In Focus

This month’s book club book was The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin. This book asks, what would you do if you knew when you would die?

Four young siblings in 1960s New York meet a fortune teller who tells each sibling the exact day they will die. Each has mixed emotions and questions whether or not to believe it. Regardless of whether they knew it, this knowledge drastically changed their lives.

The book follows the story of the four siblings; each sibling’s story picks up after the previous one dies. Some die tragically young and middle-aged, and one makes it to old age. Each sibling handled the information differently. Each of them drifted away from the others after the death of their father.

Simon lived a hard and fast life, Klara pursued her dreams, Daniel lived a relatively everyday life, and Varya searched for the answer to longevity.

The book wasn’t too bad, but it just wasn’t my favorite. The club agreed that Simon and Klara’s stories were more riveting than Daniel and Varya’s.

Some of the events in their stories made you question if magic is real or if you believe in psychics. Did the siblings live their lives according to their date of death or did they perish on their day because of the subconscious thoughts that pushed them to do things they typically wouldn’t that would lead to their death?

Overall, I felt the book was worth reading, especially if you’re curious about what people may do if they believe they know when they will die.

The next book is Patty Jane’s House of Curl by Lorna Landvik. She is the same author of Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons which we previously read. So I have high hopes for this book as Angry Housewives was fantastic and a book club favorite.