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Anything Is Possible

(Amgash #2)

Elizabeth Strout

3.75 · Rating details · 45,659 ratings · 5,557 reviews

Short story collection 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 ...more

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Kindle Edition, 273 pages

Published April 25th 2017 by Random House

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Feb 03, 2017 Elyse Walters rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories, family-relationships, fiction

WONDERFUL!!! LOVED IT!!!! MELTING!!! WISH IT DIDN'T HAVE TO END!!!

Elizabeth Strout begins with Tommy Guptill who once owned a dairy farm in Amgash,
Illinois. The house had burned down. His family had to move to a more run-down town. Their family went from having their home be a place that class trips came to-- --to having to see their father push a broom as a janitor at their school.
The kids were now grown, his wife 82 years old.....and as Tommy said...
"Well, they had all lived through it".

Eli WONDERFUL!!! LOVED IT!!!! MELTING!!! WISH IT DIDN'T HAVE TO END!!!

Elizabeth Strout begins with Tommy Guptill who once owned a dairy farm in Amgash,
Illinois. The house had burned down. His family had to move to a more run-down town. Their family went from having their home be a place that class trips came to-- --to having to see their father push a broom as a janitor at their school.
The kids were now grown, his wife 82 years old.....and as Tommy said...
"Well, they had all lived through it".

Elizabeth Strout weaves together distinctive stories where we are left to marvel at the difficulties - history -and life changing experiences of the many characters.

One of the characters that stands out for me was Patty Nicely. Patty understood that most people were only interested in themselves. Except, Sebastian, ( her Sibby, husband; no longer alive), he had been interested in her, and she had been terribly interested in him.
"This was the skin that protected you from the world – – this loving of another person you shared your life with".
Knowing about Sibby's painful childhood - and teen years deepen her own compassion and commitment to the work she did working with adolescents as a school counselor. After a student calls her 'Fatty Patty', the shifting dynamics and tensions are significant. The conclusion to this story left a deep 'thankful' lasting impression on me.

A little funny: Angelina visits her 78 year old mother, Mary. The 'entire' story emphasizes the bonds between mother and daughter....which goes deeper than the swim - funny - they are about to take:
Angelina says, "Mom, you're wearing a bikini"
"A two-piece, honey. Look around. Do you see one person wearing a one-piece? Except for you? Mary put her goggles on and walked into the water".

Wonderful imagery of windmills, cornfields, and bright soybeans in summertime,
Lovely feelings of an old fashion town with red houses, black shutters, with a swing porch, deeply moving intimate prose, psychological awakenings of characters, and we come away with ....anything is possible for anyone.

Thank You Random House, Netgalley, and Elizabeth Strout....( I LOVE YOU) ...more

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Mar 30, 2017 Paromjit rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction, netgalley, short-stories

This is a wondrous book, it is my first read by Elizabeth Strout and I was just so impressed. It is a beautifully written collection of 9 short stories set in Amgash, Illinois. We encounter Lucy Barton through the perspectives of others, where she comes across as a wonderful woman, she has survived difficult circumstances, to become a renowned writer of a well received memoir. I get to finally meet her in Sister, where she finally returns to Amgash only to find it is more than she can bear. Stro This is a wondrous book, it is my first read by Elizabeth Strout and I was just so impressed. It is a beautifully written collection of 9 short stories set in Amgash, Illinois. We encounter Lucy Barton through the perspectives of others, where she comes across as a wonderful woman, she has survived difficult circumstances, to become a renowned writer of a well received memoir. I get to finally meet her in Sister, where she finally returns to Amgash only to find it is more than she can bear. Strout's talent in creating and developing diverse characters with such complexity, depth and ordinariness is extraordinary. You meet and learn more about the history and fate of the characters as they criss cross across the stories.

