Book Review: Would you like to know when the end of your life was due?

The Measure explores the potential impact if we were given the choice to know when the end point was due to arrive.

Nikki Erlick makes one change to the world, giving every person over the age of 22 a box with a message on its lid, “Inside is the measure of your life.”

Inside, is a piece of string, its length a measure of quantity not a judgement on quality.

Fate is no longer an abstract speculation, but instead a concrete reality.

The novel’s underlying question is, would you want to know?

The boxes arrive all at once overnight, and the impact of this sudden change is played out through eight interwoven individual stories, reaching outward to test what it would mean for society.

This is an American novel, set in New York, with a race to be President in the background.

There are aspects of the emergency responses which feel familiar, in a post-pandemic world.

Scientists seek evidence to understand what’s happening, politicians make life-changing decisions, insurance companies update policies and reporters find the stories to tell.

But the core concern is for the individuals, people who want to love and be loved, who want to be self-fulfilled.

It’s hard, including for those who choose not to view their string, who don’t want to get the memo.

Support groups for ‘Short-stringers’ are set up, as people question their life’s purpose, are challenged by a sense of futility.

Couples have to deal – or not deal – with what discrepancy they might find when they open their boxes.

Beyond the pain of facing hard truth, the story reaches towards the triumph of hope over loss, with an uplifting call to keep on living in the moment.

At its heart this is a romantic novel, traveling at a good pace along its speculative path, with a backdrop view of the benefits of our current state of ignorance.