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Ideas book, with the premise that everyone aged 22+ gets a box with a bit of string whose length predicts your lifespan. It's basically about what would it be like if you knew how long you'd live, and you could also see how long other people would.

It's a really interesting premise that went some very good places (good as in interesting) eg the way a politician uses the strings to whip up fear against short-stringers and divide his way into power, and trhe way people invade each other's privacy, or react to the guarantee of a long life by increasingly risky behaviour. It's a pretty brutal look at human nature at first. Unfortunately, for me at least, it soon devolves into a very sentimental carpe diem philosophy of the true meaning of life being the people you help along the way, which I dare say is all true but...you know.

I also felt it missed some areas I really wanted explored. For one, the whole thing is from a predominantly white and entirely American perspective. I think the only non American given a voice is an Italian woman who explains that Italians aren't bothered about learning their date of death because they already know the important things in life are "art, food and passion" because, you know, that's just what all Italians are like. Petition for Americans to just, please, in the name of god, stop.

If we were going to look at different cultures, how about religious ones which don't treat this life as the only one? There's passing mention of belief in reincarnation and that's it. And also, there is a mysterious force out there that magically delivers a box with your exact fate mapped out, and that evidence of an omnipotent omniscient active Fate that dictates our lives doesn't, you know, affect people's religious beliefs at all? How could you doubt there was a god?

So yeah. Great idea, but needed to dig in a lot more, and waaaay too sentimental for my taste though I can see why it's exactly what a lot of people want to hear.