The kind and humble Tommy Guptill lost his farm and livelihood when it burned down. His family had to relocate to a poorer part of town and he becomes a janitor at Lucy's school. He received a sign which he has never told anyone else about until he has an uncomfortable encounter with Pete, Lucy's brother. Patty comes to understand that we love imperfectly. Linda's marriage into wealth is of scarce recompense when it comes to the price paid for having Jay as a husband. Charlie's need and relationship with Tracy leads to his marriage crumbling. A mother and daughter relationship gains perspective and depth in Italy. Dottie handles with aplomb the atrocious behaviour of a couple who come to stay at her bed and breakfast. Annie comes to understand why her father forbids her to go into the woods and just how judgmental the local community can be. Abel Blaine, a good man, carries the guilt of being well off, having grown up with extreme poverty. Upon trying to retrieve Sophia's pony, he meets and is forced to converse with Scrooge. His thankfulness in receiving a precious gift leads him to the perfect knowledge that anything is possible for anyone. This almost has me weeping.

I am finding it hard to put into words just how much I loved these short stories. The characters have so much grace, humour and love amidst the loss, hardships and travails that life brings. Of course, there are troubled, unkind, difficult, and judgmental characters, but this is what people comprise of. Strout finds the emotional heart and humanity of the Amgash community, and leaves the reader wanting more. Simply brilliant. Highly recommended. ...more

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Feb 04, 2017 Diane S ☔ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Linked stories from Lucy Barton's home town and the people that made up the town. First story features Charlie, former maintenance man at the school the Barton children attended, an elderly man who remembers Lucy and tried to be kind to her, though many didn't. The Barton's too poor and in fact Lucy's brother Pete still lives alone, in the dilapidated house of his youth. Charlie makes a point to visit this lonesome and strange man though he has good reason to write the whole family off as you wi ...more

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May 24, 2017 Larry H rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I'm between 4 and 4.5 stars here.

I don't know about you, but people watching utterly fascinates me. It's really amusing to watch the dynamics of families and groups of friends, but what's even more fun is making up stories about those we see, developing a narrative about their relationships, challenges, and victories. (It would be great to find out how far from the truth these stories are, wouldn't it?)

Reading Elizabeth Strout's new collection of linked stories, Anything is Possible , feels l I'm between 4 and 4.5 stars here.

I don't know about you, but people watching utterly fascinates me. It's really amusing to watch the dynamics of families and groups of friends, but what's even more fun is making up stories about those we see, developing a narrative about their relationships, challenges, and victories. (It would be great to find out how far from the truth these stories are, wouldn't it?)

Reading Elizabeth Strout's new collection of linked stories, Anything is Possible , feels like a cross between people-watching and eavesdropping, because the stories give you glimpses into people's lives you might not ordinarily get, without facing the embarrassing risk of getting caught. These stories are beautifully written, at times utterly moving, and, like people-watching, often truly fascinating and compelling.

I haven't read Strout's My Name is Lucy Barton , but the stories in this collection feature Lucy's small Midwestern hometown of Amgash, Illinois, and Lucy has a presence in many of the stories, and an adult Lucy is a character in one. These are stories of people struggling with challenges—emotional, romantic, familial, professional, even philosophical. As Strout says of a character in one of her stories, but this applies to most of them, "Life had simply not been what she thought it would be."

My favorites in this collection included: "The Sign," in which an elderly man finds his faith tested after a conversation he has with a troubled man he occasionally looks after; "Sister," where an adult Lucy Barton returns to her hometown and her siblings after being away for nearly 20 years; "The Hit-Thumb Theory," about a Vietnam veteran suffering from PTSD who has a dilemma that could radically change the course of his life, and he finds a moment's solace in a small bed-and-breakfast; "Windmills," in which a lonely widow changes her life after reading a book written by someone from her hometown; and "Snow-Blind," about a shocking discovery a young actress makes after she has left her family behind.

