Reviews for The Life Impossible
by Matt Haig
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
Haig’s anxiously awaited follow-up to The Midnight Library (2020) proves that it’s never too late to change your life. Grace Winters is a retired math teacher and widow who lost a young son many years ago. In an extended letter to a former student, Grace spins the tale of her move to Ibiza, a Mediterranean island off the coast of Spain. An old friend has willed Grace a home there. While she is shocked, she is compelled to go, even at the age of 72. The island is lush and green; the house is not so much, but Grace is entranced all the same. When she realizes that her friend may have disappeared under mysterious circumstances, Grace becomes obsessed with finding out what happened. It turns out the answer is far more complicated than a simple murder or kidnapping, and it leads Grace to a bizarre and transformative experience deep under the sea. Haig’s incomparable style, complete with short chapters and lovely descriptions, will draw readers back; they will be captivated by Grace’s shrewdness and bravery.
Publishers Weekly
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In Haig’s magnificent latest (after The Midnight Library), a retired math teacher unexpectedly inherits property in Ibiza and escapes her static life in Lincolnshire, England. Upon hearing the news, widowed Grace Winters takes up residence in the ramshackle house left to her by her old friend Christina. In a note, Christina suggests Grace find a man called Alberto to show her the miraculous seagrass meadow beneath the Mediterranean. Grace, who doesn’t know how Christina died, determines to follow her late friend’s advice but is unable to appreciate the island’s scenery due to her guilt over her 11-year-old son’s death in a bicycle accident 30 years earlier. Her mood changes, though, when Alberto takes her scuba diving and she’s touched underwater by a shape-shifting blue light, which Alberto calls La Presencia and claims is a portal to another planet. Her encounter with the light also gives her mind-reading and telekinetic powers, which she first tries out in quotidian situations, often to humorous effect, such as when she makes an obnoxious restaurant patron stab himself with a fork. Soon, though, she applies her newfound abilities to a higher purpose, joining a battle to save the island from an unscrupulous developer. Haig’s spellbinding descriptions of the portal and its powers lend themselves to the convincing conceit that Grace, thanks to her encounter with La Presencia, is not only able to change her life but to make a difference in her new community. In Haig’s sure hands, magic comes to breathtaking life. Agent: Clare Conville, C&W Agency. (Sept.)
Library Journal
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Four years after the death of her husband, retired math teacher Grace Winters is still trudging through life in her bungalow in Yorkshire, with an unchanging routine, no real interests, and a sense of fading away. Then a letter arrives to inform Grace that Christina, an old university friend, has bequeathed Grace her house on the Spanish island of Ibiza. Grace soon learns that Christina's suspicious death is under investigation. Compelled to find out about the mysterious circumstances, she packs her bags and sets out to find out exactly what happened to her old friend. As Grace reaches out to Christina's family and friends, strange and mystifying experiences challenge her to assess her own emotional well-being. After years of denying herself simple pleasures and paying penance for past missteps, Grace must overcome her lifelong feelings of guilt and inadequacy in order to save those who need her in their lives. VERDICT Bestselling Haig (The Midnight Library) skillfully and humorously wraps a fantastical tale around his exploration of the transformative nature of emotions as individuals connect with each other, much like in the work of Fredrik Backman.—Joy Gunn
