Review: The Possibility of Everything.

THE POSIBILITY OF EVERYTHING by Hope Edelman
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 5/5
 
Summary (from goodreads):
From the bestselling author of Motherless Daughters, here is the real-life story of one woman's search for a cure to her family's escalating troubles, and the leap of faith that took her on a journey to an exotic place and a new state of mind.
        In the autumn of 2000, Hope Edelman was a woman adrift, questioning her marriage, her profession, and her place in the larger world. Feeling vulnerable and isolated, she was primed for change. Into her stagnant routine dropped Dodo, her three-year-old daughter Maya's curiously disruptive imaginary friend. Confused and worried about how to handle Dodo's apparent hold on their daughter, Edelman and her husband made the unlikely choice to take her to Maya healers in Belize, hoping that a shaman might help them banish Dodo–and, as they came to understand, all he represented–from their lives.
       An account of how an otherwise mainstream mother and wife finds herself making an extremely unorthodox choice, The Possibility of Everything chronicles the magical week in Central America that transformed Edelman from a person whose past had led her to believe only in the visible and the "proven" to someone open to the idea of larger, unseen forces. This deeply affecting, beautifully written memoir of a family' s emotional journey explores what Edelman and her husband went looking for in the jungle and what they ultimately discovered–as parents, as spouses, and as ordinary people–about the things that possess and destroy, or that can heal us all.

 

Thoughts:

The Possibility of Everything was amazing. I was instantly wrapped up in Hope’s story, and fell in love with her little girl Maya. It was absolutely impossible to put down.

Hope had to go through so much to heal her daughter—she had to be brave and learn to accept things that she was afraid of, and things that just don’t match up with common sense. Hope is someone who does not believe in magic, spirits, or God, yet she’s taking her daughter to a healer who “communicates with the spirit world,” and she hates the idea… but people will do anything for the ones that they love. “Because what mother wouldn’t do anything for her child?”

As a person who loves and adores children myself, seeing Maya in the state that she was in was heartbreaking. There were parts of this book that I didn’t “enjoy,” because they were scary and sad, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t good. It was painful to watch Maya and her parents suffer—but it was also an amazing story, and one that needs to be read by everyone.

Recommendation: Ages 14+

**Thank you to Dorothy from Pump Up Your Book for supplying my review copy!**

 

Here is the book trailer (this is what sold be to read the book!)

 

About the author:

Hope Edelman is the author of five nonfiction books, including the bestsellers Motherless Daughters and Motherless Mothers. Her articles and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Glamour, Child, Seventeen, Real Simple, Parents, Writer’s Digest, and Self, and her original essays have appeared in several anthologies, including The Bitch in the House; Toddler; Blindsided by a Diaper; and Behind the Bedroom Door (2008). Her work has received a New York Times notable book of the year designation and a Pushcart Prize for creative nonfiction. She taught in the MFA program at Antioch University-LA for six years, and can be found every summer teaching at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. She lives in Topanga Canyon, California, with her husband and their two daughters.

Follow the rest of the tour:

The Possibility of Everything Tour Schedule

Tuesday, Dec. 8
Interviewed at The Hot Author Report
Book reviewed at The Life of an Inanimate Flying Object

Wednesday, Dec. 9
Reviewed at Review From Here
Reviewed at Rundpinne

Thursday, Dec. 10
Guest blogging at Blogging Authors
Guest blogging at Carol’s Notebook

Friday, Dec. 11
Book reviewed at A Sea of Books

Monday, Dec. 14
Interview l Chat l Book Giveaway at Pump Up Your Book!

Tuesday, Dec. 15
Book reviewed at Brizmus Blogs Books
Book reviewed and guest blogging at My Book Views

Wednesday, Dec. 16
Book reviewed at Buuklvr81

 

I hope you have a chance to read the Possibility of Everything! If you have any questions for Hope, leave them in the comments.

~Haleyknitz