These are not happy, well-adjusted people in many cases. A few of the stories deal with odd sexual situations, and at times the characters are quite mean to each other. But Strout's talent as a storyteller makes even the somewhat bizarre stories, and those with unappealing characters interesting, and you want to keep reading them.

Interestingly enough, I've only read one of Strout's earlier books, The Burgess Boys , and I didn't like it that much. But now I'll definitely need to read more of her work, because I really found these stories moving and so well-written. If I had any criticism, it's that she uses subsequent stories to advance the plot of previous ones, referring to a character and saying, "Did you hear that so-and-so did...?" But that was a minor irritation for me.

I know short stories, even linked ones, don't appeal to everyone. But Anything is Possible feels a little like hanging out a party—you spend some time with lots of different people and get the opportunity to hear something about their lives and what makes them tick, then you move on. But the good news is, you don't have to bring an appetizer, help clean up, or worry how you're going to get home afterward.

See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo.... ...more

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Jan 10, 2017 Angela M rated it it was amazing

Shelves: netgalley-reviews, favorite-short-story-collections

Elizabeth Strout is one of our best contemporary authors, so I was thrilled to get an advanced copy of this book. I was especially excited to read it because this book is a continuation of My Name Is Lucy Barton, which was moving in so many ways. I was definitely not disappointed. This is a collection of connected stories and probably could be read as a stand alone, but I have to admit that my enjoyment and appreciation of it was enhanced by having met Lucy previously.

Some of the unspoken things Elizabeth Strout is one of our best contemporary authors, so I was thrilled to get an advanced copy of this book. I was especially excited to read it because this book is a continuation of My Name Is Lucy Barton, which was moving in so many ways. I was definitely not disappointed. This is a collection of connected stories and probably could be read as a stand alone, but I have to admit that my enjoyment and appreciation of it was enhanced by having met Lucy previously.

Some of the unspoken things we surmised about Lucy's childhood from Strout's previous book, are confirmed in the first story, "The Sign". Tommy, the school maintenance man tells some sad and lovely anecdotes about Lucy. This was my favorite story. Of course it's ultimately Tommy's story. Not only was he kind to Lucy as a young girl but his kindness continues with looking in on Lucy's recluse brother Pete. Even though these stories are about some of the people in Lucy's past,she is ever present in these character's memories. In "Windmills" Patty, a guidance counselor, remembers the tough life Lucy and her siblings had as children and is inspired by Lucy's new book, a memoir, inspired enough to help Lucy's niece get into college. She does this in spite of the rudeness shown to her by the girl. It isn't just the memories that people have of Lucy and their past connection to her, but Lucy herself appears front and center in the story, "Sister". Here in a visit with her brother and sister, they confront some of the terrible things they endured at the hands of poor and unfit parents. Yet what is so a amazing to me is that in spite of everything, in spite of Vicky's resentment that Lucy left, there is love between these siblings. "The Gift" about one of Lucy's cousins is one that impressed me as well. This one too has memories which ultimately make Abel believe that anything is possible as do many of the other characters.

This is structured in a similar way to Olive Kitteridge, with stories that connect so intimately that it had for me the feel of a novel. The writing flows, not an extra word, and the picture she gives of these characters is as clear as if we knew them ourselves. Strout always gives us the realty of living, of the human condition with the sometimes gritty, tough and sad parts along with the beautiful things that give hope and possibility. She remains one of my favorite writers.

I received an advanced copy of this from Random House Publishing Group - Random House through NetGalley. ...more

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Mar 08, 2017 Cheri rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arc, 2017, netgalley

!! NOW AVAILABLE !!

Once again, Elizabeth Strout has exquisitely examined and shared the life of a small group of people in a small town in this lovely compilation of intermingled stories that form this novel. If you’ve already read My Name is Lucy Barton, you’ll be familiar with many of them, and with Lucy.

