The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
I picked up The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin for a flight to Boston, enticed by the surrealist plot that begins with a psychic reading. The book spans decades- beginning in 1969 New York City and lasting through the reign of Juicy Couture sweats. The first chapter sets the stage so that you, too, are once again a child with bony knees in scuffed shoes, giving in to the summer heat. Four children of the Gold Family- Daniel, Varya, Klara, and Simon- grow up between fire escapes and bodegas, the jungle that is New York City.
In an act of boredom, the eldest son Daniel takes his siblings to get their fortunes read- and find out the day they’ll die. Like walking a gangplank, each child enters the apartment of the Gypsy woman alone. Their curiosity detracts from the seriousness of death, something the children had not yet grasped. The children leave the Gypsy woman’s apartment in tears, unnerved by their own mortality.
A few years later, the death of their father prompts the children to leave home, lost and grieving. This is the last time the four of them are together.
Klara, impulsive and untethered by reality, convinces her younger brother to leave home with her for San Francisco. For Simon, he understands it as choosing the first day of the rest of his life. The bond between Klara and Simon is envied by other members of the family; the two have always encouraged each other to be the most vibrant versions of themselves.
Landing in the Castro, Simon’s life unfolds first. Benjamin romanticizes the Bay area as we all have before, all the glitter and the hippies and the freedom to smoke a joint on any corner. I was two pages into Simon’s story when I felt a punch in my gut, as I knew how he would meet his end. Benjamin draws an intimate perspective of the AIDS crisis, an unknowable enemy that had just begun to ravage the LGBTQ+ community in the 70s. A fledgling adult, the uncertainty and stigmatization drives Simon to derail his relationship, and in turn, his life.
Over the years, the siblings become stuffed with regret and a maudlin anticipation for their own date. To defy death! Daniel is consumed by guilt; he believes he led his siblings to their demise by taking them to the Gypsy woman that hot summer day. Varya, while the most predictable and structured of the klan, had an unexpected, yet equally tragic story.
Through all the pain endured, one satisfaction is how the novel circled back to unattended characters. While we knew the fates of the Gold children, those that touched their lives were still in the plot’s orbit. This tells me that each character Benjamin created was designed for a purpose, and that she fondly cared for them as she knew the readers would as well. They were part of the story, too- the collateral to the chaos of the Gold Children.
So...does the novel end when the characters meet their death date? I don’t think so. This novel is so captivating because the reader mourns the characters before they even leave. Once you realize that the book is organized by slowly killing off the characters, you pummel into the pages to get to the end. Benjamin’s intergenerational story prompts questions that may never be answered- Why do we try to flee our families? What prevents the siblings from reaching out to each other? Is it better to die young, fast, and happy, or old, devoted, and alone? Are you yourself terrified of intimacy? Is ignorance really bliss? Does the way we react to information change our life course- do we fulfill our own prophecies?
After this review is up, I’m shipping my copy of The Immortalists to my younger brother. Love is expressed differently for different people; if I lend you one of my books, I love you.
