The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

Let's be real: most of us readers don't choose our books - or any other form of entertainment - based on escapism alone. If we did, Fantasy would be the only published genre and Hallmark the only channel on cable. We don't have an aversion to observing people exhibit bad behavior, but mostly when there are clear distinctions between the good guys and bad guys, and we are aware of it beforehand, and because we perceive their situations to be so far removed from our own reality. And we"ll accept morally challenged characters in exchange for a good story. So when a book comes along with characters so inherently selfish, narcissistic, and unapologetically so without committing any major legal infractions, accompanying a story that is decidedly not worth the pay-off, that is when us readers feel betrayed. Chloe Benjamin's The Immortalists is a definite disappointment; a promising story propped up by an engaging topic, taken over by truly unfortunate characters.

What would you do if you learned the exact date of your death? Would you seek out that information in the first place? Would knowing the date of your death change the way you lived? What would be the difference - if any - in finding out when you were a child versus finding out as an adult? Benjamin takes on these provocative questions with even more provocative answers by way of the Gold siblings - Simon, Klara, Daniel, and Varya - who sneak out of their childhood home one summer night in 1969, lured by the kid-gossip that doubles as campfire tales about a haunting woman made infamous for accurately predicting the exact date of a person's death. Though they are just children, they immediately grasp the enormity of the information they have just been given. And what follows is a poignant, depressing story propelled by self-inflicted guilt and victimization. Published in 2018, if ever there was a book to highlight the entitlement of middle class youth, The Immortalists is it.

The book is written well, albeit a bit crass, the research is timely, and the story is what good book discussion are made of; I made up about ten discussion questions in my head while I read. Of all the directions lives can go after learning the date of death, Benjamin takes a decidedly darker one with four self-destructive individuals completely devoid of empathy or personal responsibility, which I find personally distasteful. That aside, they are brilliant representations of the various paths one's life can take after learning the exact date of their death. The characters are decidedly unlikable, and though that exists in every entertainment medium, the Gold siblings are just awful, terrible people, hauling what could have been an otherwise engaging, interesting plot into a depressing depiction of our deep self-inflicted wounds. Did Benjamin do this on purpose merely to highlight one of the ways in which a life can go, or is her's just another voice in the race to play victim?

A book worthy of many a discussion groups, the premise had promise but is lost amongst the unfortunate characters. With such an enormous topic, what Benjamin ultimately laced together is brilliant, but I was thoroughly disappointed, and this book left me with a dent in my faith in humanity, which is definitely not why I read.