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A review by katherinevarga
The Measure by Nikki Erlick
Saccharine COVID fanfic.
What would happen if instead of a global pandemic, the world was instead turned upside down by little strings providing exact certainty about when we'll die? According to this book, nothing structural would change and nobody would be too concerned with the implied lack of free will, but those with shorter lives would face discrimination (egged on by a watered down stand-in for Trump), including restricted roles in the U.S. Army (the cause the book is most interested in).
As a head's up, the two characters of color (one who's gay) have short strings, so you read the whole book waiting for them to die tragically young. The book alludes to the possibility that people of color have shorter lifespans due to structural racism, but because the strings are always right, the unexplored implication is that there's nothing society can do in the short term to improve the health of the marginalized. The book is trying very hard to be uplifting and life-affirming, but the "carpe diem" platitudes fall short.
What would happen if instead of a global pandemic, the world was instead turned upside down by little strings providing exact certainty about when we'll die? According to this book, nothing structural would change and nobody would be too concerned with the implied lack of free will, but those with shorter lives would face discrimination (egged on by a watered down stand-in for Trump), including restricted roles in the U.S. Army (the cause the book is most interested in).
As a head's up, the two characters of color (one who's gay) have short strings, so you read the whole book waiting for them to die tragically young. The book alludes to the possibility that people of color have shorter lifespans due to structural racism, but because the strings are always right, the unexplored implication is that there's nothing society can do in the short term to improve the health of the marginalized. The book is trying very hard to be uplifting and life-affirming, but the "carpe diem" platitudes fall short.