The Measure by Nikki Erlick

The Measure by Nikki Erlick 

Read by Julia Whelan

10 hours, 57 minutes

Published June 2022 by HarperCollins Publishers

Publisher's Summary: 

Eight ordinary people. One extraordinary choice.

It seems like any other day. You wake up, pour a cup of coffee, and head out.

But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. This box holds your fate inside: the answer to the exact number of years you will live.

From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise?

As society comes together and pulls apart, everyone faces the same shocking choice: Do they wish to know how long they'll live? And, if so, what will they do with that knowledge?

The Measure charts the dawn of this new world through an unforgettable cast of characters whose decisions and fates interweave with one another: best friends whose dreams are forever entwined, pen pals finding refuge in the unknown, a couple who thought they didn't have to rush, a doctor who cannot save himself, and a politician whose box becomes the powder keg that ultimately changes everything.

My Thoughts: 

The Measure was recommended to me by my aunt (and another aunt and two uncles!). I originally started it in 2023 but didn't get it finished so restarted it when it became available, making it the first book I read in 2024. Let's start with what didn't work so we can finish with the good stuff, shall we? 

What Didn't Work for Me:

• I'm sorry to say that I didn't really find myself emotionally attached to any of the characters, possibly due to the relatively large number of them (there are far more than eight, as the summary would suggest). 
• I felt like Erlick worked too hard to make her cast of characters diverse. Black character? Check. Gay couple? Check. Evil politician to contrast to empathetic characters? Check. 
• The ending felt rushed to me, even though I understood why Erlick skipped big periods of time at the end. 

What I Worked for Me: 

• This book is genre defying. Is it science fiction? Not really. Is it dystopian? No. Is it magical realism? I wouldn't say so. I like a book that can't be pigeonholed. 
• Why can't it be genre defined? Because it's a unique way to write about ideas that we think about all of the time. 
• This one would make a great book club selection and I'm pondering whether or not to move it into my club's 2024 line up. There is so much to discuss! How would you live your life if you knew you had decades ahead of you? Would you take risks, knowing that you couldn't be killed? Would you take better care of your body, knowing it needed to take you into your 80's? Would you commit to someone who had a short-string? And what if you were a short-stringer? Would you quit your job and do all of the things you thought you had a long life to do? Would you have children, knowing you wouldn't be there for them for very long? Do you end your own life to avoid a potentially painful end? And what of society? How would people treat each other if they knew? And would you want to know?
• At first I was annoyed that we were never going to find out where the strings came from. But I realized that where they came from was not the point. How they impacted lives was. 
• Clearly, this book made me think and you know that I'm always going to like a book that does that.