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The Measure
by Nikki Erlick
Greenlit By
Knox
Date
August 30, 2022
Greenlit By: Knox
August 30, 2022
Knox Says
I bought this book on its premise: one day everyone 21 or older gets a box and inside it says how long they're going to live. Everyone faces the choice of do you open the box. It tells the story from multiple characters and perspectives. There are so many layers of applicability: from seizing the day, to making the most of our lives, to the different kinds of ways we allow ourselves to have prejudices, to the way we choose to interact with answers we may now want to know. It is so well done, the characters are so well drawn. I blew through this in a day.
Synopsis
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, and invigorating story about family, friendship, hope, and destiny that encourages us to live life to the fullest.