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Eternal Life
Rachel has an unusual problem: she can’t die. Her recent troubles—widowhood, a failing business, an unemployed middle-aged son—are only the latest. She’s already put up with scores of marriages and hundreds of children, over 2,000 years—ever since she made a spiritual bargain to save the life of her first son back in Roman-occupied Jerusalem. There’s only one other person in the world who understands: a man she once loved passionately, who has been stalking her through the centuries, convinced they belong together forever.
In 2018, as her children and grandchildren develop new technologies for immortality, Rachel knows she must enable her beloved offspring to live fully—without her, but with meaning—by finding a way for herself to die.
Gripping, hilarious, and profoundly moving, Eternal Life celebrates the bonds between generations, the power of faith, the purpose of death, and the reasons for being alive.
In 2018, as her children and grandchildren develop new technologies for immortality, Rachel knows she must enable her beloved offspring to live fully—without her, but with meaning—by finding a way for herself to die.
Gripping, hilarious, and profoundly moving, Eternal Life celebrates the bonds between generations, the power of faith, the purpose of death, and the reasons for being alive.
244 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 23, 2018
652 people are currently reading
10094 people want to read
About the author
Dara Horn
25books778followersDara Horn is the award-winning author of six books. One of Granta magazine’s Best Young American Novelists (2007), she is the recipient of three National Jewish Book Awards, among other honors, and she was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize, the Wingate Prize, the Simpson Family Literary Prize, and the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. Her books have been selected as New York Times Notable Books, Booklist’s 25 Best Books of the Decade, and San Francisco Chronicle’s Best Books of the Year, and have been translated into twelve languages.
Her nonfiction work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Smithsonian, Tablet, and The Jewish Review of Books, among many other publications.
Horn received her doctorate in comparative literature from Harvard University, studying Yiddish and Hebrew. She has taught courses in these subjects at Sarah Lawrence College and Yeshiva University, and held the Gerald Weinstock Visiting Professorship in Jewish Studies at Harvard. She has lectured for audiences in hundreds of venues throughout North America, Israel, and Australia.
She currently serves as Creative Adviser for The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History.
She lives in New Jersey with her husband and four children.
Her nonfiction work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Smithsonian, Tablet, and The Jewish Review of Books, among many other publications.
Horn received her doctorate in comparative literature from Harvard University, studying Yiddish and Hebrew. She has taught courses in these subjects at Sarah Lawrence College and Yeshiva University, and held the Gerald Weinstock Visiting Professorship in Jewish Studies at Harvard. She has lectured for audiences in hundreds of venues throughout North America, Israel, and Australia.
She currently serves as Creative Adviser for The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History.
She lives in New Jersey with her husband and four children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 940 reviews
January 29, 2018
Audiobook.....read by Elizabeth Rogers! The narrator is excellent- and this book is extraordinary. Beautiful writing- totally fascinating.
“The only way this will end is if I die�.
Rachel Azaria can’t die. We take a two thousand year voyage with Rachel � she gives up her death in order to save her first son. Rachel made a vow to save her child in the Holy Temple of Jerusalem� and now that she has lived - FOR 2000 YEARS, she has buried thousands of children, grandchildren, and husbands.
She wants it to finally end. Living has become a curse.
She repeats: “my problem is I can’t die�.
What reasons are there for being alive?
This isn’t a long book - but it’s very original- thought provoking- filled with Jewish history - Jewish mysticism, exploring immortality- faith, family, death, and......
“What reasons are there for being Alive?�.....and ultimately.....”what is the meaning of life�.
Dara Horn blends ancient and modern history - she leaves us thinking about things that matter. Our children- our life - our memories - troubling voids we experience-
life extensions - accomplishments- and changes from one generation to another.
Fascinating- funny - sad - compelling- TERRIFIC!!!!
“The only way this will end is if I die�.
Rachel Azaria can’t die. We take a two thousand year voyage with Rachel � she gives up her death in order to save her first son. Rachel made a vow to save her child in the Holy Temple of Jerusalem� and now that she has lived - FOR 2000 YEARS, she has buried thousands of children, grandchildren, and husbands.
She wants it to finally end. Living has become a curse.
She repeats: “my problem is I can’t die�.
What reasons are there for being alive?
This isn’t a long book - but it’s very original- thought provoking- filled with Jewish history - Jewish mysticism, exploring immortality- faith, family, death, and......
“What reasons are there for being Alive?�.....and ultimately.....”what is the meaning of life�.
Dara Horn blends ancient and modern history - she leaves us thinking about things that matter. Our children- our life - our memories - troubling voids we experience-
life extensions - accomplishments- and changes from one generation to another.
Fascinating- funny - sad - compelling- TERRIFIC!!!!
March 18, 2022
Eternal Life
has such a fascinating premise about a young woman named Rachel makes an eternal bond with her baby daddy, Elazar, to save their only son by forfeiting their deaths so their child may live.
As a result, Rachel and Elazar can never die.
Great idea, right?
I was expecting, ohhh...I don't know...old world magic, the pros and cons of immortality, recaps of the amazing and adventurous lives Rachel has lived to tell.
But that wasn't it at all.
** Spoilers ahead **
When we meet Rachel 2,000 years later, she is in the process of leaving her current family, before they notice she is not aging normally.
She runs a small business and she loves her children. All her children.
That's what she's been doing for the last 2,000 years old, marrying and breeding incessantly.
She hasn't been marching for equality. She hasn't been working in a factory to support the war effort. She hasn't become a suffragette or done anything noteworthy.
She's just been having babies. Lots and lots of babies.
And Elazar is no prize, either. What a shocker.
He is the world's creepiest and oldest stalker, literally and figuratively.
For the last 2,000 years, he has been following and tracking Rachel's whereabouts, professing his eternal love and hoping she will forgive him for a misdeed he wrought on her first husband centuries ago.
You see, Rachel and Elazar had a relationship 2,000 years old in old timey Jerusalem.
Their relationship is never fully explained; we see how they met, how they hooked up over and over and when she gets pregnant but do I believe in their relationship?
No, not really. There's no sexual chemistry between them, and no explanation/reason as to why they got together.
Because she can read Scripture? Because he was the son of a powerful priest?
I don't buy it but for the sake of the story I can suspend disbelief.
As the couple continues their on-again, off-again relationship through the centuries, Rachel constantly whines and rags on Elazar about his obsessive behavior, how he can't let her go, what he did to her first husband; yet she can't keep hooking up with him every decade or so for the occasional booty call because, hey, he's the only one who understands your unusual predicament because he's in the same jam as well.
But, jeez, stop complaining like a twenty year old brat. Talk about holding a grudge.
The origin and the nature of the bond that gives eternal life is never fully explained.
Is it a curse? Is it a punishment?
How did it come about? Are there others like them? Can it be broken?
Faith is touched upon many times by Rachel and other characters but I couldn't help but feel that the author had a personal religious agenda of her own that came through not so subtly.
I couldn't quite put my finger on it but the undercurrent is a little rocky.
This story had such rich possibilities with a myriad of diverse paths it could have taken:
If you could lead multiple lives, how many would it take to achieve a successful and fulfilling life?
Can we ever do over one's life? Or is the first life the best regardless of the happiness and horrors you may experience/witness?
Can we ever repent for the wrongs we've committed in previous lives?
Do we ever stop repenting?
Is saving the life of a child good enough for repentance? Why?
Rachel is a bore. A boring bore with no personality.
After 2,000 years, she still acts and behaves like the whiny, bratty, petulant 18 year old she was when she made the pact. Maybe that's the problem.
She was an immature child when she exchanged her death so that her son may live.
Perhaps if she had been older, a bit wiser, she would have done something with all her years and lives. Or maybe not.
I also found it hard to believe that after so many lives lived, Rachel wouldn't have a contingency plan in place for switching identities when the time came for her to escape and start her life over when her present family noticed she was not aging as a grandmother normally does.
Instead, she needs Elazar to provide her with the appropriate documents and paperwork to start her life anew. Why?
Is she not a capable, intelligent woman after 2,000 years? Has she learned nothing after 2,000 years?
Is a woman nothing more than a breeder? A mother and caretaker? A wife and housekeeper?
Because that's what I'm getting from this story.
I admired Rachel's love and devotion to all her children, especially her firstborn.
