Member-only story
Do You Want to Know How Long You’ll Live? Read the Novel, The Measure
Would knowing change how you live?
“The measure of your life lies herein”
One of my friends told me I should read The Measure by Nikki Erlick because it was, “A really good book that would make me think.” At the time I thought, “Well, maybe.” But the summaries I read made me think the book might be a bit gimmicky. After all, the premise was that one day every single person in the world over the age of 22 received a wooden box. Inside the box was a string wrapped in silver paper. Each person’s string was a different length.
It turns out that the length of the string indicates the approximate lifespan of the recipient.
The fact is, the premise was far more interesting — and far less gimmicky — than I expected. The Measure hooked me. First, I asked myself, “Do I want to know how long I will live?”
Then, the novel led me to a series of profound questions that have burrowed into my brain and keep kicking me for answers.
Would I want to know the “measure of my life?”
If you could know — within a few years — when you’d die, would you want to know? That’s the first question that comes to mind. In The…
