Welcome to Litsy!

Life is completely normal for the world until a day when all adults receive a box. In the box is a string, all are different lengths for each person depending on how long you‘re going to live. The book goes through a handful of different characters stories whether they have a long string or a short string or even some that don‘t open the box at all. Was a great read but still left me pondering some at the end!

Out of nowhere every person on the planet over the age of 22 receives a small box containing a string, the length of which will tell you just how long your life will be. Some choose to look, others do not. But the world quickly arrives at all kinds of opinions, public policies, and judgements about short-stringers and long-stringers. It‘s a fascinating and timely exploration of what constitutes the quality and measure of a life.

4⭐️/5⭐️

This is definitely going to live in my brain for a long time.

#currentlyreading

Loved this… such a surprise. There was a thread of hopefulness, humanity and even love, that ran through the novel that I really liked. It was perfect for my book club… lots of great discussion. Would you open the box? If you did, would it change how you lived? How would we react as a whole, individually, as nations… a speculative pick that really made us all think. #52bookclub24 #pop24 #morethan3POV #morethan4POV

My book club chose this. While I think it will probably provoke a good discussion, I felt like the author pushed an agenda at the expense of any substantial character development. I think I‘ll stick with Atwood and Orwell for speculative fiction.

So many characters that it took me half the book to even care about them. Had to go back and listen again so that I could enjoy the story the 2nd time when I already knew the characters and had the lay of the land.

If you could find out exactly how long you‘d live, would you want to know? If you choose to know, how or would you change your life? This book is terrific, insightful, thought-provoking. I couldn‘t put it down and cried through the ending. Incredible.

I listened to this one, it was just so-so for me. The concept and message were interesting, the writing could‘ve been better. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Just over half-way and hoping this story takes a super exciting and unpredictable turn, soon.

A little bit of late night reading 📖 I‘ll be reading this one for #20in4 readathon and try to score some points for #scarathlon

#blackcatcrew 🐈‍⬛

A score from my library‘s ongoing book sale 📚I love going to their weekly book sales to see what goodies they have!

I actually didn't enjoy this. The premise is interesting but my math and science brain thought it was ridiculous. It gave me a headache.

IRL book club pick for September. Best part was I didn't have to pick it.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

This was fascinating, beautiful, & heartbreaking. It delved into politics, moral dilemmas & the question: is it better to have loved & lost or never to have loved at all. I savored it, thinking about each new quandary the characters faced. Would you open your box? Would you date or hire a short stringer? Should legislation be in place to regulate how they are treated? The parallels for other social persecution are obvious. So much to discuss!

This was good if a bit predictable. The characters were very likable though which kept me reading. 4⭐️

#WondrousWednesday

🍏Walks outside with the cooler weather and autumn leaves
🍎Tired - teacher tired IYKYK
🍏tagged, liking it so far, entertaining though a bit on the nose so far, we‘ll see how it ends.

Holiday read.
I was looking forward to this, but I felt it was executed quite poorly. The concept was brilliant, but I found that there were too many characters, and I didn't care for many of them. Not my cup of tea.

Loved this novel. What would you do if you received a box with a string that told you how long your life was going to be? Would you open it? What would you do if you received a short string; or if your partner did? This book goes into all of that and more.

I do love a found family story.

this was an interesting concept, really well-written and carefully thought out. there isn‘t really a plot per se, just character vignettes about how the strings affect their lives. the way the characters‘ stories intertwined kind of reminded me of Love Actually. it took me a while to get through the audiobook and I sorta had a hard time remembering what was going on with each character. I might have done better just reading it. 4 ⭐️s! #audiobook

Grab this one for $2.99! #boleybooks #themeasure #nikkierlick #bookbeast #bookjoy #mustread

I really enjoyed this one! Everyone in the world receives a string that measures how long they will live, some long some short. This causes division in society, & the books follows a variety of characters with different string lengths. I liked how all the characters intersected. The story was reminiscent of Covid and US elections in 2020, just everything turning upside down and how people react. My only complaint is it dragged a bit in the middle.

This was an interesting,thought provoking book and I really enjoyed the writing and the creativity. I was invested in all the characters and their stories ❤️I also liked how the author put a spin on how politics played a big role in this story and I felt like there were messages of how politics can create division under times of uncertainty
Book 1 of #JoysofJune readathon

I ended up liking the concept more than the execution. Seemed to have a lot of build up but lacked follow through. Wasn‘t bad, but somehow not a lot of emotional impact or connection. As people struggled to make decisions or figure out their next steps, the impact on them and their families was seen more than felt.