Her memories of her first son with Elazar is never far from her thoughts because as her first child, he holds a special place in her heart that no other child can take the place of. I respect that.
It reminds me of what my mother once said to me about being her firstborn that I'll never forget.
I added an extra star for the original premise; otherwise, it would have fallen into my popular one star rating category.
As a result, Rachel and Elazar can never die.
Great idea, right?
I was expecting, ohhh...I don't know...old world magic, the pros and cons of immortality, recaps of the amazing and adventurous lives Rachel has lived to tell.
But that wasn't it at all.
** Spoilers ahead **
When we meet Rachel 2,000 years later, she is in the process of leaving her current family, before they notice she is not aging normally.
She runs a small business and she loves her children. All her children.
That's what she's been doing for the last 2,000 years old, marrying and breeding incessantly.
She hasn't been marching for equality. She hasn't been working in a factory to support the war effort. She hasn't become a suffragette or done anything noteworthy.
She's just been having babies. Lots and lots of babies.
And Elazar is no prize, either. What a shocker.
He is the world's creepiest and oldest stalker, literally and figuratively.
For the last 2,000 years, he has been following and tracking Rachel's whereabouts, professing his eternal love and hoping she will forgive him for a misdeed he wrought on her first husband centuries ago.
You see, Rachel and Elazar had a relationship 2,000 years old in old timey Jerusalem.
Their relationship is never fully explained; we see how they met, how they hooked up over and over and when she gets pregnant but do I believe in their relationship?
No, not really. There's no sexual chemistry between them, and no explanation/reason as to why they got together.
Because she can read Scripture? Because he was the son of a powerful priest?
I don't buy it but for the sake of the story I can suspend disbelief.
As the couple continues their on-again, off-again relationship through the centuries, Rachel constantly whines and rags on Elazar about his obsessive behavior, how he can't let her go, what he did to her first husband; yet she can't keep hooking up with him every decade or so for the occasional booty call because, hey, he's the only one who understands your unusual predicament because he's in the same jam as well.
But, jeez, stop complaining like a twenty year old brat. Talk about holding a grudge.
The origin and the nature of the bond that gives eternal life is never fully explained.
Is it a curse? Is it a punishment?
How did it come about? Are there others like them? Can it be broken?
Faith is touched upon many times by Rachel and other characters but I couldn't help but feel that the author had a personal religious agenda of her own that came through not so subtly.
I couldn't quite put my finger on it but the undercurrent is a little rocky.
This story had such rich possibilities with a myriad of diverse paths it could have taken:
If you could lead multiple lives, how many would it take to achieve a successful and fulfilling life?
Can we ever do over one's life? Or is the first life the best regardless of the happiness and horrors you may experience/witness?
Can we ever repent for the wrongs we've committed in previous lives?
Do we ever stop repenting?
Is saving the life of a child good enough for repentance? Why?
Rachel is a bore. A boring bore with no personality.
After 2,000 years, she still acts and behaves like the whiny, bratty, petulant 18 year old she was when she made the pact. Maybe that's the problem.
She was an immature child when she exchanged her death so that her son may live.
Perhaps if she had been older, a bit wiser, she would have done something with all her years and lives. Or maybe not.
I also found it hard to believe that after so many lives lived, Rachel wouldn't have a contingency plan in place for switching identities when the time came for her to escape and start her life over when her present family noticed she was not aging as a grandmother normally does.
Instead, she needs Elazar to provide her with the appropriate documents and paperwork to start her life anew. Why?
Is she not a capable, intelligent woman after 2,000 years? Has she learned nothing after 2,000 years?
Is a woman nothing more than a breeder? A mother and caretaker? A wife and housekeeper?
Because that's what I'm getting from this story.
I admired Rachel's love and devotion to all her children, especially her firstborn.
Her memories of her first son with Elazar is never far from her thoughts because as her first child, he holds a special place in her heart that no other child can take the place of. I respect that.
It reminds me of what my mother once said to me about being her firstborn that I'll never forget.
I added an extra star for the original premise; otherwise, it would have fallen into my popular one star rating category.
November 30, 2017
I wish I were in a book club specifically to talk about this book.
October 8, 2019
First Read (April 2019):
As this novel gets underway, we're given to understand that there's something unusual about the protagonist, Rachel, a great-grandmother at 84 years old, something fantastical about her relationship to life and death. That much we know from the title and from reviews we may have read. But just what's going on--and why--takes a little while to emerge. And that's about all I want to say about the plot, so as not to spoil the gradual revelation. Except I'll venture to add that we don't stay in the present.
I have read one previous Dara Horn novel, , which at the time was said to be her best so far. I loved the historical parts of that one but was less enamored of the author's turning the events set in the present into a thriller. So when I had a little difficulty getting into the first few chapters of Eternal Life, I was afraid of something similar. Happily, that's not the case, and as events proceed, the knitting together of past and present is much more successful than in the earlier book. Also, the early confusion lifts and all becomes clear(er).
So, now, this is her best book. I wouldn't call it literature, but neither is it chick lit, which for me means empty-headed cotton candy that's pretty but doesn't feed the mind. The book cast a little spell over me. The night I finished it, a residue wafted into my dreams.
A fascinating, fast read.
Second Read:
Preparing for a group discussion, I reread Eternal Life in late August and had a more intense reaction. It occurred to me that what Dara Horn is trying to do here is to give us a view of Second Temple times as it may have been experienced then, that is, without the distorting lens of looking back from today's perspective. Or perspectives, I should say. Christians have an assumption of a corrupt leadership or of dead religion -- something like that -- but Jews, the liberal ones, at least, don't fare much better. They are likely to look back at the sacrificial "cult" and say "good riddance." They think of having to sacrifice their puppies and kittens. We make assumptions about what the people of those times thought, but in doing so we make them look through our eyes.
But is it in part sour grapes? The author gives us a character who compares and contrasts and who thinks a story is a poor exchange for the reality. Quite profound. She does acknowledge the beneficial effect of portability.
Everything and everyone blew through the world, leaves carried on wind.
When you live like we do, everything seems connected to everything else, everything reminds you of something.
As this novel gets underway, we're given to understand that there's something unusual about the protagonist, Rachel, a great-grandmother at 84 years old, something fantastical about her relationship to life and death. That much we know from the title and from reviews we may have read. But just what's going on--and why--takes a little while to emerge. And that's about all I want to say about the plot, so as not to spoil the gradual revelation. Except I'll venture to add that we don't stay in the present.
I have read one previous Dara Horn novel, , which at the time was said to be her best so far. I loved the historical parts of that one but was less enamored of the author's turning the events set in the present into a thriller. So when I had a little difficulty getting into the first few chapters of Eternal Life, I was afraid of something similar. Happily, that's not the case, and as events proceed, the knitting together of past and present is much more successful than in the earlier book. Also, the early confusion lifts and all becomes clear(er).
So, now, this is her best book. I wouldn't call it literature, but neither is it chick lit, which for me means empty-headed cotton candy that's pretty but doesn't feed the mind. The book cast a little spell over me. The night I finished it, a residue wafted into my dreams.
A fascinating, fast read.
Saul Bellow: Death is the dark backing that a mirror needs if we are able to see anything.
...as quoted in Christopher Hitchen's
Second Read:
Preparing for a group discussion, I reread Eternal Life in late August and had a more intense reaction. It occurred to me that what Dara Horn is trying to do here is to give us a view of Second Temple times as it may have been experienced then, that is, without the distorting lens of looking back from today's perspective. Or perspectives, I should say. Christians have an assumption of a corrupt leadership or of dead religion -- something like that -- but Jews, the liberal ones, at least, don't fare much better. They are likely to look back at the sacrificial "cult" and say "good riddance." They think of having to sacrifice their puppies and kittens. We make assumptions about what the people of those times thought, but in doing so we make them look through our eyes.
But is it in part sour grapes? The author gives us a character who compares and contrasts and who thinks a story is a poor exchange for the reality. Quite profound. She does acknowledge the beneficial effect of portability.
November 19, 2017
I very rarely write reviews on GR anymore, but this book struck me in such a way that it felt strangely familiar yet very new. Maybe because of the Jewish history woven throughout the book, maybe because of the themes of death and rebirth and parenting that seem to be so prevalent in my life lately; I don’t know. But I didn’t want it to end. I wanted to hear all of Rachel’s stories, all about all of her children, and what lies in store for her. I haven’t read a book like this in a while, and I am so grateful for this story.
