NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An unforgettable cast of small-town characters copes with love and loss in this “compulsively readable” (San Francisco Chronicle) novel from #1 bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout“This book, this writer, are magnificent.”—Ann PatchettWinner of The Story Prize • A Washington Post and New York Times Notable Book • One of USA Today’s top 10 books … New York Times Notable Book • One of USA Today’s top 10 books of the year
Recalling Olive Kitteridge in its richness, structure, and complexity, Anything Is Possible explores the whole range of human emotion through the intimate dramas of people struggling to understand themselves and others.
Here are two sisters: One trades self-respect for a wealthy husband while the other finds in the pages of a book a kindred spirit who changes her life. The janitor at the local school has his faith tested in an encounter with an isolated man he has come to help; a grown daughter longs for mother love even as she comes to accept her mother’s happiness in a foreign country; and the adult Lucy Barton (the heroine of My Name Is Lucy Barton, the author’s celebrated New York Times bestseller) returns to visit her siblings after seventeen years of absence.
Reverberating with the deep bonds of family, and the hope that comes with reconciliation, Anything Is Possible again underscores Elizabeth Strout’s place as one of America’s most respected and cherished authors.
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A collection of short stories linked by small-town and family connections, much like Strout’s Olive Kitteredge, stories linked by the role of Olive. Each story stands alone, but becomes richer through the small roles the characters play in other stories–we meet the town through the eyes of Tom, the school custodian, and through him meet Lucy and Pete Barton, brother and sister. When Patty Nicely mentions Lucy, Patty’s story takes on another layer, and when we reach the story about Charlie, a Vietnam vet who’s been lying to his wife about weekends at a PTSD therapy session, we’re prepped a bit because we’ve seen him through Patty’s eyes. There is a theme, though happily a restrained one, about mothers who left marriages and how that affects their relationships with their children, and another about people looking one way and feeling another. The Bartons’ cousin Abel Blaine, brother of the woman who runs the B&B where Charlie stays, closes the collection in the title story, demonstrating beautifully how a boy who grew up with nothing can become a man for whom anything is possible. I listened to the audio, and the narrator added another layer of insight to an excellent collection of stories.
This novel is pure Elizabeth Strout. When I finished the book I was left happy, and filled with the best things books can give me. I love novels about women who find their way back to loving important people in their lives. I love learning and acceptance. And there are times I need LUCY BARTON in my life again, another of Strout’s novels. Summer should be for books that make you feel. Winter’s long evenings are for book that make you think. This one does both. Enjoy!
This was a continuation of the Lucy Barton story, which I loved. This was beautifully written with such detail: emotional, psychological, physical. Very interesting storyline, a bit on the ‘down’ or sad side, but interesting to find out the backgrounds of all the characters in this town. Still a good read if you’re a Strout fan.
I hadn’t been a big fan of short stories until I read Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. Then, I gobbled up everything she wrote. I favor quotidian stories that are true to life and depict the soul of characters. I love to read beautifully drawn renderings of human disappointment and relationship struggles. No one to my mind does this as masterfully as Strout.
This book was a disappointment to me. I was part of a discussion group and found that i was not alone in my feeling. After reading 2 other of this author’s books I was let down by the characters and over all gloominess of the book. I cannot say ‘story line’ since the book had a feeling of randomness; as if the author had left over material and felt the need to publish.
This was the first book I have read by Elizabeth Strout. I enjoyed it, although, that is a strange thing to say about seeing into people’s raw lives with all the covers we use to hide the truth that lies in our hearts. It was an emotional journey.
The style is not something I would want to read all the time, but in this case, I think it was perfectly fitting. I read a book by Maeve Binchy years ago, The Lilac Bus that was the same style. It is like many short stories that are interwoven that makes the novel. Once finished a section, you may or may not read of that person again. It is a surprise and a joy to then be updated of a character you read about earlier.
This book touched me. Some people come from such poor situations and make their life better. Some people are content to live that way. Some feel like they have no control, whether they are rich or poor. This book explores many different circumstances.
A thorough delight.
I loved these short stories, which sometimes reveal a character’s secret or other morsel, so some were closely connected. I liked the book’s format, with overlapping characters. Good stuff.
This is a beautiful writer at work and she is excellent at portraying the good and bad aspects of small town American life.
She’s a terrific writer.
The best thing from Elizabeth Strout since “Olive Kitteridge” , this another set of linked short stories with quirky small town characters, this time set in the Mid-West. Beautifully written, incredibly astute observations with wonderfully-portrayed characters and complex family dynamics, and people finding moments of grace in the harshest of circumstances. You don’t have to have read “My name is Lucy Barton”, but readers who have, will enjoy learning more about the characters that Lucy’s mother gossips about when visiting her daughter in her hospital room, in the earlier work, and hearing about Lucy’s hometown, and Lucy herself, from the perspective of the people who stayed. I found it so interesting – and amazing – that Strout worked on these stories at the same time as writing the Lucy Barton novel, filling out all the “backstories” as she progressed. She is a fabulous writer.
Strout is one of the most thought-provoking authors I’ve read. Her characters are real, flawed, tragic, yet with a redeemable quality that draws you into their inner landscape.
I looked forward to reading this book because I really enjoyed “Olive Kitteridge.” However, this book was filled with depressing characters with disturbing experiences. There was no hope in any one of them. The title of the book was merely referenced at the end, but you were left with the only things possible for these characters were resignation, regret and shame.
This is one of the best short story collections I have ever read. Elizabeth Strout’s writing is crisp and evocative, and her stories draw you in even though you can’t always tell where they are going. Keep reading. The interwoven structure of this book (which is linked to other works by this author as well) is fascinating. A brilliant writer, wonderful book.
A major disappointment. I’ve loved everything else she’s written.
If you like to read about ordinary people with compelling life complications, Strout is for you.
I loved Olive Kitteridge, so chose this author again. Did not like this book at all. No real story line, characters were uninteresting. Finished it, but not interesting at all.
I once lived in a small midwestern town and the characters the author has created ring true.
A great story about a small town and it’s community.
I love everything she writes.
I quit reading it, just hated it. LIked her previous one