Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - The Measure

What would you do if one day you woke one day to find out that every single adult in the world could know the length of their life? As you can imagine the world could easily fold to chaos. Wow. This book will stay with me.

Eight people. All wake one day to a world who all have a small chest with a string inside showing how long they'll live. Governments, religions, families, jobs, friends, marriages, all changed overnight. Looking at everything differently. The value of life changing and being argued.

The different perspectives, and human experiences. The way people's experiences were intertwined. I was gripped, and touched. This reflects SO WELL the world we live in. I'll be thinking of this book for a long time to come. Absolutely brilliant. 10/10 recommend.

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keepingitread's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

I really liked this story concept and it was done pretty well. The only issue I had with it that knocked it from being a higher rating is that the story has up to 8 different POV that I can remember to list of (not sure if that is the exact accurate amount) I enjoy multiple POV's however till I really got to know all the character and they started to cross a little bit, it caused me a little confusing at first and I was trying not to mix up peoples stories. Although I did enjoy almost all of the character POVs, if you have read it you probably know how I didn't like reading from lol. But other than the initial confusion I really enjoyed this book and though it was done really well and was a awesome concept (even if kinda terrifying in a way)

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gabrielletryingtoread's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This was an amazing book, I felt like I was with the characters every step of the way when they were making choices and asking the big questions about life. I found almost every character had a place in my heart (except Anthony 🤢). I truly recommend this book because of how well written and thought out it was, the connections that the characters had, and the sad yet satisfying conclusion. It also wasn't afraid to touch up on topics like race, LGBTQ, and found family in a way that isnt forced.

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cheyrohm's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I really enjoyed this book. It's so realistic to how the world would actually react if something of this nature occurred (and you'll probably even find yourself drawing some similarities to our world since 2020). Also just a genuinely great story about life and human connection. Definitely recommend checking this one out.

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expecto_padronum's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book is so beautiful and thought provoking. Incredibly interesting premise that perfectly executed with compelling characters and relationships. It’s a lot like They Both Die At The End (similar concept, multiple POVs, everything is connected, overall vibe is the same) except on a larger scale. A perfect book.

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onemorepagecrew's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I’ve been excited to read The Measure by Nikki Erlick, mainly because I loved The Midnight Library and I am fascinated by novels that have the reader considering what’s important in their lives. In this debut novel every single person on Earth (over the age of 22) is delivered a small, wooden box with a string that indicates how long their life will be. No one understands where the boxes came from and every society around the world is processing this new information.

The concept is interesting, and while not the first book to explore this type of societal and personal dilemma, it’s always unique how an author decides to approach the subject. In this book, there is a lean towards individual characters and the way they process their own mortality. You meet a few people and learn their stories, along with the stories of their loved ones, and this was my favorite part of the novel by far. There are a few characters that are easy to connect with and I was invested in their personal journeys.

There are also political and spiritual aspects in the story, which if this were to happen in real life would absolutely be the case. Nonetheless, this was my least favorite part of the book because it was so surface level that it left me wondering what the message was intended to be from the author. There was some light acknowledgement of systemic injustices that would be worsened or leveraged in this situation, but it was off-putting to see a new and fictional form of discrimination (having a short string / lifespan) centered as worse than the injustices endured by marginalized people today and throughout the past. I won’t expand on this too much to avoid spoilers, but arc of this storyline was so buttoned up that it reminded me of when someone says we can solve systemic injustice with love and unity alone.

I know you can only tackle so much in one book, and this was primarily about processing one’s mortality. I understood why author chose to weave politics and religion into each character’s personal contemplations, I just struggled with trying to weave in the broader societal narrative given how dense and complex it is. It could be an entirely separate novel on just that storyline. I sat with this one for a few days after finishing the story and I still can’t fully connect with the book. I suspect it will be a very popular novel though and I might be in the minority of reviews – I’m looking forward to hearing what others think of this one.

Content warnings: Death, Grief, Mass shootings, Gun violence, Systemic discrimination

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