When this book first came out, I mentioned to my F2F book club that it looked interesting. When they chose it for their monthly read, I was out of town and showed up for the discussion unaware of their choice. I was dismayed when every one of them roundly hated it.

Most hadn't finished it, and the two people who had, gave it such a withering review that I quietly slipped it to the bottom of my TBR stack and forgot about it. When it re-surfaced recently, I approached it reluctantly, prepared to be disappointed. Now that I've read, and enjoyed it, I'm trying to figure out why it was so disliked.

Basically, it's the story of four children from a middle-class Jewish family in New York who sneak out one day to visit a fortune-teller who gives each of them the exact date on which their lives will end. The book then follows each of the four in separate sections, as they cope with the knowledge. All, one way or another, choose life paths that are informed by their level of belief in the prophecies.

Benjamin never really tackles the notion of predestination versus free will, nor does she attempt to prove or disprove the fortune-teller's gift. She simply follows these four very different personalities who came up through the same family but responded to its influences in very different ways.

Klara, the younger daughter, expresses her individuality by studying sleight-of-hand magic, and strikes out for San Francisco shortly after her father's death, searching for the fabled Summer of Love, but arriving as it has faded into a darker, sadder shadow of itself.

Simon, the baby of the family, goes with her, almost on a whim, and discovers his own sexuality in the free-wheeling gay community of the 80s, already being stalked by a mysterious disease that will change things forever.

Daniel, the firstborn son, seems to have put the prophecy behind him as he makes his way down the most conservative path -- college, a medical degree, and marriage. But a professional crisis and a run-in with a figure from the family's past, plunges him into a crusade he never sought.

And Varya, the eldest, the one whose future was predicted to stretch farthest of all, dedicates her career to the study of longevity, but forgets how to live along the way.

Each section has its own strengths and weaknesses. Daniel's seems the most unlikely and was the least satisfying, at least to me, and Varya's choices were utterly heartbreaking. Her story was also weakened by what seemed a most unlikely coincidence.

But all in all, it's an interesting premise and an entertaining read -- bearing little resemblance to the train wreck my book-clubbers described those many years ago. ( )

Omg! This was a spiritual,entertaining, and insightful novel. Four Jewish siblings (all children) visit a psyche who predicts their death. The reading experience was like engaging with a friend telling a fascinating tale. Each child has a unique profession-magician, gay dancer in San Francisco, animal researcher and military doctor. Lovingly written with emotion and heart. ( )

3.5/5 stars
After reading the first two parts of the novel, I was certain this was going to be a favorite, but as the story got to Daniel and Varya, I felt more disconnected to the characters; although this may have been intentional (as a symbol of their detachment from their family/life), it felt more like poor execution of a great premise. ( )

Book 3 of 12 ( )

Middling. That's what this damn book is and it's so frustrating because with a premise like it has it could have been so much more.

In 1969 four young siblings living on the Lower East Side go see a fortune teller who tells them each individually the day that they will die. The book then follows each of the four in separate parts over the following decades and across the United States. We watch teenage Simon find himself and his sexuality in San Francisco in the 1980s. Then we follow Klara as she chases her dream of being a magician all the way to Las Vegas. We spend time with Daniel in upstate NY as he struggles with himself as an Army doctor whose job is to medically evaluate men and ship them off to war. And finally we watch stand-offish Varya who has committed herself thoroughly to her scientific research on longevity as she questions her world.

Each of these characters, and even their individual stories, had SO MUCH POTENTIAL. There was scope to really investigate fate vs free will but nope. None of the characters or their stories felt complex in any way. Maybe that's down to the way in which Benjamin split them; there's not enough time with any of them to build an attachment. Everything felt superficial and rushed.

Of the stories, one was overly predictible, one was lacklustre and frustrating, one was wholly unrealistic and downright preposterous, and the last was pathetic and depressing. And that last one was probably meant to be uplifting in the end. Let's not even start on the weird saccharine ending that doesn't relate to the story all. There were seemingly cloying attempts to elicit emotional reactions from the reader which pissed me off, too.

All that said, it was highly readable and I can see where people would be impressed with its ambition. It goes big and, to be fair, Benjamin does not fall on her face here. My main impetus in finishing wasn't the characters (who I found all pretty unlikeable on the whole) but was wanting to know if any escape their fate and/or how they die. Harsh but true.

So, yeah, middling. I'm not angry I read it but I won't remember it. ( )