March 31, 2024
Rachel Weeping For Her Children
Sometimes reading one book leads directly to another. I had just read a book by a 20th century American philosopher, William E. Hocking, exploring issues surrounding the role of death in human experience and in understanding the meaning of life and the possibility of a form of survival after death. Upon finishing the book, I saw Dara Horn's new novel "Eternal Life" prominently displayed on the new books shelf of the local library. I thought it would make a fitting novelistic successor to the philosophy I had just read. I had read and enjoyed Horn's novel "The Guide for the Perplexed" but that alone would not have induced me to read her new book.
This book has religious, spiritual themes as befitting its title. The book explores universal themes about the meaning of life and death that are important but difficult to grasp. The book is also highly and specifically within the Jewish tradition.
The book ranges over a 2000 year time span and is a mix of religion, history, a satire of contemporary life, and utter fancy. The heroine of the book, Rachel, lived in Jerusalem at the time before the destruction of the Second Temple. When her son is dying, she makes a bargain with God through the high priest. The young son's life will be spared on condition that Rachel agrees to live forever, without death. Rachel's lover, the boy's likely father, Elazar makes a similar bargain. The two live through thousands of years, from place to place, with Elazar pursuing his flame. Both make many marriages over the century and have many children. Of course the deathless parents outlive and are in a sense detached from their offspring.
Much of the book is set in late 20t century America as Rachel owns a gem store. She has a son heavily involved a computer technology of the wackiest kind and a granddaughter who is a physician involved in research which, she thinks, may put a stop to or change the character of death. Rachel is weary and disenchanted with her long life of wandering and wants to die. And so the book includes many meditations on the importance of death as a part of life similar to the philosophy book I read.
The book also traces Rachel's (and Elazar's) lives over the centuries. It talks about the destruction of the Temple, the diaspora, the Crusades, the Holocaust and many other brutalities inflicted on the Jewish people over the years. Rachel's young son whose life is spared, Yohan ben Zakkai was a great Talmudic scholar heavily involved in the Jews survival during the destruction of the Second Temple. The book seems to be a parable of the survival of the Jewish people over the centuries as much or more than it is a meditation on death and its importance to life.
There are many allusions in the book, some obvious some less so. Rachel of course is a Biblical character, a matriarch, remembered for weeping over her children as Rachel does in this book. There are other stories about Jews living forever that seem to me to form a backdrop for this book. There is the Christian story of the Wandering Jew doomed due to his unbelief to live and wander until the Second Coming. I think Horn's book (she is a scholar of comparative literature) plays upon and answers this old legend.
I had mixed reactions to the book. The historical sections, particularly the discussion of the Second Temple Era is moving and convincing. Much of the 20th Century portion of the book is snappy, secular, and in a sense out of place with the seriousness of the theme. But then, the book is intended to show continuity and change over time. It still is disjointed.
On the whole, "Eternal Life" is a serious, thoughtful book that wrestles with issues of the nature of life that will interest readers regardless of their religious beliefs, and with issues of Jewish identity and Jewish survival. The book reads easily for all its seriousness of purpose. It is valuable to see modern popular novels that address spiritual questions of the human condition as well as particular issues of most concern to Jewish readers.
Robin Friedman
Sometimes reading one book leads directly to another. I had just read a book by a 20th century American philosopher, William E. Hocking, exploring issues surrounding the role of death in human experience and in understanding the meaning of life and the possibility of a form of survival after death. Upon finishing the book, I saw Dara Horn's new novel "Eternal Life" prominently displayed on the new books shelf of the local library. I thought it would make a fitting novelistic successor to the philosophy I had just read. I had read and enjoyed Horn's novel "The Guide for the Perplexed" but that alone would not have induced me to read her new book.
This book has religious, spiritual themes as befitting its title. The book explores universal themes about the meaning of life and death that are important but difficult to grasp. The book is also highly and specifically within the Jewish tradition.
The book ranges over a 2000 year time span and is a mix of religion, history, a satire of contemporary life, and utter fancy. The heroine of the book, Rachel, lived in Jerusalem at the time before the destruction of the Second Temple. When her son is dying, she makes a bargain with God through the high priest. The young son's life will be spared on condition that Rachel agrees to live forever, without death. Rachel's lover, the boy's likely father, Elazar makes a similar bargain. The two live through thousands of years, from place to place, with Elazar pursuing his flame. Both make many marriages over the century and have many children. Of course the deathless parents outlive and are in a sense detached from their offspring.
Much of the book is set in late 20t century America as Rachel owns a gem store. She has a son heavily involved a computer technology of the wackiest kind and a granddaughter who is a physician involved in research which, she thinks, may put a stop to or change the character of death. Rachel is weary and disenchanted with her long life of wandering and wants to die. And so the book includes many meditations on the importance of death as a part of life similar to the philosophy book I read.
The book also traces Rachel's (and Elazar's) lives over the centuries. It talks about the destruction of the Temple, the diaspora, the Crusades, the Holocaust and many other brutalities inflicted on the Jewish people over the years. Rachel's young son whose life is spared, Yohan ben Zakkai was a great Talmudic scholar heavily involved in the Jews survival during the destruction of the Second Temple. The book seems to be a parable of the survival of the Jewish people over the centuries as much or more than it is a meditation on death and its importance to life.
There are many allusions in the book, some obvious some less so. Rachel of course is a Biblical character, a matriarch, remembered for weeping over her children as Rachel does in this book. There are other stories about Jews living forever that seem to me to form a backdrop for this book. There is the Christian story of the Wandering Jew doomed due to his unbelief to live and wander until the Second Coming. I think Horn's book (she is a scholar of comparative literature) plays upon and answers this old legend.
I had mixed reactions to the book. The historical sections, particularly the discussion of the Second Temple Era is moving and convincing. Much of the 20th Century portion of the book is snappy, secular, and in a sense out of place with the seriousness of the theme. But then, the book is intended to show continuity and change over time. It still is disjointed.
On the whole, "Eternal Life" is a serious, thoughtful book that wrestles with issues of the nature of life that will interest readers regardless of their religious beliefs, and with issues of Jewish identity and Jewish survival. The book reads easily for all its seriousness of purpose. It is valuable to see modern popular novels that address spiritual questions of the human condition as well as particular issues of most concern to Jewish readers.
Robin Friedman
March 15, 2018
Author Dara Horn’s latest work, “Eternal Life� considers what it would be like if you could never die. What would life after life after life be like? Protagonist Rachel made a deal with a high priest (what we would consider a deal with the devil) that if her sick son doesn’t die, she would give up her death for eternity. Rachel is 18 years old and this happened 2000 years prior to the twenty-first century. Even the high priest warned her that this was a difficult commitment and that past people turned down the deal. Rachel, though, is determined that her son lives. That young Rachel didn’t understand what eternity entailed.
As the story opens, current Rachel reflects on her past children and the similarities to her current children and grandchildren. Rachel remembers all her children, all her husbands, all her lives. She cannot die. The only way she can leave her current life is if she is burned. And she’s been burned at the stake, in houses, during The Inquisition. It’s amazing how often one can die by burning. After burning, Rachel comes back as her eighteen-year-old self, in an entirely different place, and starts all over again. Rachel isn’t alone in this quandary; her first son’s father, Elazar, also promised his death. Horn showcases her humor writing abilities in Elazar and Rachel’s ongoing relationship. The two have never married, and Elazar pines for Rachel through the centuries. He’s quite a character and adds entertainment to the story.
Rachel ponders her lives. What are the reasons to be alive? Rachel’s lives span the history of Jewish societies from the Roman Empire to current life. Rachel has lived it all. What Rachel is tired of is loss� centuries of loss. She’s seen everything and done everything so that life, right now, doesn’t shake her up too much. But there is sadness in that. No joy is left because the inevitable loss is right around the corner. It sounds bleak, but Horn includes life’s comedic moments that show the reader that to live, one must see the humor in everything we do. It’s not slapstick comedy; it’s the comedic absurdities of everyday life.
I loved this one and will look for her previous works. I agree with Rachel, if you can’t laugh at yourself, life is miserable.
