LoveReading Says
What an incredible, shattering, unforgettable story. Catherine Newman’s We All Want Impossible Things takes in all life’s joys, absurdities, devastations, and the pain of letting go. It’s tender, bold, brilliant on female friendship, and hilariously, heart-wrenchingly honest —the kind of book you’ll want to thrust on all your friends. Talking of which…
Edi and Ash have been friends for some forty years. They’ve gone through everything life can through at you together, from childhood and crazy teenage exploits, through to marriage and kids, with Ash now facing the unsettling complications of redefining her relationship with her soon-to-be ex-husband. And now, when Edi is diagnosed with terminal cancer, they’re facing Edi’s death together.
The realities of hospice life are brutal, absurdly funny and get to heart of what it is to be alive. “It’s like you walk in under a giant banner that says, EVERYONE HERE IS DYING, but then most of the time you’re just making small talk and quesadillas, trying to find something to watch on Netflix, or wondering if there’s any pie left.” As one character sagely responds, “I mean, isn’t that just life though… “We’re doing all the things, enjoying ourselves where we can, even though we’re all just going to die at the end of it.”
As the Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack blares from a neighbouring room, Ash’s life becomes attuned to Edi in ever deeper ways. They’ve always been there for each other, and now is the ultimate incarnation of that bond. Painfully accurate on the experience of seeing a loved one die, this novel is filled with love, truth and an equally accurate representation of the hysterical humour that often springs from the most devastating, absurd experiences. In a word, though, We All Want Impossible Things is breath-takingly beautiful.
Reviewed by Joanne OwenJoanne Owen’s lifelong love of reading and writing began when she was growing up in Pembrokeshire, and very much wished that witches (and Mrs Pepperpot) were real.
More reviews by Joanne Owen About We All Want Impossible Things
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.'
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Catherine Newman Press Reviews
I adored this book. Jubilant, devastating, tender, heartbreaking, I found myself both in tears and 'snorty-laughing'. I know it will be one of those novels I return to time and time again, and recommend to everyone. There is so much love, funniness, honesty, courage, mess, bounce and surprise in this book, and not shred of it is mawkish. Loss might be the central theme but it is also the most robust and glorious affirmation of life. A masterclass on friendship, family love, memory, and the messiness of life and love and dying. Pure genius. - RACHEL JOYCE
Breezy New York Nora-Ephron-style wit meets hospice memoir to create something profoundly beautiful...comforting, so funny, moving but never mawkish and packed with all kinds of love. It's one of my favourite books ever. - MARIAN KEYES
Gloriously funny, utterly heartbreaking, and really just brilliant, We All Want Impossible Things is one of the best novels on friendship I've ever read. I loved it. - AJ PEARCE, author of Dear Mrs Bird
Smart and funny and devastating, We All Want Impossible Things has huge Sorrow and Bliss vibes and I didn't want it to end. - LAURA PEARSON
Devastatingly humorous and humorously devastating, We All Want Impossible Things is an unbelievably brilliant and funny book about friendship, family, food, sex, and death. Catherine Newman serves up a masterclass in narrative - you'll stay up late devouring every word. - Katherine Heiny, author of Early Morning Riser and Standard Deviation
I absolutely adored this...what a beautiful, emotional novel it is, both heart-breaking and heart mending, with flawed, oh-so-human characters and events extolling the joy and pain of love, loss and life-long friendship. - JILL MANSELL
Heart-breaking and heart-warming in equal measure, We All Want Impossible Things is 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
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.... 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
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
The funniest, most joyful book about dying - and living - that I have ever read. - K J DELL'ANTONIA, author of the New York Times bestselling The Chicken Sisters
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. - KATHERINE CENTER , New York Times bestselling author
'An absolute heartbreaker of a novel. Catherine Newman's book... is a celebration of life. For anyone who has prepared a hole in their heart for loss, We All Want Impossible Things is a reminder that, in time, that hollowed hallowed space is also there for when the light and love pour back in.' - Laura Zigman, author of Separation Anxiety
How did Catherine Neman write a book about dying that is so luminously alive? Earthy, funny, and terrifyingly honest - this is a book with heart and guts and all the other goopy gravt we need to stay among the living. A radical delight. - Rufi Thorpe
Newman perfectly captures the beauty and burden of caring for someone in their final moments while showing the gift of Edi and Ash's once-in-a-lifetime friendship. A warm and remarkably funny book that will make readers laugh through their tears. - Kirkus
