The Measure by Nikki Erlick

 

The Measure
by Nikki Erlick

Reviewed by Valerie Palmer

I read this book because a good friend recommended it. I also have seen how popular it is and wanted to see what it is all about. This book has some heavy content and I honestly had to put it aside for a while as I was not in the right headspace at the time to read it. So, I put it  away for a while and picked it back up again. 

Summary
This book is about the lives of eight different people and how one day their lives completely change. One morning they all open their door to leave for the day and outside is a small wooden box. The box holds their fate on the inside and they must choose whether they want to know the truth. The truth about what you ask, how many years they have left to live. Every person has the same box that contains a string whether it be long or short. Society is thrown into a frenzy about the length of the strings and whether they want to know how much time they have left. No one knows where the boxes came from and why now. Relationships are torn apart, new friendships form, hope found in an unknown pen pal, and political uproar. Who will look at their box and who will choose to continue living life with the unknown? 

What I Liked
I did enjoy that this book was thought-provoking and made me think about what I would do in each of their situations. I was pushed out of my comfort zone and did enjoy some of the characters and my favorite story lines were Ben and Amie. 

What I Didn't Like
I did not like that there were so many story lines in this book. Sometimes it was hard to follow, and you had to remember who was who, and how they related to the other seven main characters. There were quite a few chapters related to politics and that is not something that typically captures my interest. I also am not typically into science-fiction or magical realism.

Rating⭐⭐⭐.5
I gave this book three stars on Goodreads, but it deserves 3.5 stars. I am one of the few people who did not give it a higher rating. The main reason is that I am not usually into politics, science fiction or magical realism. I also thought having eight story lines to follow was far too many to feel connected to any of them. When I was invested in one story, it felt like it took forever to get back to that person.