As an innocent adolescent dare, the four Gold siblings
decide to visit a
so-called traveling mystic woman who claims she can tell the
day
someone will die. Each sibling, dutiful Varya, obedient
Daniel, rebellious
Klara, and naive Simon, are both haunted and exhilarated by
what she
tells them, and the mystic's words will shape the rest of
their lives.
Klara and Simon escape their stuffy upbringing on
Manhattan's Lower
East Side, fleeing to the free-spirited and exciting San
Francisco. Klara
develops her love of magic, taking after her namesake
great-grandmother, and attempting her death-defying feats
and skillful sleight
of hand tricks, eventually hitting it big in Las Vegas. Shy
Simon slowly
comes out of his shell, thriving in the Castro district,
discovering love
for the first time, and becoming a graceful dancer. Back
home, Varya
and Daniel stay close to family, growing resentful, and
taking care of
their mother who feels abandoned after her youngest children
have left.
As they grow older, they think they are the responsible
ones, continuing
with school and abiding by their parents' wishes. Varya
eventually
becomes a dedicated researcher, with more secrets than
anyone in their
family every realizes. Daniel, an army doctor in a post 9/11
world on
suspension from his duties, has to come to terms with his
career as he
gets older.
When tragedy strikes, they all wonder, was this what the
mystic meant,
all those years ago? Told in alternating narratives between
each sibling,
they each have to decide if their lives are unfolding
because of, or in
spite of, what the psychic told them that fateful day, when
they were
still children.
Chloe Benjamin's THE IMMORTALISTS is a beautifully written
novel,
exploring family dynamics through four distinct and
interesting siblings.
Starting on New York's Lower East Side, and travelling
across the
country, THE IMMORTALISTS has a distinct, haunting feeling
that brings
Varya, Daniel, Klara, and Simon to life. Each one tells his
or her story in gorgeous detail, leaving readers wanting
more. The way each character
comes to terms with his or her life is both bewildering and
satisfying,
making each one a fully realized and developed person. I
felt like I could
see every scene, and relate to the things they were trying
to deal with at
every turn in their life. THE IMMORTALISTS, with aspects of
magical
realism sprinkled throughout, is a fascinating and
enthralling novel, told
with great care and aplomb by Chloe Benjamin.
A dazzling family love story reminiscent of Everything
I Never Told You from a novelist heralded by Lorrie
Moore as a "great new talent."
If you knew the date of your death, how would you live
your life?
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; and bookish Varya throws herself into
longevity research, where she tests the boundary between
science and immortality.
A sweeping novel of remarkable ambition and depth, 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.
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