The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

If you knew the day you would die, how would that change the way you live? Chloe Benjamin explores this idea in her second novel about four siblings who, in New York in 1969, learn just that. Simon, Klara, Daniel, and Varya sneak off to see a fortune teller whose gift is knowing your death date. After they each learn how long they'll live, we hear about their separate stories.

At 17, Simon leaves New York for San Francisco with his sister Klara, who is 19. Klara has dreams of becoming a magician, following in the footsteps of her grandmother. Simon doesn't realize his dreams until he moves to San Francisco, where he can live more openly as a gay man. He begins dancing at a club, and then takes ballet in order to improve his dancing. There he meets Robert, and they live as a couple in the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980's.

Klara, also in San Francisco, pursues her dream of performing magic shows. She starts from the ground up, with simple card tricks and illusions and works her way up to performing at the Mirage in Las Vegas. 

Daniel becomes a doctor, and meets an FBI agent who is asking questions about the woman Daniel and his siblings met so many years ago. 

Varya works in research, trying to find out the key to a long life. But her research is interrupted when she meets someone asking questions about her past. 

Although their lives diverge and seem to separate pretty quickly after their childhood, they still deal with the same issues - like their mother - Who will stay home to care for her? Who deserves her love the most? Will they break free of the superstitions and rituals they see her carry out? They also each have a dream that is sidelined in some way - whether it's mental illness, disease, revenge, or their own self. And together they deal with the knowledge of their fate and the question of whether knowing this directed their life choices, or if their life choices brought them closer to their fate. 

I listened to the audio book, so I'm not sure I can separate how much was the writing versus the narrator, but this book had a lyrical quality to it that was transcendent. I loved reading about each sibling and was disappointed when one person's section ended, but then found myself equally enraptured with the next. Each person's story was interesting in and of itself, but the bigger questions raised about things like fate and legacy took it to another level. 

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

I came away from this one seeing the forest more than the trees. The overall story is interesting, but I wasn't really interested in the details along the way. At the end of the day, I'm glad I read the book, because this seems like an important story in terms of American history. But I often found my mind wandering while going through it.

Did you know that the Osage Native Americans in Oklahoma were among the (if not THE) richest people in the world in the early 1900's? The Osage were assigned land by the U.S. Government that later was found to be rich in oil. In response to this, the United States passed a law that anyone with 50% or more Osage ancestry had to be assigned a guardian (code for a white man) who was appointed by the court and basically in charge of their finances.

This legal racism and exploitation, problematic on its own, also bred all kinds of illegal activity - murders, kickbacks, bribes, corruption, conspiracy. And in the 1920's begin what is known as the Reign of Terror for the Osage, when dozens were murdered for their oil headrights.

The book is told in three parts, the first part focusing on the Osage themselves, then moving to the FBI investigation, and finally ending with additional research and theories that David Grann unearthed. This might be one of those books where the movie is more interesting than the book, but you if really want to get facts and details about the actual events, then the book is key. While I'm not going to insist that the book is superior (and it very well might be, as I have yet to see the movie) I'd suggest one or the other, as the story itself is one that should be heard.

Here's an article from PBS (written by David Grann) about the Osage murders, it has some great pictures. Now that I'm thinking about it, these very well might have been in the book, but I did the audiobook so...

If you're interested in the upcoming movie, directed by Martin Scorsese, here is the trailer.