The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin is the story of four siblings, Varya, Daniel, Klara and Simon Gold. On a hot summer day in 1969, the four pay a visit to a woman who can tell them when they will die. Each sibling must come to terms with the knowledge in their own way and each faces the question of whether that knowledge informs the way they live. Complicating each of their lives is their relationships to each other and their parents, Gertie and Saul. Those […]

I finished Chloe Benjamin’s second novel, The Immortalists, over two months ago but for various reasons (involving the end of an academic semester and a trip to China) haven’t sat down to complete my review.  However, last night a chance discussion at my book club reminded me that I wanted to get my thoughts/impressions of this book on paper now rather than later. The Immortalists is our selection for later this fall, and one of our members had just gotten a copy of the novel from […]

It’s the middle of summer in 1969 New York, and the Gold children, Varya (13), Daniel (11), Klara (9) and Simon (7), are bored.  As a result, it does not take much convincing to visit a fortune teller who can predict the day someone will die.  Klara, already fascinated with magic, simply wants to meet someone who works in magic; the rest of the children have other motivations or are propelled along, some more interested than others, since they have nothing better to do.  This […]