In “Anything is Possible”, the focus is again on the relationships, in this case most are relatives of one degree or another of Lucy. Siblings. Cousins. Parents. Strained relationships in o ...more

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Feb 24, 2017 Perry rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mina-favoritböcker, books-most-loved

Art refreshingly revealing how anything's possible when one person honestly, authentically connects with another.
"Lucy, Lucy, Lucy B, where did you go to, how did you flee?"

Following the critical success of Olive Kitteridge and My Name Is Lucy Barton, Elizabeth Strout strops her razor-sharp discernment of human psyche, its nuances, uncertainties and frailty, and in conflict with itself in confronting moral depravity. Anything is Possible is a collection of nine interrelated stories set around Lu ...more

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Dec 18, 2016 Debbie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorite-authors, favorite-short-stories, best-reads-2012-through-2019, all-time-favorites, bookcase-of-faves-at-home, luscious-spines-live-in-my-bookcase, sibling-love-and-hate, family-drama

Firecrackers in my soul!!!

Socks knocked off AGAIN! My feet are cold, but my soul is on fire. This collection of stories goes directly to my all-time-favorites shelf. Brilliant, just brilliant. I can barely sit still just thinking about it.

I wasn’t super hot to try this collection, because even though I gave My Name Is Lucy Barton 4 stars, I wasn’t all a-gush. I had loved its subtle tension and its introspection, but I had had sort of a hefty Complaint Board. My biggest gripes were that Lucy and ...more

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Nov 22, 2017 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Once again, here is another book I read for a Goodreads challenge on audio. And it's another one I'm going to buy and add to my collection. BUT! I need to buy the first book (Lucy Barton) first. I had no idea this was the second book in that story line.

I loved everything about this book as well and the narrator was awesome!

I absolutely loved it!

Happy Reading!

Mel ♥ ...more

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May 23, 2017 Jen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Strout has quickly become for me a go-to-author. She creates memorable and complex characters for the simplest of stories.
Everything is Possible is an attestation to this. She links the character from my Name is Lucy Barton and weaves her into vignettes of the townspeople she grew up with. Those who knew of her as she was able to flee the stifling small town and successfully move on from her own sadness and despair. Themes of forgiveness, redemption and love of family and friends, because quite ...more

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Apr 13, 2017 Always Pouting rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I haven't read My Name is Lucy Barton but after finishing this I totally want to, also maybe if I would have read it before hand I'd have given this five stars. I really enjoyed the writing style, I actually felt the difference between chapters when the point of view shifted to that of another character which is amazing in my opinion because everyone has a certain writing style and because of that a lot of the characters end up being written similar enough that you don't really feel the shift as ...more

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Jul 03, 2020 Susanne Strong rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, 2020-five-star-books, favorite-authors

After having read “Olive Kitteridge,” I quickly decided to snap up every book by the esteemed Elizabeth Strout that I could. There is something about Elizabeth Strout's writing that I adore. Her ability to understand and delve into the human psyche, dysfunction and family is truly insightful. Her writing style is brilliant, beautiful, masterful - yet sometimes sad and devastatingly honest. Having just finished “My Name Is Lucy Barton” I knew that I needed to read the next book in the series, “A ...more

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Nov 29, 2020 Jim Fonseca rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: american-authors, short-stories

Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout

A collection of inter-connected short stories by the author of Olive Kitteridge, which I have previously read and enjoyed. Olive was set in small-town Maine; this book is set in a hard-up small farming town in Illinois.

description

An underlying theme in a lot of the stories is about class and, to a large extent, as I’ve written about the novels of Richard Russo, about movers and stayers. In Strout’s stories those who left did well and they tend not to have been back ...more

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Mar 31, 2017 Debra rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

4.5 stars

There is something so wonderfully absorbing and enthralling about Stout's books. I am absolutely certain that Stout could write a book about watching pain peel off a wall and I would read it. I love her writing. I read books and think that they are good and then I read Stout and think "Yes! Yes! Yes!" I can't quite put my finger on exactly what it is that draws me to her writing. She has a gift. She is a brilliant Author who can take people and their lives and add a certain type of bril ...more

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Feb 26, 2018 Peter rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley, literary-fiction, global-read

Fragile
Elizabeth Strout has written a remarkable book that communicates 9 different, but intertwined stories. There are various threads running between each story and the dialogue is superbly written to create a telling glimpse into the characters’ lives. Anything is Possible presents a wonderful range and balance between character variety, background and intrigue.