A v unique story and that‘s what kept me reading The writing is good but the characters are a bit stereotypical I would have liked to have had stories from around the world in different countries to get a better perspective. About a quarter before the end it became too sugary and over sentimental for me and I had to race through to the end. It lost an edge I felt and rushed to tie up all the stories. Would still make a great book club discussion.

Tackle the TBR 🤓📚
#boleybooks #themeasure #nikkierlick #bookbeast #bookjoy #mustread #bookbuds
What are you reading? 😊

Started The measure this week and I have to say it‘s an unique story. Well written although I‘m not convinced by some of the characters. I‘m hoping it‘s not religious or has an ultimately “moral” story as I would prefer a more scientific explanation or even a supernatural twist. I really like it so far.

The concept, riveting! The characters…I found some of them to be highly insufferable. Despite the characters that were ridiculous social caricatures, the style of writing is very good! And the well-written characters were great to read about, and their scope/development was rewarding to read. But as stated earlier, the star of this book is the concept, not the characters. Worth reading? I think so. Wouldn‘t read it twice, but glad I read it once.

A 4.5 out of 5 stars for the refreshing topic of how the world (especially the west) reacted to boxes containing strings representing each life‘s span. Erlick cleverly weaves this multi plot point story to cover all human concerns and reactions to the information on a personal and en masse level. Well done!

#discussionbook #maymontage @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

Some members of my IRL book club and I—with @AmyK1 of course—hit 8 stores on the #greatercharlottebookcrawl today!! It was so much fun; Liberty Bookstore in Rock Hill was my favorite (not a surprise, because I went there in college and adored it). Haul in a separate post!

What would do you do if you had the chance to know how long your life would be? Would you want to know? This book follows a handful of people when the option is forced upon them.

This was a reread for me since I was in charge of both hosting and leading my book club discussion on this book. I watched a pile of YouTube interviews with the author to hep prepare. But after finding a podcast discussion sans author where the 1st comment was the dislike of the book, I lead with would you open your box vs who liked/disliked it. Good decision as the discussion was great and it turned out only 4/13 people liked the book! ↓

#BookMail

I‘m intrigued by the premise of this book. It sounds a lot like The Immoralists by Chloe Benjamin…

My new plan is to opt for the audiobook whenever Julia Whelan narrates.

One day, everyone wakes up to a box that holds a string that shows the measure of your life. How the world responds is as vast as the cast of characters the book contains. Took me a bit longer to finish than I thought, but overall I really enjoyed this book. It‘s a book I‘ll keep returning to, not because of the writing or story but to consider the real world applications.

The Measure asks, what if everyone on earth could know for certain how long they would live? How would that change things? How would society react? Who would choose to know or purposely choose not to know? How would that change our decisions, change how we live our lives?

Hoping to finish my audiobook today. Mr Floof has been very invested in the story with me but really I think he just enjoys the company.

What would you do if you awoke and a box was on your front step, telling you when you would die? The Measure looks at how society woukd react if we all knew when we would die. An interesting read.

A little past half way and I was surprised by the strong political view this book took. Realistically, I shouldn‘t have been as it makes sense and it‘s almost terrifying how realistic the way things are playing out in this universe with strings. Things feel a bit slow for me right now, I‘m ready for the next big plot point to come about, but I am still enjoying the narrative.

“You know, I watched a lot of people come to the end, and everyone around them kept begging them to fight. It takes real strength to keep on fighting, and yes, usually that‘s the right answer. Keep fighting, keep holding on, no matter what. But sometimes I think we forget that it also takes strength to be able to let go.”

Same

Same

What a concept and strong start! I‘m excited to keep listening to this as a I clean today!

I am not sure I have the words to accurately describe how much I love this book… it made me laugh, it made me think and it made me cry. This book will stay with me for a long time to come!

Everyone gets a string that tells you how long you‘ll live. Multiple storylines emerge as people come to terms with the ensuing decisions. Great premise and solid character development. The middle got a bit preachy in my opinion but the way the stories develop and intertwine kept me reading. Interesting way to reframe prejudice, and a different take on the question of what a life well lived really means.

I cannot put this book down…. I seriously want to call in sick to work tomorrow so I can stay home and read!!!

But this is what humans have always done. We segment ourselves based on race or class or religion or whatever f&@$ing distinctions we decide to make up, and then we insist on treating each other differently.

Oh, my God - I loved “Lessons in Chemistry” SO MUCH. 😭😍 Now onto the next as recommended by my coworker, who hasn‘t let me down yet. This is super-unsettling so far, but I can‘t look away! #themeasure #nikkierlick