We All Want Impossible Things: The funny, moving Richard and Judy Book Club pick 2023

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We All Want Impossible Things is one of those books I will be buying for everyone I know. A funny, moving, beautifully written book, I laughed and cried in equal measure. It is both a unique and wise take on friendship, love and loss that will stay with me for a very long time. JENNIE GODFREY, author of THE LIST OF SUSPICIOUS THINGS

A riotously funny and fiercely loyal love letter to female friendship. The story of Edi and Ash proves that a best friend is a gift from the gods. Newman turns her prodigious talents toward finding joy even in the friendship’s final days. I laughed while crying, and was left revived. Newman is a comic masterhand and a dazzling philosopher of the day-to-day.”—Amity Gaige, author of Sea Wife Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.

Catherine Newman sees the heartbreak and comedy of life with wisdom and unflinching compassion. The way she finds the extraordinary in the everyday is nothing short of poetry. She’s a writer’s writer—and a human’s human.”— New York Times bestselling author Katherine Center 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 so startling too… A worldwide crescendo of grief, sustained day after day, and only one tiny note of it is mine,” the narrator writes. At one point, they hear a baby crying in the hospice and wonder who on earth would bring a baby to a hospice, only later realizing that the baby is a patient. It then becomes clear that there are different degrees of unbearable.

I don’t think it’s really fair of me to give this a rating as I’ll be honest I got through 40% before having to accept defeat. And then there's the humor. There are many attempts at humor injected throughout the book...but it's not really the sort of humor that makes me laugh out loud. It reminded me more of just how friends might chat in day-to-day life or have sort of silly inside jokes that only make sense to them. Again, nothing WRONG with it per se, but I was disappointed to not be laughing along the way. I think it would be better described as many joyful moments or silly conversations between friends, the sort that would be funny if you were involved, but as a bystander...not so much.I have heard nothing but good things about [ We All Want Impossible Things] and they were all quite right - it's so warm and funny and full of great observations ... it looks set for rip-roaring success, deservedly so! CLARE CHAMBERS, author of SMALL PLEASURES

Nora-Ephron-style wit...comforting, so funny, moving... one of my favourite books ever' MARIAN KEYES There is a lot of focus on food especially a lemon polenta cake so you may find yourself salivating from time to time!That aside, Newman is a solid writer and she handles the subject matter well. There are a few more gross/graphic parts towards the latter half of the book, so if you know someone who has gone through those sort of treatments (or obviously, if you've experienced them yourself) or you're just generally squeamish, you might want to pass them by. Although I didn't find this book OVERLY memorable or compelling, it had its moments that were quite lyrical and lovely, and those are my greatest takeaway. I would certainly explore other work from this author in the future (particularly if she keeps writing books for adults...for a first shot, this was so well done!) Ash and Edi have been friends for their entire lives. Now Edi is in hospice dying from ovarian cancer. They go through this unthinkable journey together, as they've done everything else, always. Ash has to learn how to process and learn how to live her life separate from her best friend. My expectation was that the plot would revolve around Ash AND Edi, focusing on their relationship and the time they spent together making memories and learning to cope with Edi's imminent death. What I actually got was a story that talked about food A LOT and had a female protagonist (Ash) who was very self-centred. Her internal monologue and reflection on past events made me suspect this wasn't just a coping mechanism in the here and now but was part of who she was. Edi appeared in the book almost as though an after-thought. I honestly think this book is a bit hard to describe. I see it as a sort of cross between a slice-of-life story, a tale about the enduring power of friendship, and also, obviously, a book about cancer. In some ways, it almost reads like a long one-act play, the sort that tries to say a lot by not saying too much. Most of the book is recollections of the past from Ashley's POV, detailed in chats between her and Edi, and also the day-to-day life inside the hospice. This might not have been a long read...but it somehow FELT long to me. As much as I desperately tried to connect with the characters, I always felt like something was a bit off. These characters are fine and there isn't anything wrong with them...I just didn't ever feel completely hooked by the plot or too curious about where it was headed.

My work has been in lots of books and anthologies, including On Being 40, the fabulous Unbored series, The Bitch in the House, Oprah's Little Book of Happiness, and the Full Grown People collections. Overall, this is a perfectly pitched and touching story which isn’t especially long which it doesn’t need to be. Ash and Edi have been friends since childhood. They’ve shared everything together—high school prom, weddings, pregnancies, all of their hopes and fears. When Edi’s battle with ovarian cancer nears its end and her doctors recommend she be moved to hospice, the only option is for her to go to a hospice near Ash’s home in Western Massachusetts. In Newman's hands... this tale of love and friendship is tender, funny, life-affirming joy. MARIE CLAIRE, 'Best Books of 2023'The author is also frank about the physical reality of cancer and explicitly shows how grueling it can be to care for a friend while watching them die – there are falls and tears, leaking tubes that soak Edi in bile, and gradual changes to Edi’s appearance and mental state as the end draws near. Beautiful and emotional ... heartbreakingly sad, but also full of humour and ultimately about living and love. I will recommend this to everyone. PRIMA