As the story opens, current Rachel reflects on her past children and the similarities to her current children and grandchildren. Rachel remembers all her children, all her husbands, all her lives. She cannot die. The only way she can leave her current life is if she is burned. And she’s been burned at the stake, in houses, during The Inquisition. It’s amazing how often one can die by burning. After burning, Rachel comes back as her eighteen-year-old self, in an entirely different place, and starts all over again. Rachel isn’t alone in this quandary; her first son’s father, Elazar, also promised his death. Horn showcases her humor writing abilities in Elazar and Rachel’s ongoing relationship. The two have never married, and Elazar pines for Rachel through the centuries. He’s quite a character and adds entertainment to the story.
Rachel ponders her lives. What are the reasons to be alive? Rachel’s lives span the history of Jewish societies from the Roman Empire to current life. Rachel has lived it all. What Rachel is tired of is loss� centuries of loss. She’s seen everything and done everything so that life, right now, doesn’t shake her up too much. But there is sadness in that. No joy is left because the inevitable loss is right around the corner. It sounds bleak, but Horn includes life’s comedic moments that show the reader that to live, one must see the humor in everything we do. It’s not slapstick comedy; it’s the comedic absurdities of everyday life.
I loved this one and will look for her previous works. I agree with Rachel, if you can’t laugh at yourself, life is miserable.
February 14, 2019
More like 2.5 stars. I read some of this book in February, and read the rest after a long gap, but it's not really why I didn't like the book. My problem is pretty much the same one I have when I read any other book which has a centuries old protagonist, they seem about as old mentally as whatever they appear to be.
Rachel here, exchanged her mortality so she could save her dying son in ancient Jerusalem. So did her son's father, who was not her husband. She doesn't particularly realize that she can't die, until she faces a fatal accident and doesn't die. She just resurrects as a fresh faced eighteen year old, and continues with her life. By the time we meet her, we're in contemporary United States. We're teased with some momentousness back in the days, but beyond a line or two, the exciting times are long past. She wants to really die, and propitiously, one of her current granddaughters is working on gene correction and immortality.
It's a great premise and very ambitious. However, the book didn't match up. As I said before, Rachel does not sound old. She seems melancholic, and she holds a grudge over millennia, but not much wiser than she was when she was eighteen for the first time. After watching empires fall, and empires rise, you'd think she would have changed a little. She seemed so bright too, in ancient Jerusalem. She's one of the few people who knows her scrolls. And over the course of her eternal life, she speaks not of what she herself has done, but what (a few of) her children have. That was it? Even in the end, when her bid for dying fails, and she starts again in South America, she holds a child. She does talk of a university education for the first time, true, but her stalker/lover on the other hand is training for a Mars mission. She was a non-conformist in stricture-bound, dogmatic old Jerusalem, but her contemporary version is a pale shadow to say the least. It might have been fascinating if it was explored properly, but the book is too short for something as vast as this.
I'm still rating this high enough, because of the ambition behind it, but it's not an execution I liked.
Rachel here, exchanged her mortality so she could save her dying son in ancient Jerusalem. So did her son's father, who was not her husband. She doesn't particularly realize that she can't die, until she faces a fatal accident and doesn't die. She just resurrects as a fresh faced eighteen year old, and continues with her life. By the time we meet her, we're in contemporary United States. We're teased with some momentousness back in the days, but beyond a line or two, the exciting times are long past. She wants to really die, and propitiously, one of her current granddaughters is working on gene correction and immortality.
It's a great premise and very ambitious. However, the book didn't match up. As I said before, Rachel does not sound old. She seems melancholic, and she holds a grudge over millennia, but not much wiser than she was when she was eighteen for the first time. After watching empires fall, and empires rise, you'd think she would have changed a little. She seemed so bright too, in ancient Jerusalem. She's one of the few people who knows her scrolls. And over the course of her eternal life, she speaks not of what she herself has done, but what (a few of) her children have. That was it? Even in the end, when her bid for dying fails, and she starts again in South America, she holds a child. She does talk of a university education for the first time, true, but her stalker/lover on the other hand is training for a Mars mission. She was a non-conformist in stricture-bound, dogmatic old Jerusalem, but her contemporary version is a pale shadow to say the least. It might have been fascinating if it was explored properly, but the book is too short for something as vast as this.
I'm still rating this high enough, because of the ambition behind it, but it's not an execution I liked.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 1, 2018
(UPDATE 3/1): LOOK. YOU JUST NEED TO READ THIS BOOK. I continue to be obsessed with this perfect book. I've already purchased it for three people. I only purchase books for other people if the book IS ABSOLUTELY PERFECT IN EVERY WAY.
(UPDATE 2/27): Fuller review to come shortly, keeping mid-range review below. For now, I need to report that I’m having a full-on love affair with this book I’m so obsessed with it. Was going to lend it to a friend when done, but I have now underlined things and folded too many pages to indicate passages I’m in-love with. I choose to believe this book was written directly and solely for me alone, that is how perfect I find it. More to come on my review.
(FIRST REVIEW): I never ever do this, but I’m going to review this half way through and then update. I cannot imagine I won’t love this book even more when done. I stayed up LATE last night reading all the way to the middle. It is gorgeous. And I went to bed and woke up thinking about the *feels* from this intense historical and romantic book. It has everything I love. A mystical premise in modern times (woman is unable to die) that goes back to ancient Middle East, the Sacrifices of animals for salvation with Roman guards overlooking.....the questions about man-made religion tied into a love story. The historical treatment of women, but a brave (and very likable) protagonist who rises above. It is so rare for me to find a book like this, so I just have to pop in and give a mid-way review, because no matter what, the five stars for the first half will never change.
(UPDATE 2/27): Fuller review to come shortly, keeping mid-range review below. For now, I need to report that I’m having a full-on love affair with this book I’m so obsessed with it. Was going to lend it to a friend when done, but I have now underlined things and folded too many pages to indicate passages I’m in-love with. I choose to believe this book was written directly and solely for me alone, that is how perfect I find it. More to come on my review.
(FIRST REVIEW): I never ever do this, but I’m going to review this half way through and then update. I cannot imagine I won’t love this book even more when done. I stayed up LATE last night reading all the way to the middle. It is gorgeous. And I went to bed and woke up thinking about the *feels* from this intense historical and romantic book. It has everything I love. A mystical premise in modern times (woman is unable to die) that goes back to ancient Middle East, the Sacrifices of animals for salvation with Roman guards overlooking.....the questions about man-made religion tied into a love story. The historical treatment of women, but a brave (and very likable) protagonist who rises above. It is so rare for me to find a book like this, so I just have to pop in and give a mid-way review, because no matter what, the five stars for the first half will never change.
November 14, 2017
---- Disclosure: I received this book for free from ŷ. ----
So, first things first, the cover illustration on the edition I received was just fantastic. It definitely would have made me pause if I'd been out browsing. I'd for sure have stopped and picked it up to see what it was about, so kudos on that.
Sadly, that's pretty much where the fun ends. I was disappointed by this, b/c it was a great idea. Living forever without a being a vampire, well that's interesting enough. The story started off fine, and I didn't come across any problems w/ writing style or narration. Unfortunately, the development is lacking. The characters were kind of flat. The story in a nutshell is about a woman who spends centuries doing nothing other than breeding, and holding a grudge against her 1st boyfriend. The supposed reason for living she found is to watch her kids live, and see them effect the world, rise or fall....but ironically, w/ all that time she herself never bothers to do anything other than marry and breed. So, no story really. Just hella lame.
I was looking forward to this, and was truly interested when I started. Wish it had been better developed.....like, idk, maybe she could have learned how to do something.
January 11, 2019
There is nothing either complicated or original about the plot of Dara Horn's novel, Eternal Life. A person has been alive for two thousand years and cannot die wants to die because, as it turns out, living forever kind of sucks. This is the Greek myth (and Tennyson poem) Tithonus. It is Dustin Hoffman in Little Big Man. It is about eleventy thousand vampire movies. And it is Sarah Perry's Melmoth, one of my favorite books from last year, about a woman who denied Christ and had to wander the earth forever looking for people to share her misery. This is basically a genre.
And when the character is Jewish, as Melmoth is and as Rachel (the heroine of Eternal Life)is, then it is a subgenre, or part of the narrative tradition of the "Wandering Jew"--basically, a Jewish person condemned to wander forever as punishment for some great sin. Usually the great sin amounts to being Jewish. That's because the Wandering jew is a Christian narrative tradition.
