. Which I won't go into too much because it's a spoiler, but it's there and made me twitch. It threw me completely out of Daniel's story.

Review copy courtesy of the publisher via its First to Read program.½

I had a hard time getting through this book at times because it dealt with some really hard themes. This is not a light read, but there are many enjoyable moments. Aids in the days before it had a name, suicide, young death. It was a really well written book and I highly recommend it.

How much a small thing you do when you are young can influence your decisions as you grow older was thoroughly explored in this tale of siblings. I enjoyed how we explored each sibling up to the point of their death so you could see where their heads were and the decisions that ultimately lead up to their demise. This is a great book for book club discussion about fate and causality and how our decisions affect our lives. Definitely give it a chance.

4 children visit a fortune teller. She gives them their dates of death. Story of how this knowledge affected and influenced their lives. Would I want to know?