Voracious and casual readers alike read the on-trend “The Measure” a few years ago and it was quite thought provoking, keeping lively conversations about how we shouldn’t know how long we have left. I can’t even imagine writing a review of “All the Perfect Days” without referring “The Measure,” and while this does have the same theme, it approaches the question in a much smaller way, more magical realism and less sci fi/ speculative fiction.
Charlie is a family doctor that has an episode in the first scene. Everything in his office and with his patient turn into grayscale, as if the world went into Black and White. When after a few minutes the world returns to normal, he sees the number 4. He doesn’t yet put two and two together when that same patient dies 4 days later. Eventually he realizes that when he sees someone’s number, that is how many days they have left to be alive. All the plot elements you would expect; someone with a larger number than you’d expect, someone with a much smaller number than you’d expect, and most of them being appropriate for the person’s age.
There is a side love story about Charlie connecting with Gen- who quits her job to sell essential oils- and who Charlie is hesitant to get close to as he is expecting to move into Emergency Medicine far away. I wish we got to know Genny a little more, the narrative didn’t tell us a lot about her and I would have liked that.
A few twists and changes to the story as Charlie tries to figure out how this works – how it happened- and should he or should he not- interfere with someone based on their number.
It is thought provoking for certain, and a classic twist on an old episode of The Twilight Zone- would you want to know how long you have left, and what would you do any differently? I think this book gives you all the alternatives, and enough space to decide for yourself what your answers are.
Thanks to @netgalley and @sourcebooks landmark for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Book to be published May 21, 2025.
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