We All Want Impossible Things
Ratings10
Average rating4.4
15
Ratings10
Average rating4.4
***A RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB book 2023*** 'Nora-Ephron-style wit...comforting, so funny, moving... one of my favourite books ever' MARIAN KEYES 'Newman writes loss and laughter in equally brilliant amounts.' BONNIE GARMUS 'Dazzling, heart-wrenching, snorty-hilarious... An utter joy to read' RACHEL JOYCE 'An absolute masterpiece in characterisation... utterly beautiful.' JOANNA CANNON _______ Who knows you better than your best friend? Who knows your secrets, your fears, your desires, your strange imperfect self? Edi and Ash have been best friends for over forty years. Since childhood they have seen each other through life's milestones: stealing vodka from their parents, the Madonna phase, REM concerts, unexpected wakes, marriages, infertility, children. As Ash notes, 'Edi's memory is like the back-up hard drive for mine.' So when Edi is diagnosed with cancer, Ash's world reshapes around the rhythms of Edi's care, from making watermelon ice cubes to music therapy; from snack smuggling to impromptu excursions into the frozen winter night. Because life is about squeezing the joy out of every moment, about building a powerhouse of memories, about learning when to hold on, and when to let go. For fans of Nora Ephron and Sorrow & Bliss, We All Want Impossible Things is a deeply moving, jubilant celebration of life and friendship at its imperfect, radiant, and irreverent best. ***COMING SOON: SANDWICH, the new novel from CATHERINE NEWMAN*** _____ 'You'll stay up late devouring every word' KATHERINE HEINY 'One of the best novels on friendship I've ever read' AJ PEARCE 'I absolutely adored this...what a beautiful, emotional novel' JILL MANSELL 'Shot through with whip-smart humour and boundless compassion. It's one of the best debuts I've read in a long time.' HANNAH BECKERMAN
Reviews with the most likes.
This book is an absolute gem- heartbreaking one minute, darkly funny the next. How this author managed such well formed characters in 200 pages is a mystery to me. I loved Ash, the main character, a flawed woman struggling with the impending loss of her oldest and dearest friend. Their lives are intertwined in all the best ways. I loved everything about this story -except- and this is just me being picky- there were 3 characters whose names were, get this, Jules, Jonah and Jude. Insert head exploding emoji here. It took me way too long and some flipping back and forth to figure out who was the brother/husband/daughter. But this quibble aside -a five star read. If you love a story about friendship, this one hits every note beautifully.
“Everywhere, behind closed doors, people are dying, and people are grieving them. It's the most basic fact about human life—tied with birth, I guess—but it's startling too. Everybody dies and yet it's unendurable.”
Ashley has been best friends with Edith for her whole life. And now Edith is sick. Very, very sick. Dying. What is Ashley to do but to pack Edi up and bring her to a hospice nearby and spend all the time Edi has left together?
“Fly, be free! I want to say. I want to say, Stay with me forever! Come to think of it, these are the two things I want to say to everyone I love most.”
What a lovely, lovely book. About dying and death, but, also, about living.
