Book Review: The Life Impossible by Matt Haig
Give me a book with an island setting, an older lady protagonist, and communication with animals, and I guarantee I will like it.
The Life Impossible by Matt Haig will stick with me. Some reviewers call Matt Haig’s work, including The Midnight Library, “therapeutic fantasy” and I love that term. I’m not sure this novel is pure fantasy, per se - maybe contemporary magical realism or speculative fiction? Certainly UpLit and mystery/crime. All of the above? (I really like novels that defy genre expectations, they feel so dangerous and exciting to read!)
(Reader Warning: I prefer to know nothing about a book before I start reading, so if you are the same way, please pause here, go read/listen to The Life Impossible and then kindly return to let me know what you think.)
Bottom-Line: Thumbs Up
This is a feel-good rec for sure. Perfect for readers who love books about second chances.
Book Summary
A grieving 72-year old widow inherits a house from a former co-worker and moves from gray England to sunny Ibiza where she attempts to solve the mystery of her co-worker’s death. Magical antics ensue including telepathy, scuba diving, wormholes, environmental protests, mathematical theory, aliens, an evil hotel developer, and raves. This genre-bending novel is very trippy and also heartwarming and sweet.
Things I Loved
An Older Lady Protagonist: the grumpy, grieving widowed protagonist who transforms into something. . . magical (very Uplit feel, which I realize I enjoy the more I read the genre, though I do not typically like a grumpy protagonist)
Plot Structure: I enjoyed the Heroine’s Journey plot structure (gathering friends to fight the bad guy, power of together versus the typical Hero’s Journey individual quest)
Vivid World-Building: enjoyed the descriptive, immersive settings (I have never been to Ibiza and now very much want to visit)
Spiritual Depth: Surprisingly spiritual, exploring Buddhist themes about interconnectedness, meditation, hope and the power of being present
Engaging Structure: As a reader, I appreciated the very short, choppy, pace-y chapters that truly propelled me forward. No matter how tired I was, I would keep flipping the page because the chapters were so quick to read. (Also appreciated this in All the Colors of the Dark - review forthcoming)
Cinematic Writing: The whole work is extremely filmic. I could see this entire movie play out in my head, though I did not really imagine which actor would play each character (besides the villain, see below)
Other Observations
Framing Device: While I appreciated how the epistolary structure framed the narrative, and the sporadic use of the addressee’s name in the text brought it back to the framing device, it kind of brought me out of the story. If it was a straightforward first person narrative, I would have enjoyed it just as much.
Musical Elements: Re-reading the book for this review, I appreciated the use of music throughout the piece - both as it relates to mathematics (e.g., dancing at a rave is “the collective euphoria of experiencing mathematical harmony in an imperfect world” (p. 264)) and the specific references to individual artists, songs and genres. It really amplifies the narrative when you can imagine the soundtrack music!
Villain: The villain, in my mind, was played by Marc Evan Jackson (e.g., Shawn in The Good Place). I love him so much.
Your Turn
Have you read The Life Impossible? What did you think? Let me know in the comments!
