While the premise for The Immortalists is rather unique and may seem a bit complicated, Benjamin tackled it in a very simplistic and enjoyable manner. Will the mere knowledge of their death change the course of their lives into a different direction? The Fate-bound Children Or will it turn out to be nothing but a heavy burden? Having their entire lives laid out before them, will the children make use of this immeasurable gift? Finally, the bookworm Varya throws herself into research seeking to bridge the gap between science and immortality. The eldest son enlists as an army doctor after the 9/11 attacks. Klara, always the dreamy one, makes a career of being a Las Vegas magician. Simon, the golden boy, is destined to head out to San Francisco in search of love. Each and every one of them have the dates of their deaths revealed, and so begin their individual journeys through their own fates. One night, four adolescents on the verge of self-discovery, the Gold children, sneak out to get a taste of what their fortunes might be. Allegations circulate of the psychic woman’s ability to peer into the future and reveal to others the date of their death. In Chloe Benjamin‘s The Immortalists, we are introduced to four kids who are given exactly such an opportunity.The premise for the story is quite a simple one: it’s 1969 and a travelling mystic appears in New York City’s Lower East Side. Though in real life this mostly feels like a pipe dream, in the world of literature it’s only a pen stroke away from turning into reality.

After all, how many of us wouldn’t want the immense power which comes with knowing what fate holds in store for us? As much as some of us hate to admit it, while we don’t believe in reading someone’s future, we would certainly love for it to be real. The idea of being able to see into one’s future defies what we know of human capabilities and would contain massive implications for the overall functioning of life. The great majority of us scoff at the idea of fortune-tellers and mystics, categorizing them as nothing but tricksters willing to prey on the naive through foolery of a bygone era.

The immortalists by chloe benjamin