Beautifully depicted are the normal everyday tales we hear from husbands and wives, mothers and daughters, and between siblings, ne Fragile
Elizabeth Strout has written a remarkable book that communicates 9 different, but intertwined stories. There are various threads running between each story and the dialogue is superbly written to create a telling glimpse into the characters’ lives. Anything is Possible presents a wonderful range and balance between character variety, background and intrigue.

Beautifully depicted are the normal everyday tales we hear from husbands and wives, mothers and daughters, and between siblings, neighbours, friends and strangers. How the actions of one can affect the lives of others. Do we grasp opportunities in life or let them slide by and forever dream - if only? In this human mixture of opportunities, personalities and family, we are treated to an excellent story of families and society, how when that mix is unmasked, what steps we will take to achieve our dreams. Elizabeth Strout vividly portrays an array of family situations, some fractured, some mislaid, some misunderstood and some supportive. Strout draws the best and worst of people, the demons people struggle with, the choices made in life, and the difficult directions we are condemned to ruminate on, over and over.

The attitude of this book is to provide diverse characterisation that is never predictable. It is layered and conflicting and shows man’s capacity for forgiveness and spite. There is a general theme of family separation, and sometimes that’s for the best and other times it has a profound effect on the lives of children and spouses.

I felt drawn to the lives of Pete and Lucy Barton for different reasons. They are both troubled, coming from an extremely poor upbringing, but Lucy has broken free of her childhood environment and achieved success, while Pete has accepted to live the frugal life he has always known. Lucy is a wonderfully drawn character and the prequel My Name is Lucy Barton I have not read but she is so vulnerable that you can't help root for her and protect her from the echoes of her past. Pete, I was expecting the worst in the beginning, but we discover that he is an innocent, sensitive and withdrawn person. Maybe a tad slow but someone who has lost that zest for life.

A book I would highly recommend for its wonderful prose and character developments, and how the dialogue brings the story to life. Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books UK, for an ARC version in return for an honest review. ...more

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Jan 11, 2018 Julie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club, in-short, ms-strout-you-knock-me-out, worthy-of-another-read

I feel so compelled to have your attention right now. Have your attention, but not have it for me, or my words or my ego. . . but for you and your soul and for this book of Ms. Strout's.

Wow. Damn it. It's been a long time since a book has caused me to feel this agitated, this moved, this conflicted.

I had to force myself to walk outside, at a brisk pace, circling my yard several times, before I could commit to sitting down and writing this. Even so, I still feel edgy, irritated, worried that I wi ...more

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Sep 04, 2017 Jaline rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: xx2017-completed

This book is a series of related short stories, linked to each other, but also linked through connections to Lucy Barton. Raised in extreme poverty, Lucy Barton manages to escape the confinement of her class through education, hard work, and most of all by leaving the environment of her origins. Whether the connection is direct or peripheral, the people in this book know Lucy Barton, or know of her, or know people who know people who knew Lucy Barton.

Through sadness, contentment, pain, joy, sorr ...more

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Mar 27, 2020 Candi rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary-literary, short-stories, favorites

"I could understand things, like about the human heart, from a very young age." – Elizabeth Strout

My copy of this astonishing, soul-penetrating collection includes a question and answer session with Elizabeth Strout at the end. When asked about her sense of creativity, she completes her response with the above revelation. There can be no other reason why her writing is so compelling and affecting! This in essence sums up what makes her work so truly special and superior to nearly all of the cont "I could understand things, like about the human heart, from a very young age." – Elizabeth Strout

My copy of this astonishing, soul-penetrating collection includes a question and answer session with Elizabeth Strout at the end. When asked about her sense of creativity, she completes her response with the above revelation. There can be no other reason why her writing is so compelling and affecting! This in essence sums up what makes her work so truly special and superior to nearly all of the contemporary fiction on the bookshelves right now. It makes everything else pale in comparison.

