The Life Impossible
The Life Impossible ~ Matt Haig
Grace Winters is 72 years old, a retired maths teacher who is recently widowed. She has lived in a state of grief and guilt since the death of her young son decades earlier, a death she blames on herself. She is depressed and bored and full of self-hatred. One day, she learns that she has been left a house on the Spanish island of Ibiza, by a co-worker from over 30 years ago, Christina, a woman she didn’t know well, but whose life she impacted mightily. She decides to leave her home in England and go to Ibiza and check out the house, and see if she can find out what happened to her friend, who ‘died at sea’. That’s in quotes, because no one seems to know exactly how she died, and her body has not been found.
In Ibiza, she meets several of Christina’s friends, and surprises herself by accepting invitations to have adventures and learn to find pleasure in life again, to enjoy a glass of orange juice or dancing to electronic music. Because this is a Matt Haig book, there is a magical realism factor to the story. A sentence that made me laugh out loud: “His slappable face continued talking.” I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Highly recommended.
8 Comments
Tobia | craftaliciousme
All my book club friends were realy disapointed by this book a crowned it the wort book or deispapintment of the year. But you liked it. So maybe I will try to read it. But I probably won’t want to buy it.
J
It just goes to show you that taste is subjective I guess. I really liked it. Get it from the library if you can.
Lisa’s Yarns
I am planning to read this one, too! I am glad you liked it so much! So far we are 2/2 in terms of books I haven’t read!
J
I hope you like it as much as I did!
Kyria @ Travel Spot
I think I am a little hit and miss with Haig. I have only read The Comfort Book which was good, and The Midnight Library, which was weird and pretty good. My Mom really enjoyed The Humans, but I did not read it yet because neither of his other books WOWED me. So far, I have not read any of the books that you have reviewed either! Have you read The Humans? If so, what did you think?
J
I have not read The Comfort Book. I did read The Humans, and I liked it. I liked The Midnight Library and How to Stop Time more, though. All of his books (that I’ve read at least) do have that magical realism aspect, and so are kind of weird.
Ernie
This sounds like a good book. I really like the premise. So interesting. I’m not a fan of magical realism though, so not sure if I’ll read it. Maybe?
Margaret
I need to read something by Haig since I’ve heard so much about him. I like magical realism as long as it’s well-written.