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The Immortalists
576 pages
A sweeping, bittersweet family saga that asks whether knowing the date of your death frees you to live or dooms you to fear.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like watching a beautiful, tragic hourglass empty its sand. It is a steady, deeply atmospheric family saga that wraps you in a melancholic but empathetic embrace. The narrative shifts through four distinct lives, each colored by the haunting weight of a childhood prophecy, creating a reading experience that is both expansive and intimately claustrophobic. The prose is lush and observant, effortlessly transporting you from the gritty magic of 1980s San Francisco to the sterile anxiety of a modern longevity lab. It is a bittersweet, thought-provoking journey about the tension between destiny and choice. This will captivate readers who love sweeping, character-driven stories that linger on the complexities of sibling bonds and the desperate, beautiful ways we try to outrun our own mortality.
- Mood
- haunting
- bittersweet
- atmospheric
- fatalistic
- Tone
- contemplative
- earnest
- melancholic
- empathetic
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- destiny vs. free will · sibling bonds · the weight of prophecy · fear of mortality · living with a ticking clock
- The writing
- Lyrical, immersive, and deeply observant, with a rich sensory texture that grounds each sibling's distinct era and setting.
- The arc
- Moves from childhood curiosity into a poignant, decades-long exploration of grief, anxiety, and the desperate search for meaning before time runs out.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love sweeping, character-driven family sagas tinged with a hint of magical realism and deep philosophical questions.
Content notes
- death of a sibling
- suicide
- AIDS epidemic
- grief
- animal testing
- chronic illness
About the book
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. Bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immortality. 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.
Description from Open Library.
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