The Measure - Nikki Erick

Look at this! Our first book review for Underlined… are you as excited as I am?

I’ll be honest; this wasn’t a book I personally would’ve picked to read. It came from a book club I was part of, and was one of those I put it off until the very last minute. BUT… am I so glad I finished it.

The book is The Measure by Nikki Erlick, and the premise is unlike anything I’ve read before. Imagine waking up one morning to find a small wooden box on your doorstep. Inside? A string. And the length of that string tells you exactly how long you’ll live. Chills, right?

The story follows multiple different characters; it weaves together the lives of several, all grappling with whether they’ll look at their string, and how that knowledge (or uncertainty) impacts their life choices. Some dive in, others hide their boxes away forever, and a few wrestle with the decision for chapters on end.

I found myself drawn to Nina and Maura, a couple who discover their strings are drastically different. Suddenly, their whole future together has an expiration date, and it was heartbreaking. Then there’s Amie, who never even opens her box. That choice made me think… could I live with that kind of not knowing? I still am not sure, but maybe that’s the point.

One thing I was not expecting was how political the book got. There’s a character who twists the whole “short string versus long string” idea into something ugly, using it as a way to divide people. Honestly? It felt a little too realistic for comfort. Reading those chapters made me realize just how quickly society can draw lines and create “us versus them” groups when fear is involved.

Now, was it a perfect book? No, but the idea itself was so powerful that it stuck with me long after I closed the last page. I kept catching myself wondering: how much time do I think I have? And does it even matter if I knew?

Because here’s the truth this book makes impossible to ignore: life isn’t about the length of our string. It’s about how we choose to use it.

So… would you open the box? If you had decades, would you take more risks, or would you relax knowing there’s time? And if your string was short, would you savor every day—or would the weight of the countdown be too much? Maybe the real question is… do we actually need a string to remind us that our time has always been limited.

Verdict: Worth the read. For me, this lands at 4 out of 5 stars. It’s thought-provoking, timely, and definitely one I’ll be recommending for future book club discussions.