We All Want Impossible Things
The uplifting and moving Richard and Judy Book Club pick
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4.4 • 29 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
Discover the powerful Richard & Judy Book Club pick
'Gorgeously tender and so deeply loving' NUSSAIBAH YOUNIS, bestselling author of Fundamentally
'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
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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, REM concerts, 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 and music therapy to snack smuggling and impromptu excursions into the frozen winter night.
Because life is about squeezing the joy out of every moment and building a powerhouse of memories, about learning when to hold on, and when to let go.
Deeply moving yet laugh-out-loud funny, We All Want Impossible Things is a jubilant celebration of life and friendship at its imperfect, radiant, and irreverent best.
To read more by CATHERINE NEWMAN, discover the NYT bestseller, SANDWICH, and her new novel WRECK: 'Beautiful, funny, wry, relatable and uplifting… I LOVE her work' Marian Keyes
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Praise for We All Want Impossible Things:
'A beautiful, candid and uplifting testament to female friendship that will make you laugh and cry' WOMAN & HOME
'This tale of love and friendship is a tender, funny, life-affirming joy' MARIE CLAIRE, 'Best Books of 2023'
'Devastatingly funny ... handled with compassion and courage in elegant prose lightened by honest humour' MAIL ON SUNDAY
'A treat' THE SUNDAY TIMES
Remarkable ... A whip-smart, funny, beautifully observed and exquisitely characterised novel' OBSERVER
'Utterly life-affirming and joyful' RED
'One of the best novels on friendship I've ever read' AJ PEARCE
'An absolute masterpiece in characterisation... utterly beautiful.' JOANNA CANNON
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
We All Want Impossible Things is a profound, hilarious and hopeful read about the way grief can elucidate what’s important in life. Ash and Edi first met when they were tasked with looking after a Venus flytrap in nursery school. Fast-forward 42 years and the pair have remained best friends through overseas travel adventures, fertility treatment, marriage troubles and more. When Edi’s cancer prognosis means she needs palliative care, Ash takes charge of Edi’s physical and emotional needs, while attempting to cope with the sometimes unbearable pain of love and loss. US author Catherine Newman has done something really exceptional here: she’s written a book largely set in a hospice that isn’t heavy with sorrow—incongruously, it’s uplifting, life-affirming and celebrates the preciousness of friendship. Newman writes incisively about love, food, sex and parenthood in a conversational and confessional tone, making this extraordinary book one to savour.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Newman's moving adult debut (after the kids' guide What Can I Say?) explores a lifelong friendship between two women, one of whom is dying. Set primarily in a hospice where Edi is dying of ovarian cancer, the story shifts between past and present to show the depth of Edi's lifelong bond with Ash—the childhood missteps, the joys, the Bowie concerts, and their "absolute dependability" for each other, as Ash puts it. When Edi receives her terminal prognosis, Ash becomes her primary bedside companion. But this isn't just a harrowing depiction of the heartbreak and indignity of Edi's decline, it's also about Ash, who stumbles through her disintegrating marriage, contends with her daughter's refusal to go to school, and takes a series of lovers. Ash also details the moments—at turns hilarious and sad—that make up her friendship, calling Edi's memories a "back-up hard drive" for her own. Here and throughout, Newman does a wonderful job channeling Ash's sense of impending loss. Ash also keeps up a steady stream of wickedly wry observations, such as her description of a group of children who visit Edi's bedside to play their recorders, "stand in a nervous semicircle, clutching their terrible instruments." Newman breathes ample life into this exquisite story of death and dying.
