By Chloe Benjamin
This tale is about four siblings, the Gold children, who visit a fortune teller in their youth in New York City. This fortune teller describes for each of them what the date of their death will be, individually and without accepting payment, lending veracity to her claims and increasing the creepy factor. Each child is understandably shaken, most keep their date to themselves, and each deals with this information for the rest of the book.
It is interesting how the author formatted the book, we move forward in time through blocks of each sibling’s life until their death. Are the deaths correct as predicted? The fortune teller only gave each of them a date, not manner of death, time of day, or any other details.
Benjamin’s work therefore challenges what we would do if each of us “knew” the date of our own mortality. It seems like each of the characters here are crippled by the information in one form or another. Each sibling drives the others away, so each of them becomes more alone as time goes on. But we also get very defined slices of each’s life, their motivations, and choices, against the backdrop of some very interesting historical events and their Jewish heritage.
I was not a big fan of this work. I found it an interesting premise, but like to think optimistically more could be made of each person’s time on earth. I was also hoping for some magic and people actually living forever, so I set myself up for disappointment if I am being honest.
Soundtrack
- Prologue
- Different Drum by Linda Rondstadt and The Stone Poneys
- You’d Dance, Kid
- Call Me by Blondie
- Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen
- Heartache Tonight by The Eagles
- Proteus
- Viva Las Vegas by Elvis
- Jack and Diane by John Mellencamp
- I Wanna Dance with Somebody by Whitney Houston
- Hold On by Wilson Phillips
- The Inquisition
- One Sweet Day by BoyzIIMen and Mariah Carey
- Bent by Matchbox 20
- Fix You by Coldplay
- Place of Life
- Disturbia by Rhianna
Pros & Cons & Potential Spoilers
Pros
- Really liked Simon and Klara’s stories
- Interesting format
- Gertie and Ruby
Cons
- No actual magic
- Ruby needs her own storyline
- I missed other siblings’ perspective during the other one’s stories