The Measure – One Thread to Determine Life?

The Measure begins with this premise: One morning, every person on Earth wakes up to find a box on their doorstep. Inside this box lies a thread intended to visualize the length of their life. Nevertheless, this book is not a work of science fiction or fantasy.

Rather, it is a story that invites reflection and philosophizing. As a reader, would I open this box? Do I want to know the length of my own life? And what impact does this knowledge have on the actual answer?

Nikki Erlick poses these questions and tells the story through the perspectives of a handful of people over the course of a year. In doing so, she addresses various effects on society: Can I build a life with someone who might only have a few years left to live? Should I hire a person with a short string? What happens if I only send people with long strings into battle? How does society behave when it is divided by a populist? And, of course: Would I want to open this box?

I enjoyed understanding the "rules" of the strings and discovering what influence they could have on our lives. During and after reading, you feel a strong desire to engage yourself and others in conversation about it.

What I didn't like as much was the depth of character in some figures; for example, one antagonist is simply a bad person because the story requires it. Many other characters are also so flat and predictable that they would probably only seem exciting to people who have never read a book before. Anyone expecting complex characters and story twists should probably lower their expectations here. You simply have to accept many things – just as the people in this book simply accept the boxes (the text said "cubes," but the boxes were likely meant).

In short: The entire story thrives on the idea of the strings, and you can tell that the author had a lot of fun exploring the potential impacts on society. Even though I would have expected a bit more depth here, I enjoyed what I read.

If you are looking for a story with an exciting premise, you can't go wrong with The Measure.