Book Review: #StrungTogether

The Measure by Nikki Erlick

Publication Date: June 28, 2022

Summary from Goodreads:

Confession:

“That the beginning and the end may have been chosen for us, the string already spun, but the middle had always been left undetermined, to be woven and shaped by us.”
― Nikki Erlick, The Measure

This is going to be a really hard review to write. I have so many thoughts and feelings about this book, and many of them are jumbled together that it is going to be hard to get them down in any meaningful way. But I will give it a shot.

On the surface this book appears to be a character study. We have eight characters struggling to understand the implications of these boxes and what they contain. What does it mean to them and to those they love. But it is through these characters that we get to the heart of the matter. How would you spend your life if you knew how much time you had left?

Most of the characters were in their twenties or thirties which made their choices much different than if they had been older, say in their sixties. The impact of having a shorter string when you are young is very different than an older person realizing that their longer string still might indicate that the end is near. The choices you make in your life would definitely be impacted with this knowledge. Do you risk falling in love, getting married, having children when you know what is coming in just a few short years? I think the author did a marvelous job exploring this with the different characters she created. Each one felt unique and dealt with their lives differently and I think realistically.

The societal impact was pretty much what you would expect. It becomes yet another way for society to exclude and discriminate based on something that is out of anyone’s control. I do think that it was very realistic in how our government and society would react. I also liked that the author included how some other countries and societies dealt with the impact of the strings. That maybe could have been explored a bit more, but was still really interesting to think about.

It felt important that there was a cut off as to who received these boxes. No one under the age of 22 found one on their doorstep, but they did get one on their 22nd birthday. There was definitely a difference of those people who had time to think about it before they received their box. I can see how the next generation could even start to ignore the whole affair and just live their lives as they wanted, which was perfect.

The writing and the pacing was perfect for this story. It was told in very short chapters that skipped around among the eight characters. I loved the letters that were written between two of the characters before they even met. There are some love stories and even a lovely friendship that are well crafted within this story and made the decisions the characters made more realistic. It was a fast read and a book that I had a hard time putting down.

I keep thinking about this book and its characters, but mostly it made me think about what I would do if I found such a box on my doorstep one morning. Would I open it? If I found it today, I don’t think I would. I am very happy with my life and it has been a long one already. But I am also a very curious person by nature, so I might have a hard time not opening it. If I received it at a much younger age, I think it would have been a harder choice. But the bigger question would be, in knowing when I was to die, would I have lived my life differently? Would I have worked harder to make a difference and leave my impact on the world? I don’t know, but maybe I would have.

This is the best type of science fiction book in that it really makes you think about life and choices and the consequences of those choices. But it also makes you think about humans and society and how it only takes a few to make a difference and an impact in the people that we care about, and sometimes even in strangers.