Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout
Amgash #2
Fiction
2017
Finished on June 22, 2025
Rating: 3/5 (Good)
Publisher's Blurb:
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.
This is the second collection of short stories I've read this month, and I'm not a big fan of the genre, so I'm not surprised that I didn't love Anything Is Possible. The stories are more interconnected than those of Table for Two (Amor Towles), and some of the characters are familiar from my reading of My Name Is Lucy Barton, but the book is not one of my favorites by Elizabeth Strout. I struggled to keep track of the characters' relationships with one another as they overlap from chapter to chapter. Plus, the central theme to Strout's stories is shame and regret, and many involve mothers who leave their families. Thus, the overall tone is bleak and gloomy. The writing, however, is marvelous, so I was never tempted to stop reading. Anything Is Possible is best read right after My Name Is Lucy Barton, perhaps with a pen & pad in hand.
I loved this book!
ReplyDeleteVicki, I wanted to! Maybe if I read it again, as I did with My Name Is Lucy Barton, I'll have a great appreciation for it. Maybe.
DeleteIt sounds like even with favorite authors, short stories just aren't a favorite format/genre. They have grown on me over the years, but I would still prefer a novel. That said, I did love Anything is Possible,
ReplyDeleteJoAnn, it would be interesting to know if I would enjoy this one more with a second reading (as I did with My Name is Lucy Barton). But, I have so many books calling to me that I think I'll just let this one go as "good" and not worry about trying again.
DeleteI prefer novels as well but there are ocassionally good short stories by favored authors. Claine Keegan has a book f short stories I liked so there was that excpetion to the rule.
ReplyDeleteTina, I agree about Claire Keegan. And, I know you have enjoyed Rosamunde Pilcher's shorter novels, too, right?
DeleteWait...what?...I thought I'd read Everything-Elizabeth Strout?!...Hmmm...must look again...
ReplyDeleteDeb, I saw on Goodreads that you did read it last September. Guess it wasn't terribly memorable?
DeleteShort stories can be really hit and miss for me. I have to be in the right mood for the more choppy reading experience.
ReplyDeleteHelen, I do enjoy Stephen King's short stories, now that I think of it! Maybe it was more of the tone of this collection rather than the length of the stories.
DeleteThis is the one Strout that I let get by me over the years. I'm not sure if the stories part made me skip it or something else. But Olive Again is sort of short connected stories and I didn't mind that one. Sometimes they're a bit dark ... Strout's stories ... and so I like when they have bright moments.
ReplyDeleteSusan, I enjoyed Olive Again, too. This one just missed the mark.
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