Anyway, what I'm saying is that there are a lot of works in this tradition. This means that what an author, like Dara Horn, who writes in this tradition has a long line of intertexts. We get to see what he or she does with the material. And Dara Horne does some really remarkable things with the material.
In the first place, this is a Jewish book. It may or may not mention Jesus. Rabbi Hilel is a character who mentions a local miracle worker who talks about doing unto others ans one would have others do unto you. But that's the extent of the Christian theme, though the story begins (chronologically) about the same time that the New Testament was written. The great cultural event that the book centers around is the destruction of Jerusalem and the burning of the Temple in 70 AD. This is the cataclysm that lurks beneath the narrative until it is described in great detail in a later chapter.
But the destruction-of-Jerusalem context is only one of the story's timelines. The two principal characters begin in a contemporary setting and bounce back and forth between the 1st and the 21st centuries, with occasional other timelines thrown in as needed. Both characters--for reasons that I won't describe too much because of spoilers but will say has something to do with Jewish mysticism and a God who is absolutely real but not very nice--have sacrificed their deaths for the sake of a child. They renounce the ability to die. The novel is (among other things) about the consequences of this choice,.
One consequence is that the characters experience 20 centuries of loss. They both love and mary and raise children dozens of times through the years and have to watch while their children and grandchildren grow old and die. This is the most obvious curse.
Even deeper, though, they (and we) realize that the eventuality of death gives our lives their meaning. Events become important to us--and people become connected to us--because time is a scarce commodity. When that scarcity is taken away, so is the meaning that the scarcity creates. That's not a good explanation. Horn is subtler than that. But it is an insightful observation.
And almost everything else about Eternal Life is thoughtful too. And beautiful. Like Melmoth, it is a novel that will be bouncing around inside my head for weeks and months. I have not read anything else by Dara Horn, but that is about to change.
And when the character is Jewish, as Melmoth is and as Rachel (the heroine of Eternal Life)is, then it is a subgenre, or part of the narrative tradition of the "Wandering Jew"--basically, a Jewish person condemned to wander forever as punishment for some great sin. Usually the great sin amounts to being Jewish. That's because the Wandering jew is a Christian narrative tradition.
Anyway, what I'm saying is that there are a lot of works in this tradition. This means that what an author, like Dara Horn, who writes in this tradition has a long line of intertexts. We get to see what he or she does with the material. And Dara Horne does some really remarkable things with the material.
In the first place, this is a Jewish book. It may or may not mention Jesus. Rabbi Hilel is a character who mentions a local miracle worker who talks about doing unto others ans one would have others do unto you. But that's the extent of the Christian theme, though the story begins (chronologically) about the same time that the New Testament was written. The great cultural event that the book centers around is the destruction of Jerusalem and the burning of the Temple in 70 AD. This is the cataclysm that lurks beneath the narrative until it is described in great detail in a later chapter.
But the destruction-of-Jerusalem context is only one of the story's timelines. The two principal characters begin in a contemporary setting and bounce back and forth between the 1st and the 21st centuries, with occasional other timelines thrown in as needed. Both characters--for reasons that I won't describe too much because of spoilers but will say has something to do with Jewish mysticism and a God who is absolutely real but not very nice--have sacrificed their deaths for the sake of a child. They renounce the ability to die. The novel is (among other things) about the consequences of this choice,.
One consequence is that the characters experience 20 centuries of loss. They both love and mary and raise children dozens of times through the years and have to watch while their children and grandchildren grow old and die. This is the most obvious curse.
Even deeper, though, they (and we) realize that the eventuality of death gives our lives their meaning. Events become important to us--and people become connected to us--because time is a scarce commodity. When that scarcity is taken away, so is the meaning that the scarcity creates. That's not a good explanation. Horn is subtler than that. But it is an insightful observation.
And almost everything else about Eternal Life is thoughtful too. And beautiful. Like Melmoth, it is a novel that will be bouncing around inside my head for weeks and months. I have not read anything else by Dara Horn, but that is about to change.
June 26, 2017
Eternal Life, by Dara Horn, Jan. 2018
Horn’s latest novel, Eternal Life, follows Rachel, daughter of Azaria, through more 2,000 years of her many lives. Teenage Rachel and her true love, Elazar make a sacred vow to save the life of their first born son, Yochaman, and in doing so, sacrifice their own death for him. Eternal life for Rachel comes with a very high price, and the suffering of losing her children and loved ones over and over again is almost more than she can bear. This is a powerful book of family, faith, death, and ultimately, the meaning of life. Recommended for fans of flawless literary fiction.
Dara Horn is one of the most gifted writers of her generation. I feel totally incapable of writing a review for her work; she is brilliant. Everyone should read Dara Horn.
Horn’s latest novel, Eternal Life, follows Rachel, daughter of Azaria, through more 2,000 years of her many lives. Teenage Rachel and her true love, Elazar make a sacred vow to save the life of their first born son, Yochaman, and in doing so, sacrifice their own death for him. Eternal life for Rachel comes with a very high price, and the suffering of losing her children and loved ones over and over again is almost more than she can bear. This is a powerful book of family, faith, death, and ultimately, the meaning of life. Recommended for fans of flawless literary fiction.
Dara Horn is one of the most gifted writers of her generation. I feel totally incapable of writing a review for her work; she is brilliant. Everyone should read Dara Horn.
January 24, 2021
Vita, morte, immortalità, maternità, futuro sono i temi principali intorno a cui ruotano le 260 pagine di questo romanzo. Un viaggio nel tempo e nella storia, dalla Gerusalemme sotto il giogo romano fino a oltre i nostri giorni, accompagnati da una coppia di immortali, Rachel e Elazar.
Sembrerebbe una benedizione, ma siamo portati a riflettere sull’importanza di vivere al massimo la nostra vita, unica e senza possibilità di tornare indietro, bella proprio perché finisce. Dopo lo stupore iniziale, è proprio Rachel a inseguire la morte, quella vera e definitiva, per porre fine alle tante vite diverse che la costringono a reinventarsi, ma anche a ripercorrere gli stessi momenti: la nascita dei figli e, soprattutto, la loro morte, cui spesso assiste da lontano perché a un certo punto della loro vita deve andarsene. Vite con un profilo basso, madre e moglie di uomini non sempre giusti per lei. Vite in cui cerca affannosamente una ragione per andare avanti, trovandosi sempre a desiderare la fine.
Diverso l’atteggiamento di Elazar, ostinatamente innamorato di lei, che pur amandolo continua a respingerlo.
La narrazione segue la memoria di Rachel, i suoi salti temporali, i suoi rimpianti e la sua angoscia, con una scrittura asciutta e precisa, densa di riflessioni e coinvolgente.
Bello anche come oggetto questo libro, tirato in edizione limitata, su una carta splendida.
Sembrerebbe una benedizione, ma siamo portati a riflettere sull’importanza di vivere al massimo la nostra vita, unica e senza possibilità di tornare indietro, bella proprio perché finisce. Dopo lo stupore iniziale, è proprio Rachel a inseguire la morte, quella vera e definitiva, per porre fine alle tante vite diverse che la costringono a reinventarsi, ma anche a ripercorrere gli stessi momenti: la nascita dei figli e, soprattutto, la loro morte, cui spesso assiste da lontano perché a un certo punto della loro vita deve andarsene. Vite con un profilo basso, madre e moglie di uomini non sempre giusti per lei. Vite in cui cerca affannosamente una ragione per andare avanti, trovandosi sempre a desiderare la fine.
Diverso l’atteggiamento di Elazar, ostinatamente innamorato di lei, che pur amandolo continua a respingerlo.
La narrazione segue la memoria di Rachel, i suoi salti temporali, i suoi rimpianti e la sua angoscia, con una scrittura asciutta e precisa, densa di riflessioni e coinvolgente.
Bello anche come oggetto questo libro, tirato in edizione limitata, su una carta splendida.
January 25, 2018
Rachel, the 2,000-year-old heroine of Dara Horn’s "Eternal Life," wants to know how to die. A terrible bargain to save her son back in ancient Jerusalem cursed her with a life that never ends. Now Rachel cannot stand “the absolute loneliness, the bottomless homesick loneliness of years upon years of lies, the deep cold void of a loneliness no mortal can imagine.� She has buried enough husbands and outlived enough children. In her current iteration � her favorite so far � she is an 84-year-old grandmother in New York City, and she wants it to stop here. Perhaps her granddaughter, a doctor, can help, but how to convince her without sounding. . . .
