The Immortalists

I loved The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin.  It came out in 2018 and had been on my want-to-read list for a long time.  It was really a good story.



In 1969, when the four Gold children were young, a friend of theirs told them about an old lady who could tell them the date of their death.  That summer the children were: Varya, age thirteen; Daniel, age eleven; Klara, age nine; and Simon, age seven.  They saved up their allowances in order to pay the woman to tell their fortunes. And so, one day the children went to the woman's apartment, entered individually, and learned the date of their death.

The book then tells the life of each of the Gold children, in order of their deaths.

A lot of the book resonated with me and my life.  As the oldest of four children, I have lost two of my younger siblings. One of the characters lived and died as one of my brothers did, so that was a bit hard for me to read, but it also brought back lots of good memories. And as Varya thought about the deaths of her siblings, she thought:

"She had lost parts of herself as she lost her siblings."

Very true.

This isn't a sad book, but it is a thoughtful book.  The lives of the four children were interesting. The Gold children's mother would make a good psychological case study!

The Zahir

The Zahir by Paulo Coelho was a book that I had read about on a Bookaholics page on Facebook.  I loved the writing of this book. It is described on the front cover as "A novel of obsession".



I don't believe that the narrator of the story was ever identified by name.  He was a married man, a well-read author living in Paris with his wife, Esther, who was a war correspondent. Suddenly one day, Esther disappeared.  The police initially held the narrator in prison thinking that he had done something to her.  Everyone was trying to figure out was she kidnapped, was she murdered, or did she just leave her husband?  Esther had taken her passport and had been withdrawing money from their account, so it was eventually determined that she had left of her own free will.  It was also found that she probably had left with the younger man she had last been seen with.

The book is about the narrator's obsession with Esther, who in his mind called her "My Zahir".  He studied their life together, their past conversations, anything about her life that he could.  Eventually, the young man that she had been seen with came to see him and he became involved in the young man's life.  One night, as they were leaving the young man's group of friends, they had this conversation:

"I think that woman was right," I said.  "If you tell a story, then that means you're still not really free of it."

"I am free, but, as I'm sure you'll understand, therein lies the secret; there are always some stories that are 'interrupted,' and they are the stories that remain nearest to the surface and so still occupy the present; only when we close that story or chapter can we begin the next one."

When the young man finally told the narrator where Esther was, the narrator began the journey to find her.

I won't share the ending, but I will say that I was very moved by it.

The Tiger's Wife and The Overstory

The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht was quite popular when it came out in 2011,  but I did not have any interest in it at the time.  While in Alabama this past spring I came across it and bought it to read. 



The novel was an interesting read, but all in all, I didn't care for it.  I think perhaps that maybe I was not getting some symbolism in the book?  Maybe it would make a good read for a book group.  I was fairly lost with it.  The part I did understand was that Natalia's grandfather had died and she went back home to try to find out the circumstances of his death.  She came across a number of people in her search, each one as odd as the next.  Apparently, the main theme of the book was "the deathless man" and "the tiger's wife".  I just really didn't get it.  Maybe I was overthinking it?




At the recommendation of a friend, I read The Overstory by Richard Powers.  I had never heard of it but learned that it had won the Pultizer Prize.  It came out in 2018.

It sounds funny, but I would describe this book as a book about trees.  Who wants to read a novel about trees?  But wait...it's about the story that trees have inside them....of the people who have loved and cared for them.  Fascinating way to write a story.  And it is a long book...just over 500 pages!  The stories easily capture the reader and tie somewhat together.  I loved this book!