|Page Turners| The Measure by Nikki Erlick

Do you really want to know how long you'll live? In our world, that is a purely hypothetical question, and yet, Erlick created a world where it is not. This universe, which resembles our own, has one key difference: Adults over the age of 21 can learn how long they live, if they dare to open the box. Would you open the box? Personally, I do not know if I would, but books that ask about issues like this one are the very novels that make me love science fiction.

Do We Want to Turn the Page?

Warning! This next section may contain spoilers about the book. Also, all ratings are based entirely on my opinion and WILL be biased and subjective.

Boxes that contain your fate is an idea which is often seen in science fiction, which may be the only thing I can fault in The Measure. It's predictable, and yet I loved the novel, which drew me in from the very beginning. While writing this post, I read a review from the New York Times which said that even when it poses deep questions, The Measure is an escape from reality, because unlike many other dystopian stories, it does not present other problems our real world faces as issues in its fictional universe. The strings (and the deaths associated with them) seem to be the only obstacles to a utopia in The Measure's America. Nonetheless, the characters, from Maura to Javier, feel real, and when loss shakes one after the other, I could not help but to feel some of the same despair they experience. I loved all the characters, except for Anthony, who practically had me fuming every time he spoke, and cheering when Jack tried to tell the crowd the truth about him, but my favorite would probably have to be Hank, the doctor who jumps in front of a gun to save others, in a crowd full of people he does not know. A short-stringer, this is what will end up killing him. Hank seems to be a very impulsive yet kind person, choosing to go to the support group for people with short, but longer strings than him, just because of a feeling he has while walking through. As one of the first major characters to die, he left an impact both on me, the reader, and on the other short-stringers, who are subjected to the heartbreak of losing him so quickly and of further realizing their deaths are incoming. From the first sentence to Annie and Ben's tragic ending, I loved this book, and even though it is a bit predictable, I would rate it a 10/10. I recommend it as a great sci-fi read for a quick journey to the imagined.

The Blurb:

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.

Enchanting and deeply uplifting, The Measure is a sweeping, ambitious, uplifting story about family, love, hope, and destiny that encourages us to live life to the fullest.

The Author: Nikki Erlick

Nikki Erlick is a writer and editor whose work has appeared online with New York Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, Newsweek, Cosmopolitan, Indagare Travel, The Huffington Post, and Vox. She has a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a master’s degree from Columbia University. The Measure is her debut novel.

(From the short bio in Erlick's book)