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A review by dauen
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
5.0
The plot of The Immortalists is truly wonderful and incredibly clever. Four siblings visit a fortune teller when they're very young and they learn the exact date of their deaths. The book is split into four sections, one for each sibling, which follows their lives and their deaths. Each section follows on from the last one in terms of date so there's no overlap. You only see each sibling when they're about to die or, in Varya's case, after the death of Daniel. This is a really clever choice because it keeps the narrative moving along smoothly but you can still find out more about each sibling's life through flashbacks etc.
Simon, the youngest Gold sibling, knows that he'll be very young when he dies and so he decides to live his life to the fullest. He abandons everything he knows at the age of 16 to move to San Fransisco where he can finally be himself. Simon's chapter follows his life as a gay man who dances and his relationship with a wonderful man, Robert, who we see again at the end of the novel. Since Simon's chapter is set in the late 1970s and early 1980s I knew how he was going to die. It's a heartbreaking moment when Simon dies and it should be the saddest death of the book because he's so young and his death is so unfair but, oddly, it wasn't the saddest death in my opinion.
Klara, the second youngest sibling, is the next to die. She's obsessed with magic and she's a successful magician but she's also an alcoholic and deeply depressed. Her magic act is titled 'The Immortalist' because she is determined to defeat death and live beyond the prophecised date of her death. I didn't find her death sad because it felt like an inevitability due to her behaviour but her character is amazing. She's such a complex character, full of flaws and contradictions, but there's a wonderful quality about her that leaves you in awe of her. Klara is full of life, even when she places herself into the jaws of death, and she truly believes in magic.
Daniel is the complete opposite of Klara. He's dependable, an army doctor who settles down with a Jewish girl and takes up the religion again. After Klara's death, he becomes obsessed with the idea that both his siblings have been murdered (or at least forced to die in some way) by the fortune teller. For me, Daniel's death is the saddest because it was his own fault in a way. However, I didn't like Daniel much as a person. He's a well-written, well-rounded character and I can't fault Chloe Benjamin's characterisation at all but I just don't like him.
Varya is the last sibling to die and she knows that she's going to have a long life because the fortune teller told her she would die aged 88. Despite this, she works as a scientific researcher in anti-ageing or longevity. Varya is a restrained character, like Daniel in some ways but completely different to Simon and Klara, and she's eventually diagnosed with OCD. She gives up her job when her son, who she gave up at birth, finds her and shows her that to prolong life is to stop living to the fullest. There's so much more to her than you realise at first and her chapter is all about discovery. We discover her as she discovers herself. Chloe Benjamin didn't write about Varya's death, just her new beginning, and it was the perfect ending to the novel in my opinion because she's finally accepted her fate and she's learned how to live.
If I knew when I was going to die, whether it'd be in 5 years or 50 years, then I'd try to make the most of life and enjoy it. I feel like Simon and Klara had the right frame of mind and chose the right path even though their paths may have led directly to their deaths.
The Immortalists is a captivating novel. Chloe Benjamin's writing style is stunning and her characterisation is wonderful. I can't recommend this book enough. I'll definitely be buying it when it is released because I know that I'll want to re-read it in the future.
Simon, the youngest Gold sibling, knows that he'll be very young when he dies and so he decides to live his life to the fullest. He abandons everything he knows at the age of 16 to move to San Fransisco where he can finally be himself. Simon's chapter follows his life as a gay man who dances and his relationship with a wonderful man, Robert, who we see again at the end of the novel. Since Simon's chapter is set in the late 1970s and early 1980s I knew how he was going to die. It's a heartbreaking moment when Simon dies and it should be the saddest death of the book because he's so young and his death is so unfair but, oddly, it wasn't the saddest death in my opinion.
Klara, the second youngest sibling, is the next to die. She's obsessed with magic and she's a successful magician but she's also an alcoholic and deeply depressed. Her magic act is titled 'The Immortalist' because she is determined to defeat death and live beyond the prophecised date of her death. I didn't find her death sad because it felt like an inevitability due to her behaviour but her character is amazing. She's such a complex character, full of flaws and contradictions, but there's a wonderful quality about her that leaves you in awe of her. Klara is full of life, even when she places herself into the jaws of death, and she truly believes in magic.
Daniel is the complete opposite of Klara. He's dependable, an army doctor who settles down with a Jewish girl and takes up the religion again. After Klara's death, he becomes obsessed with the idea that both his siblings have been murdered (or at least forced to die in some way) by the fortune teller. For me, Daniel's death is the saddest because it was his own fault in a way. However, I didn't like Daniel much as a person. He's a well-written, well-rounded character and I can't fault Chloe Benjamin's characterisation at all but I just don't like him.
Varya is the last sibling to die and she knows that she's going to have a long life because the fortune teller told her she would die aged 88. Despite this, she works as a scientific researcher in anti-ageing or longevity. Varya is a restrained character, like Daniel in some ways but completely different to Simon and Klara, and she's eventually diagnosed with OCD. She gives up her job when her son, who she gave up at birth, finds her and shows her that to prolong life is to stop living to the fullest. There's so much more to her than you realise at first and her chapter is all about discovery. We discover her as she discovers herself. Chloe Benjamin didn't write about Varya's death, just her new beginning, and it was the perfect ending to the novel in my opinion because she's finally accepted her fate and she's learned how to live.
If I knew when I was going to die, whether it'd be in 5 years or 50 years, then I'd try to make the most of life and enjoy it. I feel like Simon and Klara had the right frame of mind and chose the right path even though their paths may have led directly to their deaths.
The Immortalists is a captivating novel. Chloe Benjamin's writing style is stunning and her characterisation is wonderful. I can't recommend this book enough. I'll definitely be buying it when it is released because I know that I'll want to re-read it in the future.