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
July 27, 2017
Oftentimes love is forbidden, which makes it even more dangerous. This is the story of Rachel, a young woman living in Roman-occupied Jerusalem who made a disastrous and foolish oath to a temple priest in order to save the life of her child. The price is that neither she, nor the baby's father can ever die. Ever. She rears families, only to suffer as she witnesses them grow old and die, make stupid decisions and worse, be a fool. Yes, she grows old but she always comes back as the 18 year old woman that she once was. Day after day, year after year, century after century. Now Rachel is obsessed with thinking about the reasons for being alive: to correct mistakes, to avoid regret, to accept regret and to change. This is a marvelous work of historical fiction, filled with Jewish history, mysticism, and certainly one that will have you researching Yochanan ben Zakkai, the Jewish revolt against Rome, and the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 CE.
I read an advance copy and was not compensated.
I read an advance copy and was not compensated.
June 24, 2019
I wouldn't normally rate a book that I didn't finish; however, since I "read" more than 5 hours of this just-under-9-hour audiobook, I think that's fair.
While the premise of Eternal Life was good, it fell flat (imho) in execution. The writing was flawless, but it was boring. To me, it felt like nothing more than a philosophical debate on the merits (or lack thereof) of living forever and nothing more. I've contemplated the topic myself and have come to the conclusion that it would not be a good thing. Lots and lots of words were used, but not much was conveyed. There was no story! 😥
The final straw for me was the author's determination to undermine God's Word by having the main character plant seeds of doubt in her young, impressionable son's mind by suggesting that the Hebrew word YOM might mean something other than a literal 24-hour-day in the Book of Genesis. I don't mind, wait... I really enjoy supernatural fiction, but I can't listen to that.
While the premise of Eternal Life was good, it fell flat (imho) in execution. The writing was flawless, but it was boring. To me, it felt like nothing more than a philosophical debate on the merits (or lack thereof) of living forever and nothing more. I've contemplated the topic myself and have come to the conclusion that it would not be a good thing. Lots and lots of words were used, but not much was conveyed. There was no story! 😥
The final straw for me was the author's determination to undermine God's Word by having the main character plant seeds of doubt in her young, impressionable son's mind by suggesting that the Hebrew word YOM might mean something other than a literal 24-hour-day in the Book of Genesis. I don't mind, wait... I really enjoy supernatural fiction, but I can't listen to that.
August 19, 2023
great premise, horrible execution.
September 24, 2017
When Rachel was very young and foolish, she made a sacred pact to save her son. Rather than her life, though, she sacrificed her death. Thus, Rachel keeps living through the centuries, loving and losing a succession of husbands and children. The only constant is her immortal beloved, who has been wooing/stalking her since Roman times. The novel alternates between her first life in ancient Jerusalem and the present day, when a fresh crop of descendants inspires her to resume her quest for an ending. Humorous, heartbreaking, and touching rumination on the point of being human and alive.
November 17, 2018
1.5 *
Jeruzale, pries 2000 metu, astuoniolikmete Rachel (ir jos mylimasis/meiluzis) sventykloje ismaino savo mirtinguma i NEmirtinguma, jog isgelbetu sunaus gyvybe. Nagi nagi...Keliaujama su Rachel (neminesiu priezasciu kodel tik su ja) is Jeruzales per Europa iki Amerikos....per simtmecius....Skamba neblogai, vilioja, zada...Ir...Ir nieko...tik tekama, gimdoma, laidojama...Non stop. Per tiek simtmeciu? O pabaiga tai is viso sunervino...
NEREKOMENDUOJU!
Jeruzale, pries 2000 metu, astuoniolikmete Rachel (ir jos mylimasis/meiluzis) sventykloje ismaino savo mirtinguma i NEmirtinguma, jog isgelbetu sunaus gyvybe. Nagi nagi...Keliaujama su Rachel (neminesiu priezasciu kodel tik su ja) is Jeruzales per Europa iki Amerikos....per simtmecius....Skamba neblogai, vilioja, zada...Ir...Ir nieko...tik tekama, gimdoma, laidojama...Non stop. Per tiek simtmeciu? O pabaiga tai is viso sunervino...
NEREKOMENDUOJU!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 8, 2023
3.5 I liked this. It had an interesting premise and the historical aspects of the story were very engaging. The downside was that I had trouble believing that love and hate could be sustained for that length of time. I just didn’t believe that the characters would behave the ways they did and so that diminished my pleasure in the book. I thought for all those years of life Rachel would have a little bit more wisdom than she showed, and that seems to be a problem I have in general with books with this theme.
August 20, 2023
I enjoyed the story of two people enduring eternal life based on their desire to save the life of another. And the relationship of these two over 2000 years, as well as the multitudes of relationships they were in over the millenia. I couldn't get a complete picture of the characters somehow, though; it felt like something was missing in the descriptions of them.
July 4, 2018
DNF at 30%. Heaps of infodumps about Jewish history and rituals, a whiny heroine who has learned absolutely nothing in 2000 years of living, no plot whatsoever. Clever premise, but otherwise a total fail.
September 10, 2021
An interesting take on the desirability, or the horror, of eternal life. Mixed with some historical fiction on the period preceding the destruction of the second temple. And, last but not least, the joys of motherhood and, if you, but not your children, happen to live forever: the sorrow of seeing them waste away and die.
An enjoyable read.
An enjoyable read.
March 2, 2019
I wasn't sure I was going to like it, but I did. Probably around a 3.5. It would have been perfect for the "life" tag, but alas I didn't make it in time. The reason I picked it up, is because it is a community read for our local Jewish Philanthropy association. The last time I went in 2017, this would be the second I believe, the book was Here I am by Jonathan Safran Foer. Over 500 people showed up, and the author spoke. I had loved that book and gave it 5 stars. Hearing the author speak, and having the 500 community book read, added to it even more.
Now the night of this event is April 2nd, so I didn't read it for February, because I wanted it to be "closer and fresher" for the event. But because this is a well attended community event, you can imagine its hold on the library is pretty extensive, so I started it, even though I am not yet done with Michelle Obama's Becoming, because A) its overdue at the library, and I am getting charged 15 cents a day, and it is needed by others, and B) I had to go to a funeral in New York. Necessitating 3.5 to 4 hour drive, another hour to the cemetery, and a 4.5-5 hour drive home. I did the unthinkable. I downloaded it to my phone on audible with my ton of free credits, and I listened to about half of it over the course of the day. My third audio ever. And then finished it during the snowstorm this morning. I also dowloaded Michelle's book, so I could hear her narrate some of it with her dreamy silky personal voice. But because I wasn't at a chapter break, I couldn't well figure that out. But I am going to hear her someway somehow, before I finish the book.
Why do I mention the funeral audio experience? Simply because, it has to be stated, that it was a deepening experience to listen to this book on the way to and from a funeral. Because the book, aptly named, is about the main character's inability and desire to die.
Rachel (many names over time, its never told to us any specific last name) is 2000 years old. Over the course of the story, we come to understand all of the events that led to this predicament. And in my desire not to have spoilers of any kind, I will say no more. The back of the book does not say much more than that. But the premise of the book, is about what makes life worth living. What makes us live. And about the importance of not achieving immortality, and the view of life, and history, and just about everything else from a 2000 year body is incredible. As you might imagine, various mortal and immortal characters from history to the present struggle with this question. Its also about love, and parenting. And what truly matters. Its actually a great book for discussion. Truth be told, I wouldn't have picked it up. I wouldn't have been inclined towards the magical realism of a 2000 year old woman, although the questions it poses were quite interesting. And again, I daresay, thinking about the experience of loss of my dear friends, who I went to go see, that was a profound layer to my experience of the book. Not sure how I feel about audio, though in this situation it worked. Not sure I like it. But then again, I have those same "not sure's" about my experience of the book as a whole. But it was great for its rare and unusual and sudden purpose. And then if the snow lets up, I can return it tomorrow.
