The Immortalists

This novel by Chloe Benjamin is oriented around a single childhood event. In the summer of 1969, 4 siblings--Varya, age 13, Daniel, age 11, Klara, 9 years old, and 7-year-old Simon--sneak out of their family apartment to go see a gypsy woman who can supposedly tell you your future, including when you will die. They each have to promise not to share the information with anyone else. And each of them take the predictions to heart, living their lives focused on their individual expiration dates. Sections of the book are oriented to each sibling, starting with the one who is predicted to die first. It seems that no one really has time to come to terms with their life, much less their impending death. Each in their own way insulates themselves not only from each other, but also from intimacy in general. Two of them will leave children behind. The ultimate question is, Do they die on the predicted date because it is, in fact, their fate, or because they structure their lives in response to the prediction?
More detailed summaries and reviews are available from The Guardian, Kirkus, NPR, The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune and Publishers Weekly. Overall, this book did not knock my socks off. I tend to agree with Kirkus that the added characters, such as the policeman who stalks Klara, often felt contrived, and with the Chicago Tribune which said Daniel's story "feels a little retrofitted to lead to a pre-ordained conclusion." I felt sorry for the main characters, but never came to really care about them.