"Either everything matters or nothing does."

This is a book about what matters and what doesn't, what's temporary and what's eternal, what it means to live, and how joy and sorrow juxtapose with purpose and expectation.

But more than anything, it's a book about the importance of the story itself.

What's impressive is how Dr. Horn explores all of that without the story ever feeling weighed down by the existential themes or the 2000 years of history. For the most part, the book feels light, fitting well into magical realism and/or fantasy genres.

This is an unapologetically Jewish book told from the perspective of a character whose Jewishness is so old and so engrained it barely seems to register for her unless there is an active persecution of Jews happening - she seems far more concerned with various other aspects of her identity and how they change and don't change over her very long life. The book is filled with references to Jewish culture, scripture, writings, and history, none of which are made explicit in any way. All the important characters are Jewish, very well fleshed out, very obviously flawed, and they reflect certain elements of global and historical Jewish communities. The story itself follows a Jewish narrative pattern to the point that the ending itself is not an ending, as Rachel and Elazar so often say through the book - there are no endings, only more beginnings.

I found this all very refreshing, and I find myself wondering if it might be challenging to connect with the story, and even with Rachel herself, if the reader is unfamiliar with Jewish culture and history.

I rather enjoyed the re-imagining of Rabbi Yochanan's parentage and lifetime, and I absolutely loved the idea of the High Priest's son becoming the youngest student of his own son. It just felt so very poignant and fit so beautifully with the whole exploration of parenthood as sacrifice, along with the tremendous value Jews place on generational transmission of wisdom.

Overall, this is a gorgeous, imperfect, and too short book about a gorgeous, imperfect, and too long life. ( )

An interesting, if all too brief, read for anyone among us (and who hasn't?) who has wanted to live forever and considered the weighty implications of such a prolonged existence. Ultimately this vivid page turner is about time, family, and the reasons we all discover or invent to doggedly cling to life no matter the pain it costs us. ( )

Two Sentence Plot: A young mother relinquishes her ability to die to save her first son’s life, and as she lives through the centuries facing the consequences of her decision, she keeps crossing paths with another eternal being, her first love. The 21st century brings new difficulties, one of which being her granddaughter searching for the answer to the thing she is cursed by…eternal life.

I thought that a character who has experienced 2,000 years of history would be hard to relate to, but Dara Horn pulls it off wonderfully. A unique take on the age old story of living forever. The story seamlessly switches from past to present and allows the reader to understand Rachel’s experience of being eternal. The reader’s questions about “how does being eternal work exactly” are given satisfying answers. Though the reader can understand the characters, it’s takes a while to care about them. I especially had a hard time liking Rachel’s first love, Elazar. It eventually got there, but for the longest time he made me have the “ick”. I’m also not sure how much you’re expected to root for their love story. In my opinion, it’s not the heartbeat of the story. Rachel’s love for her children and grandchildren is. Therefore, I would not recommend reading it only for the love story. Before reading, it is good to know that Judaism has an important role to the lives of the characters and the plot. I still enjoyed the story even though I don’t practice that faith, but I think I would like it more if I did.

I liked the….

- Exploration of the meaning of life
- Connection between the past and present
- Interesting ending

I disliked the…

- Paragraph long explanation of slurping sounds of someone drinking a smoothie (p. 161)
- Amount of time it took me to care about the romance

Content Rating: 18+, contains language and sexual content

Recommend to readers who like thought provoking stories and learning about historical events in the Middle East. ( )

Horn always had such intricate and interesting plots and pursuits for her characters. I can't of a way to "hint" at the plot, so I'll start with the first sentence on the flyleaf "Rachel is a woman with a problem: she can't die." ( )

This book raises many intriguing questions about the meaning of life, the desire for immortality, quality of life vs length, what it means to be a good parent....It's well written; I felt as if I were there with the main character.

Rachel and Elazar give up their mortality to save their son's life. Over the centuries, they continually leave whatever lives they have created and start fresh. They aren't together, but seem to find each other when necessary.

My issue is with the main character, Rachel. After living for more than 2000 years, she doesn't seem to evolve with the times. She remains tied to traditional roles and doesn't seem to adapt to, or even notice, changes in the role and place of women in society. I guess it would be harder to show the price she'd paid if her incarnations were more varied and interesting, or if she hadn't constantly outlived her children. That said, I still found her extremely frustrating! ( )