The Immortalists

Saul Gold dies when Simon is 16 years old. The family holds the funeral at a conservative Jewish temple, and everyone except Gertie participates in the tradition of kriah, cutting one’s clothes with scissors as a sign of mourning. The family sits shiva, which is a seven-day observance following someone’s death. Gertie observes the traditions of shiva, such as wearing black and reading the Kaddish, a Jewish text.

On the last day of shiva, the siblings spend time together drinking. Saul’s death lingers over them: “The shock hasn’t faded; Simon cannot imagine it ever fading” (26). The topic of Bruna comes up, and all the siblings reveal the dates of their deaths except for Simon. That night, Simon and Klara sleep on the roof. Varya and Daniel leave in the morning to return to college. Simon reflects on how he will be stuck taking over the family tailoring business all alone. Klara is intent on leaving to pursue a career as a magician. She urges Simon to come with her, but he hesitates. Simon reveals that he is gay, and only Klara knows this.     

Simon decides to go to San Francisco with Klara, but he does not tell Gertie. The two leave early in the morning, and Gertie stops Simon in the hallway. He tells her, ‘“Ma,” he says. “I gotta live my life”’ and runs down the stairs (38).

Klara and Simon ride the bus for three days until they reach San Francisco, where they stay with a high school friend named Teddy. The siblings find an apartment above a club, with one bedroom and a walk-in closet advertised as a bedroom.

One night, Klara and Simon take LSD tabs with Teddy and go to a club. There, Simon encounters an older man named Ian, and soon their “faces crash together with startling intensity: the first kiss Simon’s ever had” (40). Simon accompanies Ian to his apartment in the financial district, and the two have sex. The next morning, Ian goes to work, leaving Simon in his apartment. He calls home, and Daniel answers the phone, begging Simon to come back on their mother’s behalf. Simon refuses. 

Klara tries her best to find a job, but she has no luck. Simon decides to take matters into his own hands. One day he hangs out in front of Purp, the club below their apartment. He speaks with the owner Benny, who gives Simon a job dancing in the club. He will wear purple paint and stand on top of a pillar along with five other dancers.

On his first night of work, Simon gets drunk and meets his fellow performers. He is stiff at first but loosens up in his dancing by the end of the night. However, Benny tells him that he will have to improve if he wants to keep the job, saying, “‘You’re a good-looking guy, no doubt about that, but the guys who come here have standards, and you’ll need more than your looks to keep up’” (52). Benny advises him to take dancing classes.  

Simon joins the Ballet Academy of San Francisco and attends a grueling free trial class. After class, Simon throws up in the bathroom and catches a glimpse of Robert. He is describes as “easily the most beautiful man Simon has seen in person: sculpted as if from onyx, his skin a rich black” (54-55). Simon continues to take classes and becomes more skilled as a dancer. The Academy’s company, the Corps, is made up of seven dancers, including Robert.

During this time, Simon becomes involved in San Francisco’s queer community, participating in the Freedom Parade and listening to Harvey Milk speak. He also dates many men, such as “the recovering addict from Alapaha, Georgia; the forty-something Chronicle reporter who is always on speed; the Australian flight attendant in possession of the largest cock Simon’s seen” (56).

Klara has been temping but hates her job. She tells Simon she will quit and begin her own magic show. Simon is skeptical and refuses to call his family.

One night after practice, Simon encounters Robert outside. The two chat, and Robert leans over to kiss Simon. 

After his encounter with Robert, Simon walks home ecstatic. However, a police officer confronts him and brings him down to the station. We later learn that that officer’s name is Eddie O’Donoghue. Eddie makes a phone call, and Simon talks to Gertie, who had put out an alert for him. On the phone, “Gertie is crying the way she did at Saul’s service, guttural and heavy like the sobs are something in her stomach she can physically expel” (63).

Gertie begs Simon to come home. Simon refuses, saying he must claim a life for himself. At that, Gertie says that he should not bother coming back now that he has made a choice, effectively cutting him off. The police officer admonishes Simon, calling him a runaway. Klara comes to the department and takes Simon home.  

Simon and Robert have been hooking up at the Academy, and Robert comes to Simon’s apartment for the first time in October. They do not end up having sex, and instead get into an argument about the difference between keeping their sexuality quiet versus being afraid.

In November, Harvey Milk is shot, and Purp closes for the day. Simon and the other dancers go on the march to city hall, along with 50,000 other people. At the march, Simon spots Robert, and the two return to the Robert’s apartment where they have sex and talk. Robert discusses his past in South Central, Los Angeles. He was on the football team in high school and on the road to recruitment for college. At the end of the season, Robert has sex with a fellow teammate, and the two get caught and are kicked off the team. Some members of the team beat Robert and the other man up, killing the latter.

In December, the dance director Gali lets Simon sub in for a member of the Corps, and Simon performs alongside Robert and the others. After the first performance, Simon kisses Robert in the cab ride home. Gali casts Simon in his own role in The Naughty Nut. Robert and Simon attend Gali’s Christmas party together, where Robert reveals he got a new apartment. Simon suggests that they move in together.