3.0
The Life Impossible
ByPublisher Description
The New York Times Bestseller
“An odyssey of action and awe.” —The New York Times
“A wry and tender love-letter to the best of being human.” —Benedict Cumberbatch
The remarkable next novel from Matt Haig, the author of #1 New York Times bestseller The Midnight Library, with more than nine million copies sold worldwide
“What looks like magic is simply a part of life we don’t understand yet…”
When retired math teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan.
Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the island, Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life, and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.
Filled with wonder and wild adventure, this is a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning.
“An odyssey of action and awe.” —The New York Times
“A wry and tender love-letter to the best of being human.” —Benedict Cumberbatch
The remarkable next novel from Matt Haig, the author of #1 New York Times bestseller The Midnight Library, with more than nine million copies sold worldwide
“What looks like magic is simply a part of life we don’t understand yet…”
When retired math teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan.
Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the island, Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life, and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.
Filled with wonder and wild adventure, this is a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Life Impossible Reviews
3.0
“Many novels by Matt Haig feel like a love letter to humanity; like having your hand gently held while exploring the best and worst of one another. The Life Impossible is no different and asks readers to resist judgement of the absurd and fantastical in order to see the bigger and smaller pictures. Grace is a wonderful protagonist with a worldview carefully balanced ontop of trusting naivety and a soft skeptical criticism. She's a bit of a contradiction but in the ways that grief and guilt often manifest in us. As we move through the story Grace begins to shape her and our world with stories of the life around her; everyone – human, animal, plant, ecosystem, stranger or known Grace is able to extrapolate entire experiences and feelings, as well manipulate them to act as she wants just by being in proximity.. This is really where the story shines: each life mentioned feels so real and learning about them is a constant reminder that every being around us is living just as complex a life as our own.
The span of these glimpses into each beings life varies but each is emotionally charged with recognition and empathy. It's quite a joy to go on this journey with Grace and as always I appreciate Haig's dedication to representing the profound importance of friendship on our ability to thrive. I also compliment Haig on writing that feels current and aware of contemporary events. My one complaint, and one that I find myself saying about a lot of the contemporary books I'm reading, the narrative tension and pacing feels mishandled. When we finally find a force that can compete with this immense power that Grace and others have, it's so quickly dispelled and made unintimidating. I think letting the tension sit, allowing the reader to worry about whether our protagonists will succeed would strengthen the ending. In retrospect, I think the plot has been given a bit of a back seat to the vivid character studies - I don't mind that but it's an intense stylistic choice.
It's funny, I picked this book up when I started and said out loud “I need a break from reading about grief” but in reality everything is about grief and how it moves us.”
About Matt Haig
Matt Haig is the author of the internationally bestselling memoir Reasons to Stay Alive, along with five novels, including The Midnight Library, How to Stop Time, and several award-winning children’s books. His work has been published in fifty territories across the world.
Other books by Matt Haig
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