Okay, the cover alone deserves five stars, have you seen it? Have you SEEN it? It's gorgeous.
Thank you so much to BookishFirst for providing a copy of this book to read. I know we're only a small ways into 2018 but this was my most anticipated novel for the year.
I'm giving this a 4.5, rounded up to 5, because it's true, I didn't LOVE this, but I sure did like it. A lot.
I think the premise is incredibly original (to me, anyway, I've never read anything like this story). Four siblings find out the date they're going to die from a so-called fortune teller. What follows is the stories of the lives of those four siblings, having each been deeply affected by what they're told. The Gold siblings, none of whom I felt much attachment to, is what I think makes this a 'really like' instead of 'love' rating for me. I felt no connection to Varya, Daniel, Klara or Simon. Not the fact that they were Jewish. I'm Jewish. Not the fact that Varya went to NYU. I went to NYU. Still, no feeling of kinship between the Gold siblings and me. I didn't grow to care for them, though I indeed empathized with them. None of them came off as three-dimensional to me, even though they were each given enough page-time to have their characters developed. I don't know, I just didn't find any of them particularly likable.
Chloe Benjamin's knack for storytelling is really marvelous. She has a true gift for writing and is a spectacular talent. The hype for her novel and the attention she is garnering is well-deserved in my opinion. It's incredible the way she created four siblings, each so drastically different from the other, each with an incredibly original, well-executed story. For me, none of their stories were predictable. I read a few reviews on here where the reviewers say they weren't surprised by any of it. How? I'm really not sure how that's possible, but okay. Because I don't want to write any spoilers, I won't say why I think it's not plausible that people could have guessed the outcomes.
What I also loved was waaaaaaaaaait for it.................THE REALISTIC CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN THE CHARACTERS. I mean it. If you write a book with real human being words that are used by real human beings, chances are I'm going to rate your book highly. Thank you, Ms. Benjamin. I literally felt the tension between Raj and Daniel during Thanksgiving. That was REAL. It reminded me of my own family's Thanksgiving of 2016. Real arguments. Real words flying that you don't mean but say anyway because you're fired up. YES. Real conversation in books. This is what I love.
But also, how gorgeous is that cover?
Thank you so much to BookishFirst for providing a copy of this book to read. I know we're only a small ways into 2018 but this was my most anticipated novel for the year.
I'm giving this a 4.5, rounded up to 5, because it's true, I didn't LOVE this, but I sure did like it. A lot.
I think the premise is incredibly original (to me, anyway, I've never read anything like this story). Four siblings find out the date they're going to die from a so-called fortune teller. What follows is the stories of the lives of those four siblings, having each been deeply affected by what they're told. The Gold siblings, none of whom I felt much attachment to, is what I think makes this a 'really like' instead of 'love' rating for me. I felt no connection to Varya, Daniel, Klara or Simon. Not the fact that they were Jewish. I'm Jewish. Not the fact that Varya went to NYU. I went to NYU. Still, no feeling of kinship between the Gold siblings and me. I didn't grow to care for them, though I indeed empathized with them. None of them came off as three-dimensional to me, even though they were each given enough page-time to have their characters developed. I don't know, I just didn't find any of them particularly likable.
Chloe Benjamin's knack for storytelling is really marvelous. She has a true gift for writing and is a spectacular talent. The hype for her novel and the attention she is garnering is well-deserved in my opinion. It's incredible the way she created four siblings, each so drastically different from the other, each with an incredibly original, well-executed story. For me, none of their stories were predictable. I read a few reviews on here where the reviewers say they weren't surprised by any of it. How? I'm really not sure how that's possible, but okay. Because I don't want to write any spoilers, I won't say why I think it's not plausible that people could have guessed the outcomes.
What I also loved was waaaaaaaaaait for it.................THE REALISTIC CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN THE CHARACTERS. I mean it. If you write a book with real human being words that are used by real human beings, chances are I'm going to rate your book highly. Thank you, Ms. Benjamin. I literally felt the tension between Raj and Daniel during Thanksgiving. That was REAL. It reminded me of my own family's Thanksgiving of 2016. Real arguments. Real words flying that you don't mean but say anyway because you're fired up. YES. Real conversation in books. This is what I love.
But also, how gorgeous is that cover?