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“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

“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

“The funniest, most joyful book about dying—and living—that I have ever read.”—KJ Dell'Antonia, author of the New York Times bestselling The Chicken Sisters

For lovers of Meg Wolitzer, Maria Semple, and Jenny Offill comes this raucous, poignant celebration of life, love, and friendship at its imperfect and radiant best. 

Edith and Ashley have been best friends for over forty-two years. They’ve shared the mundane and the momentous together: trick or treating and binge drinking; Gilligan’s Island reruns and REM concerts; hickeys and heartbreak; surprise Scottish wakes; marriages, infertility, and children. As Ash says, “Edi’s memory is like the back-up hard drive for mine.” 

But now the unthinkable has happened. Edi is dying of ovarian cancer and spending her last days at a hospice near Ash, who stumbles into heartbreak surrounded by her daughters, ex(ish) husband, dear friends, a poorly chosen lover (or two), and a rotating cast of beautifully, fleetingly human hospice characters.

As The Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack blasts all day long from the room next door, Edi and Ash reminisce, hold on, and try to let go. Meanwhile, Ash struggles with being an imperfect friend, wife, and parent—with life, in other words, distilled to its heartbreaking, joyful, and comedic essence.

For anyone who’s ever lost a friend or had one. Get ready to laugh through your tears.

From the Publisher

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09RWWXG27
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper (November 8, 2022)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 8, 2022
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2800 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 217 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0063230895
Reviewer: Abra L.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: amazing
Review: Such an incredibly sad and hilarious and wonderful description of the human journey. Best book I’ve read in years. Thank you.

Reviewer: Arlena
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great Read
Review: Pretty detailed. Just a great read all the way around the board. Love d the characters. I thought I was part of the story.

Reviewer: Joanna Laghetto
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: So good so bad so happy so sad!
Review: ‘I laughed I cried-it was better than Cats’ which is a line I’m stealing from a good friend who died too soon. So real and funny and such perfectly imperfect characters. Can’t wait for the next book!

Reviewer: Melisa Harder
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: this woman writes like I think
Review: Have you ever listened to a person that was essential to you? This novel exactly explains in beautiful language, the deeply beautiful and awful things some we loves dying. The exquisite beauty of time spent together, more precious, but so terrible. That hope of Spring, that keeps you going. I feel better having read this gem.

Reviewer: avid reader
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: poignant story, off-putting protagonist
Review: We All Want Impossible Things is the story of a woman's last month in hospice, and those she leaves behind. The main character is the dying woman's best friend since early childhood, who takes it upon herself to be lead support.In many ways, We All Want Impossible Things does a great job mining the feelings of the dying woman's immediate family, and the best friend and her family in manner that feels true to life. But the description of the the best friend's casual physical intimacy with the dying woman's brother, the hospice physician, and a hospice volunteer, while flirting with the idea of resuming her relationship with the husband from whom she is separate, is discordant.Is the gratuitous sex intended to be funny? To serve as a counterpoint to the morbidity of the main story? Is it merely meant to be symbolic of the best friend's need to know that she is loved? Or a symbol of life in the face of death? None of this feels right; despite the best friend's atheism, it's hard to understand the complete lack of a moral center and responsibility. For this reason, the book is not a keeper.

Reviewer: Wilma Stone
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: we all want impossible things
Review: Book was hard to read as I have lost 2 friends to cancer this year. However the conversations that Ash has with her husband, daughters and friends are so real and with humor also.

Reviewer: Maureen M. Komperda
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Beautiful Story of Women & Friendship
Review: Read this book. You will laugh & cry. Contemplate death & dying. Understand your deep friendships just a little better.

Reviewer: Laura Tjaden
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Just What I Needed
Review: I’ve been struggling a lot with my mother’s death, which occurred less than a year ago. I’ve been thinking about my time in hospice with her and feeling like I didn’t do anything right. I didn’t say enough, I said too much, I didn’t advocate enough, I advocated too much, I didn’t say enough thank you’s or sing enough songs, I didn’t support my father enough, or my sister, none of it was enough. Or it was too much. This book felt like forgiveness. And that everything you do and say and feel and ignore and hope and wish and deny and push away and greedily grab is absolutely just fine and just the way it should be. I very much needed this read.

Reviewer: Loretta
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Ein Buch über das gute Leben im Hospiz. Ich bin über einen Podcast zu Freundschaften auf dieses Buch aufmerksam geworden.Beim Lesen musste ich innerhalb einer U-Bahnfahrt sowohl laut lachen als auch anfangen zu weinen. Das Wechselbad der Gefühle zieht sich durch das gaänze Buch, aber es ist letzlich ein sehr lebensfreudiges Buch über die Bedeutung von Freundschaft auch beim Sterben

Reviewer: Anita Bhukta
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: The book came in a pretty good condition except a few negligibly torn areas.

Reviewer: vicki.reads.books
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I was drawn to this book by its beautiful cover, and I was not disappointed by what it held inside. It’s so accomplished, it’s difficult to believe it’s a debut novel.As you would expect from a story about someone dying in a hospice, this is very much a character driven novel with not much happening in the way of plot. I was however utterly gripped from the first to the last page, as I found myself immersed in the world of narrator Ash, her sick best friend Edi, and the colourful cast of their families and other friends. The characterisation is just masterful; there wasn’t a single character I didn’t like, or who didn’t ring true in themselves or their reaction to Edi’s demise.The writing was enchanting. I fell in love with Catherine Newman’s style, especially the way she switches from humour to profound reflection in an instant. It made me laugh and want to cry both tears of joy and sadness. She paced the story just right, keeping me hooked by the most simple scenarios, gently edging things along to their inevitable conclusion.I’m sad that I’ve finished this book and have to leave all the characters behind, although they will stay with me for a very long time. Oh and I just adore the title too. I’m off to eat a big slice of obscure Italian lemon cake.

Reviewer: louise
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This book feels like a lived experience. It was challenging and engaging. The characters feel like real people ( that you want to meet) i laughed and cried and thought of the people I have loved , still love but aren’t here anymore.

Reviewer: Ana
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: One of my favourite reads of the year. The writing was unaffected, felt very real, the characters easy to get to know. From the author's acknowlegements it sounds as though much conversation was lifted from life. There was some suspension of disbelief required, for me anyway, regarding the intimate encounters between the main character and a selection of partners, but that was peripheral in a way and served a purpose. The main takeaway was the absolute importance of love and friendship and human connection. It's all we have. If I was able to fill a room with as many people as Edi near the end of my life, I would consider it well lived. The way the main character helped us get to know Edi, with Edi not taking part in much of the action, was skillfully done. It was poignant but not mawkish, when in another writer's hands it might have been. I really enjoyed the tone of this book.