#simon gold

[woundfreak]

Remake of an animation I made in 2024.. It's kinda flopping on tiktok so I'm uploading it elsewhere..

[catbycoded]

(throws this on the ground and scuttles away like a bug)

[diaryofabookgirl]

Book review: The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

Blurb: If you knew the date of your death, how would you live your life? It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children—four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness—sneak out to hear their fortunes. The prophecies inform their next five decades. Golden-boy Simon escapes to the West Coast, searching for love in '80s San Francisco; dreamy Klara becomes a Las Vegas magician, obsessed with blurring reality and fantasy; eldest son Daniel seeks security as an army doctor post-9/11; and bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immortality. A sweeping novel of remarkable ambition and depth, The Immortalists probes the line between destiny and choice, reality and illusion, this world and the next. It is a deeply moving testament to the power of story, the nature of belief, and the unrelenting pull of familial bonds. [Goodreads]

Review: As little children in New York City, the Gold children visit a fortune teller who tells them the date they will die. At first, they rub it off as nonsense but each of the four siblings deals with their upcoming date in their own way. Simon escapes the pressure of running the family business by eloping to San Fransisco. He is joined by Klara, who wants to become a magician and is obsessed with the fortune teller's work in her own way. Daniel suffers from guilt because it was he who convinced his siblings to visit her. And at last, there is Varya, who carries the weight of the past with her.

After forgetting to pack a book for my Barcelona holiday, I quickly purchased one at the airport. The tagline is what grabbed me: If you knew the date of your death, how would you live your life? I think the book beautifully showed the difference between each sibling. Simon's acceptance of his fate, Klara's obsession with defying the odds, Daniel's guilt and the weight Varya carries as the oldest sister. Some of the storylines were predictable but that didn't make the story less gripping. I was especially invested in Simon's story, and his story was probably most predictable. Klara choice was intriguing and left me hungry for answers. What I missed was a little bit of closure after each story.

I wouldn't mark this book as a fantasy novel. There is the fortune teller aspect but apart from the prologue and a little bit of her background story, the story mainly focusses on the Gold siblings. I do wish we got to know more about the fortune teller, though I know it's part of the literature mystery.

[catbycoded]

Day in the life of a girl who yearns

(excuse the bad quality, i had to resize a ton)

[catbycoded]

what the FUCK is the immortalists and why does my oc share a name with the mc

[catbycoded]

OUGH. seeing the similarities between the people toby loves…florence and simon are both orange and a place of warmth and home .. mag and beau are both purple and a place of new experiences and excitement.

and the people simon love, as well. cain and toby are brown and share a common attitude and hardheadedness. arthur and the king’s apostle share a similar role in his life as well as being stoic and a little crazy. you can find similarities in people they choose everywhere and it’s very touching to me

[bitesizebookreviews]

The Immortalists

The Immortalists

Chloe Benjamin

352 pages

GP Putnam’s Sons, 2018

"...he heard the siren song of family—how it pulls you despite all sense; how it forces you to discard your convictions, your righteous selfhood, in favor of profound dependence." Does knowing the day that you'll die cause you to die on that day? One day in 1969, the four Gold siblings go to see a fortune teller known for predicting the date anyone will die. Though they are young (Simon, 7, Klara, 9, Daniel, 11 and Varya, 13) the fortune teller gives them each a date when they'll die. None of them laugh off the information, and in fact they all take it very seriously. The question remains, how much does that change them? The book is broken into quarters, with each sibling getting a section leading up to their deaths. Besides being an amazing book about siblings and family relationships, it also works as a fascinating look into cause and effect. Two of the siblings' deaths in the book are directly related to what the fortune teller told them, and another one indirectly. (The fourth is left up in the air, though it is clear that there was some psychological harm that left the last surviving sibling truly unable to live her life well). It leaves the reader pondering what would have happened to the four Gold children if they'd never been told.

The Immortalists is a beautifully written book that will leave the reader wondering about whether we decide our fates, or if they are written in stone, as well as the supposed value in longevity.  

[thenaptimepod-blog]

Robert scoots down to rest his face on Simon’s chest, and Simon holds him. He wonders what he can do to protect Robert, to soothe him--whether to squeeze Robert’s hand or to speak, whether to stroke his newly shaved head. This responsibility, newly gifted, is nothing like fucking: more intimidating, grown-up, so much wider margin for failure.

-Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists