The Measure by Nikki Erlick

‘GRIPPING AND POIGNANT’ RUTH HOGAN, bestselling author of The Keeper of Lost Things ‘CLEVER AND ENTERTAINING’ GOOD HOUSEKEEPING ‘A THOUGHT-PROVOKING READ’ PRIMA Eight ordinary people. One extraordinary choice.

This is one very satisfying read--from the chaotic intersecting lives of complete strangers, to seeing the puzzle pieces snap into place.

I honestly could see the real world upended by knowing when their time is at an end. The opportunities, the helpers, the selfish, the unstable--everyone felt like living, breathing people.

The only fight I have after turning the last page was Amie's decision. Knowing how it would affect everyone around her, she still took what I felt to be the selfish route, but those people are out there too so still very believable.

A lot of questions can be asked about motivation, anonymity, fulmillment and what it means to lead a life well-lived.

Great read.

I didn't finish this, but I'm still giving it a 2.5 because the idea is very interesting and the execution isn't too bad. However, it started getting boring about halfway through.

I enjoyed this novel, truly, but would've enjoyed it more pre-2016. It's a bit too dystopic (read: close to reality) for me now.

<i>”The measure of your life lies within.”</i>

Imagine you had a box whose contents would tell you almost exactly how long your life was. Imagine <i>everyone</i> did. Would you look? How would you react? Would you treat people with shorter lives differently? Would it change your outlook on life? This book explores those questions through the points of view of several people, who all come together, either directly or indirectly, through a support group for people with shorter lives ahead of them. We get to know the (large) cast, and essentially this book tells each of their stories through their own POV chapters and their experiences with this huge experience.

I loved all the things this book decided to explore. Personal things like love, loss, death, how to live your life knowing when the end is coming, and much larger things like how the world would react, societal divides, and political impacts. Getting to know the cast of characters as they navigate this weird world they’re in now is the point of the book, and if you go into this expecting some sort of action-y payoff you’re going to be disappointed. The characters are the point of this story, not the boxes themselves. I especially like how “interconnected” the characters feel, where someone referenced early on in the book comes to have their own POV chapters later on. It made the whole thing feel like “we’re in this together”, which I guess is also the point.

I see lots of low reviews about the inclusion of politics/agendas, the fact that it has sad moments, and that it’s a slow burn character piece. I guess, then, fair warning that all of this exists, but I think the point of the book is that it can all be overcome. There’s a lot of parallels here for living with a terminal disease, where you know your clock’s ticking, so what do you do? The boxes in the story don’t change when you die, it just lets you know ahead of time, if you choose to look. Sure there’s sad moments, but that’s life, and I appreciated how the book handled them.

5-star easy favorite this year. For the record, I don’t think I’d look in my box.