The Immortalists - bookrastinating.com

Published April 5, 2018 by G.P. Putnam's Sons.

ISBN:: 978-0-7352-1318-0

(2 reviews)

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. Their 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, hoping to control fate. Bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immortality. 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, …

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. Their 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, hoping to control fate. Bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immortality. 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.

10 editions

Acton reviewed The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

Review of 'The Immortalists' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

4.5

If a mysterious fortune teller had predicted your exact date of death, and you were a child when you heard this, how would it affect you? Would your self-worth be affected? Would you label yourself forever more as someone who would live a long/short life? Would it affect your decisions?

Personally, I would label this psychological abuse. However, in this story it happens to four children, who are siblings. And each one of them will never forget the predicted date. What ensues is an engrossing story of each life, and at the end, it is the reader who must consider what was destiny and what was free choice.

This is wonderfullly written novel, and would be an excellent pick for a book discussion group. I recommend it!

Owen Thomas

rated it

Nov. 2, 2019