So its been a tough week, loss wise. An old friend from "back in the day" passed away, and her funeral was Thursday. My husband went. She was 54-ish? A dynamic beautiful woman, also ironically named Rachel., who had been through a lot of loss in her life, but never complained. She was all heart and passion, open and growing - great big heart. Friday's funeral, was the mother of my friend Billy, and his wife Renee is more than a sister to me. I have known both of their families for years. Last Thanksgiving, I sat next to Billy's mother, who just passed away at 89. A long beautiful life, lived on her own terms. And for whom this death was shocking - and not expected, even though she was close to 90. For my friends, she was not just a mother. She was a confidante, a rock, a best friend, the steady force, and brilliant light. She was a remarkable lady, who will surely be missed.
But as the point of Eternal Life, this is how its meant to go. A brilliant light matriarch, dies at 90, leaving behind a family that adored her, and learned from her. She was devotion and spunk. Its not supposed to be like the current Rachel, dying at 54/55 leaving things unfinished and an almost 16 year old son. But loss is loss all the same - and as the book so clearly shows in its nuances, one wouldn't want to live forever. Its just horrible in many other ways. The book really shows you that its about what means something to you that makes living worthwhile. The experience of the book and the questions within and the story truly was very valuable to me, and I think I will enjoy the discussion. And again, its a book I wouldn't have picked up. I'm ultimately glad I heard and read it.
Now the night of this event is April 2nd, so I didn't read it for February, because I wanted it to be "closer and fresher" for the event. But because this is a well attended community event, you can imagine its hold on the library is pretty extensive, so I started it, even though I am not yet done with Michelle Obama's Becoming, because A) its overdue at the library, and I am getting charged 15 cents a day, and it is needed by others, and B) I had to go to a funeral in New York. Necessitating 3.5 to 4 hour drive, another hour to the cemetery, and a 4.5-5 hour drive home. I did the unthinkable. I downloaded it to my phone on audible with my ton of free credits, and I listened to about half of it over the course of the day. My third audio ever. And then finished it during the snowstorm this morning. I also dowloaded Michelle's book, so I could hear her narrate some of it with her dreamy silky personal voice. But because I wasn't at a chapter break, I couldn't well figure that out. But I am going to hear her someway somehow, before I finish the book.
Why do I mention the funeral audio experience? Simply because, it has to be stated, that it was a deepening experience to listen to this book on the way to and from a funeral. Because the book, aptly named, is about the main character's inability and desire to die.
Rachel (many names over time, its never told to us any specific last name) is 2000 years old. Over the course of the story, we come to understand all of the events that led to this predicament. And in my desire not to have spoilers of any kind, I will say no more. The back of the book does not say much more than that. But the premise of the book, is about what makes life worth living. What makes us live. And about the importance of not achieving immortality, and the view of life, and history, and just about everything else from a 2000 year body is incredible. As you might imagine, various mortal and immortal characters from history to the present struggle with this question. Its also about love, and parenting. And what truly matters. Its actually a great book for discussion. Truth be told, I wouldn't have picked it up. I wouldn't have been inclined towards the magical realism of a 2000 year old woman, although the questions it poses were quite interesting. And again, I daresay, thinking about the experience of loss of my dear friends, who I went to go see, that was a profound layer to my experience of the book. Not sure how I feel about audio, though in this situation it worked. Not sure I like it. But then again, I have those same "not sure's" about my experience of the book as a whole. But it was great for its rare and unusual and sudden purpose. And then if the snow lets up, I can return it tomorrow.
So its been a tough week, loss wise. An old friend from "back in the day" passed away, and her funeral was Thursday. My husband went. She was 54-ish? A dynamic beautiful woman, also ironically named Rachel., who had been through a lot of loss in her life, but never complained. She was all heart and passion, open and growing - great big heart. Friday's funeral, was the mother of my friend Billy, and his wife Renee is more than a sister to me. I have known both of their families for years. Last Thanksgiving, I sat next to Billy's mother, who just passed away at 89. A long beautiful life, lived on her own terms. And for whom this death was shocking - and not expected, even though she was close to 90. For my friends, she was not just a mother. She was a confidante, a rock, a best friend, the steady force, and brilliant light. She was a remarkable lady, who will surely be missed.
But as the point of Eternal Life, this is how its meant to go. A brilliant light matriarch, dies at 90, leaving behind a family that adored her, and learned from her. She was devotion and spunk. Its not supposed to be like the current Rachel, dying at 54/55 leaving things unfinished and an almost 16 year old son. But loss is loss all the same - and as the book so clearly shows in its nuances, one wouldn't want to live forever. Its just horrible in many other ways. The book really shows you that its about what means something to you that makes living worthwhile. The experience of the book and the questions within and the story truly was very valuable to me, and I think I will enjoy the discussion. And again, its a book I wouldn't have picked up. I'm ultimately glad I heard and read it.
May 13, 2019
This is one of the more beautiful books I've read in some time, and a refreshing reminder that there are still occasionally brand-new pleasures to be found in contemporary fiction, even if you have to read a hundred novels with completely expected storylines to find the next unique exception. It's the story of a woman named Rachel, an Israeli Jew living in Roman times, who in a moment of grief is convinced to swear an obscure Hebrew vow that will cure her deathly sick child, but render her immortal and ensure death to anyone she reveals this info to; and sure enough, that's exactly what happens, with Rachel continuing to live through dozens of generations and hundreds of children, all the way up to our present time, heartbreakingly required to burn herself alive once every half-century or so and start all over again in another new 18-year-old body at yet another random place on the planet.
Our story, then, is a cleverly plotted look at this two-thousand-year life Rachel has now lived, hopping back and forth across historical periods and doing a deep dive along the way of Jewish history and customs. (For example, as I learned in the afterword, Rachel's first child whose sickness inspires the vow/curse is an actual real figure from Roman Jewish history [the mystical prophet Yochanan ben Zakkai], and it was while pondering his life that author Dara Horn first envisioned this book's storyline.) Along the way, then, the novel has loads to say about family, love, aging and grief, taking a curiously Buddhist tone to these topics and weaving in such contemporarily trendy subjects as gene therapy and blockchain cryptocurrency, but while tying them back to the pagan magic and witchcraft of Rachel's Roman youth. It all adds up to an utterly unique and unexpected story, one with a hugely satisfying emotional payoff at the end, a novel that both informed me as a Gentile and that sparked my imagination in a way few other contemporary novels in the last year have. That's always a lovely experience to have, for someone like me who burns through so much contemporary fiction each year and is inevitably disappointed with 90 percent of it, and I was so impressed that I think I'm going to put Horn's four previous novels on my "to be read" list as well, something I almost never do with living authors. I look forward to seeing if the rest of them hold up to this enchanting, thought-provoking newest.
Our story, then, is a cleverly plotted look at this two-thousand-year life Rachel has now lived, hopping back and forth across historical periods and doing a deep dive along the way of Jewish history and customs. (For example, as I learned in the afterword, Rachel's first child whose sickness inspires the vow/curse is an actual real figure from Roman Jewish history [the mystical prophet Yochanan ben Zakkai], and it was while pondering his life that author Dara Horn first envisioned this book's storyline.) Along the way, then, the novel has loads to say about family, love, aging and grief, taking a curiously Buddhist tone to these topics and weaving in such contemporarily trendy subjects as gene therapy and blockchain cryptocurrency, but while tying them back to the pagan magic and witchcraft of Rachel's Roman youth. It all adds up to an utterly unique and unexpected story, one with a hugely satisfying emotional payoff at the end, a novel that both informed me as a Gentile and that sparked my imagination in a way few other contemporary novels in the last year have. That's always a lovely experience to have, for someone like me who burns through so much contemporary fiction each year and is inevitably disappointed with 90 percent of it, and I was so impressed that I think I'm going to put Horn's four previous novels on my "to be read" list as well, something I almost never do with living authors. I look forward to seeing if the rest of them hold up to this enchanting, thought-provoking newest.
September 27, 2017
This is a sweeping look at eternity and the love that binds parents and their child. We make deals with God all the time - in times of despair or just when we need a bit of good luck but would you make a deal to live forever in exchange for God sparing the life of your son. That is exactly what Rachel and the boy's father did in biblical times. Rachel has watched her hundreds of children grow old, outlived all of her husbands only to die and be reborn as someone new. Her true love also made the pact and they continue to meet up but never stay together for long. When one of Rachel's grandchildren tries to study the secret of her longevity and asks for a DNA sample for a study her world spins out of control. The blend of old Hebrew teachings made modern and the flashbacks back to Rachel's first life is magical. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
October 10, 2017
How many mothers would gladly give their life to save their child? When Rachel agrees to give up her death to save her sick son, she doesn’t really understand what that means until she’s burnt to death and wakes up the same age she was when she and her lover to a vow together to save their son’s life. Two thousand years and many lives and deaths later, Rachel is ready to really die. She’s tired of watching her husbands and children growing old and dying. In the modern era, her favorite granddaughter, Hannah is a scientist studying DNA who may finally be able to give Rachel what she wants most, a real death. This story is so well written you won’t mind traveling from modern times to ancient times to find out why Rachel feels the way she does about her eternal life, and why figuring out why life should have an end.
