Spotlight on The Measure

The Measure by Nikki Erlick (2022) may make you rethink your life. The premise is that on a day in March one year everyone over the age off 22 receives a box with their name on it (younsters end up receiving their boxes when they turn 22). Inside the box is a string. The box and string are indestructible. On the box is written: “The measure of your life lies within.”

Folks realize that the length of the string foretells the length of the person’s life. At first, the data collected can give you a rough estimate — within a few years — but as time goes on the predictions become more exact and more accurate.

The appearance of the boxes raises questions and pressure. Where did the boxes come from? Is the prediction unavoidable? Should you look at your string or is it better not to know? What if your partner’s string is not the same length as yours? Do you stay together?

The questions move from personal reflections and relationships to the public sphere. Fear of the desperation of short-stringers leads people to suggest different treatment for them — different jobs, different health care, etc. — which leads to discrimination and dissent.

I listened to the audiobook, which is narrated by Julia Whelan, who does a great job inhabiting each of the eight characters: an editor and her girlfriend, a teacher, a doctor, two soliders, a politician, and an architect.

I’m grateful to my friend Sophia M.-F. for suggesting this book to me. I highly recommend you pick it up to explore what mortality might mean if you knew (or could know) when your life would end. Would you look at your string?