February 10, 2023
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Dara Horn, the author of Eternal Life, did an extraordinary amount of historical and biblical research upon writing a novel, in which her protagonist, Rachel is unable to die since she first existed in the time of the sage Yochanan ben Zakkai, imagining him as her first son, and thinking back on him as, “the wise one, the reason for everything that followed.�
Side note, starting the novel with this biblical character was of particular personal interest to me. In 1978, at the age of 25, I went to live in Israel where I studied for 6 months at an Ulpan (Intensive Hebrew Language Programs for new immigrants in Israel, housed within an Absorption Center in Arad, and including five hours of intensive, immersive Hebrew-language instruction, as well as Jewish studies). This particular Ulpan was designed to assist young professionals to find work in their fields after it concluded. My job was in Tzrifin, a suburb of Tel Aviv, but having always dreamed of living in Jerusalem, I found a place to live in Jerusalem and took a mo'niyt (a kind of taxi) to work. All of this information, is to say that my apartment (a room in another’s apartment) was located on “Yochanan ben Zakkai� Street.
During the siege of Jerusalem in the First Jewish–Roman War, Yochanan argued in favor of peace; according to the Talmud, when he found the anger of the besieged populace to be intolerable, he arranged a secret escape from the city inside a coffin, so that he could negotiate with Vespasian (who, at this time, was still just a military commander). Yochanan correctly predicted that Vespasian would become Emperor, and that the temple would soon be destroyed. This story was interestingly incorporated into Eternal Life, as were many others taken from Jewish history. Rachel becomes part of this incident and has been alive for several thousand years since, all because of a promise she had made then, centuries ago in Old Jerusalem, to forgo physical death for all eternity in order to save her child. Being immortal, some might say in irony, “ain’t what it’s cracked up to be �.
I have given the book 3 stars, rather than 3.5 or even 4, because I found that my interest all too often waned.
I listened to the audiobook, read by
Elisabeth Rogers. Perhaps my rating of Eternal Life would be higher, if it hadn’t taken me, what all too often felt, like an eternity to read!
Dara Horn, the author of Eternal Life, did an extraordinary amount of historical and biblical research upon writing a novel, in which her protagonist, Rachel is unable to die since she first existed in the time of the sage Yochanan ben Zakkai, imagining him as her first son, and thinking back on him as, “the wise one, the reason for everything that followed.�
Side note, starting the novel with this biblical character was of particular personal interest to me. In 1978, at the age of 25, I went to live in Israel where I studied for 6 months at an Ulpan (Intensive Hebrew Language Programs for new immigrants in Israel, housed within an Absorption Center in Arad, and including five hours of intensive, immersive Hebrew-language instruction, as well as Jewish studies). This particular Ulpan was designed to assist young professionals to find work in their fields after it concluded. My job was in Tzrifin, a suburb of Tel Aviv, but having always dreamed of living in Jerusalem, I found a place to live in Jerusalem and took a mo'niyt (a kind of taxi) to work. All of this information, is to say that my apartment (a room in another’s apartment) was located on “Yochanan ben Zakkai� Street.
During the siege of Jerusalem in the First Jewish–Roman War, Yochanan argued in favor of peace; according to the Talmud, when he found the anger of the besieged populace to be intolerable, he arranged a secret escape from the city inside a coffin, so that he could negotiate with Vespasian (who, at this time, was still just a military commander). Yochanan correctly predicted that Vespasian would become Emperor, and that the temple would soon be destroyed. This story was interestingly incorporated into Eternal Life, as were many others taken from Jewish history. Rachel becomes part of this incident and has been alive for several thousand years since, all because of a promise she had made then, centuries ago in Old Jerusalem, to forgo physical death for all eternity in order to save her child. Being immortal, some might say in irony, “ain’t what it’s cracked up to be �.
I have given the book 3 stars, rather than 3.5 or even 4, because I found that my interest all too often waned.
I listened to the audiobook, read by
Elisabeth Rogers. Perhaps my rating of Eternal Life would be higher, if it hadn’t taken me, what all too often felt, like an eternity to read!
July 23, 2019
Eternal Life forces you to look at mortality through an entirely different lens. This book will make you think and it will stretch your mind. It’s a book that you’ll want to talk about, to unravel your thoughts. It’s about death and what happens if you can’t die.
This whole concept baffled me and I was in awe of the brashness and newness of such an idea. After Rachel, our protagonist, bargains with a high Priest to let her dying child live in exchange for her to never die. I’m sure at the time it seemed plausible, but Horn poetically shares the difficulty of such a bargain. Rachel watched friends, lovers, spouses, children and grandchildren die, while she continued on. With child after child, each in another generation or another era, she’s forced to learn new things, new technology new ways of living. The child she saved was Yochanen ben Zakkai, an important Jewish sage in the era of the Second Temple, and a primary contributor to the core text of Rabbinical Judaism, the Mishnah. By off chance I thought I’d google him, pretty certain he was fictional, but to my delight and surprise, he’s quite important in Jewish history.
A baby born as the prouct of an illicit love affair two thousand years ago was what began this journey. Rachel’s lover, Elazar, would suffer the same consequences in the bargain. Over the centuries, their surprise meetings were would produce the bitterness, love, hate, loss and loneliness they both feel. His last visit he is worried for Rachel and Rachel is worried as well, as her granddaughter, who works at Google, is studying genes and aging. Their quest is to find out how to live forever or how to not die. Rachel knows how horrific this would be, living forever, yet can’t let her granddaughter know her truth, her history. Who would ever believe her? She’d be bound in a psyche ward forever. I found this part of the present day interesting, but her other children and grandchildren were not at all captivating. They actually annoyed me, as did their storylines. It compromised my rating, but overall, the story still left me staggered as I tried to wrap my head around this concept.
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This whole concept baffled me and I was in awe of the brashness and newness of such an idea. After Rachel, our protagonist, bargains with a high Priest to let her dying child live in exchange for her to never die. I’m sure at the time it seemed plausible, but Horn poetically shares the difficulty of such a bargain. Rachel watched friends, lovers, spouses, children and grandchildren die, while she continued on. With child after child, each in another generation or another era, she’s forced to learn new things, new technology new ways of living. The child she saved was Yochanen ben Zakkai, an important Jewish sage in the era of the Second Temple, and a primary contributor to the core text of Rabbinical Judaism, the Mishnah. By off chance I thought I’d google him, pretty certain he was fictional, but to my delight and surprise, he’s quite important in Jewish history.
A baby born as the prouct of an illicit love affair two thousand years ago was what began this journey. Rachel’s lover, Elazar, would suffer the same consequences in the bargain. Over the centuries, their surprise meetings were would produce the bitterness, love, hate, loss and loneliness they both feel. His last visit he is worried for Rachel and Rachel is worried as well, as her granddaughter, who works at Google, is studying genes and aging. Their quest is to find out how to live forever or how to not die. Rachel knows how horrific this would be, living forever, yet can’t let her granddaughter know her truth, her history. Who would ever believe her? She’d be bound in a psyche ward forever. I found this part of the present day interesting, but her other children and grandchildren were not at all captivating. They actually annoyed me, as did their storylines. It compromised my rating, but overall, the story still left me staggered as I tried to wrap my head around this concept.
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November 24, 2017
If you and your lover were cursed to never be able to die, how would you spend your eternity? Hopefully more wisely and reflectively than the narrator, Rachel. After living thousands of years, loving a procession of husbands and raising dozens of families, she is still obnoxiously as immature as the 18 year old who made the life for death bargain in the first place. She is forever gasping in surprise, and having the world fall out from beneath her feet at every revelation. This is a quick read, fortunately, and does have a few redeeming ideas, and characters with slightly more depth. If you are a fan of Dara Horn, I imagine you might enjoy this book, but if you are looking for something more literary, look elsewhere.
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