A couple of years ago I read Strout’s novel, My Name is Lucy Barton, and was bowled over by the fact that such deceivingly clean and sparse prose could contain such remarkable insight into the human condition. The same is true in Anything is Possible. This contains a set of interconnected short stories that all have their ties to Lucy Barton – those folks that knew her or lived in her hometown of Amgash, Illinois during her troubled childhood. Every person in this story knows the meaning of struggle, loss, shame, loneliness, and pain. Just as each and every one of us has felt these same things. You can see a little piece of yourself in so many of her characters. Sibling relationships, romantic relationships, marriages, and parent-child relationships are examined with piercing clarity. My heart ached not just for these individuals, but for myself and my own ‘people’ as well. Why do we seem to hurt one another so easily? When love seems on surface such an easy thing to give and take, why is it ultimately so sticky and full of regret? Either I am becoming a big softy with each passing year, or I’m becoming more and more in tune with what makes us all tied together in this big, muddled world. Strout doesn’t just show us the bitter and messy side, however. She also points towards hope, forgiveness, and grace.

"We’re all just a mess… trying as hard as we can, we love imperfectly… but it’s okay."

If you’ve not read anything by Elizabeth Strout yet, do yourself a favor and do so right away. Now is the time, while each of us should surely be able to grasp the fact that we are all fastened to this unpredictable world. While feeling physically isolated from one another, somehow we are all together fighting against the same evil and longing for the very same things. We’re not so very different after all, are we?

"It was the tall white windmills that came to her mind. How their skinny long arms all turned, but never together, except for just once in a while two of them would be turning in unison, their arms poised at the same place in the sky."
...more

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May 18, 2017 Brenda ~Traveling Sisters Book Reviews rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

4.5 Stars

Anything is Possible is the sequel to My Name is Lucy Barton and is read as short stories. In these unforgettable wise, simple and gracefully told short stories we learn more of the siblings and neighbours known to us from My Name is Lucy Barton as they share gossip, judgement and their sadness and disappointments. I found My Name is Lucy Barton to be more of quieter story while Anything is Possible felt a bit louder with more things said as we learn the characters stories of disappoint ...more

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Apr 11, 2017 Karen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I loved My Name is Lucy Barton!
Anything is Possible, focuses on different characters, in each chapter, from Lucy's hometown of Amgash, Illinois. There is quite a lot of sadness and pain in these stories, but these characters and their situations were so well written, that I really felt like I knew them. I had a few favorites, and I am glad that Lucy made an appearance, and, the way the book ended, wow, what a way to go out!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC! ...more

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May 30, 2017 Linda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I read "My Name Is Lucy Barton" last year, which was my introduction to Elizabeth Strout's writing style. All I remember about that book were the feelings it provoked in me--unresolved feelings that were all too familiar with my own mother. I became so caught up in the strained relationship between Lucy and her mother and the hurt that had been festering all those years that I don't remember any of the people from Lucy's hometown who were mentioned. I only remember the small talk, taking the pla ...more

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Mar 15, 2017 Carol rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, read-2017, netgalley, published-2017, fiction, sequel, short-stories

4.5 Stars

Oh. Boy. Elizabeth Strout does it again in this sequel to MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON. She takes a group of unexceptional folk and interweaves an exceptional group of short stories as we revisit the small impoverished town of Amgash, Illinois. We even get to have a sit-down with Lucy herself.....albeit a somewhat difficult one.

Bad times and sad times are in abundance here though with dysfunctional families and their dark personal secrets, but a couple characters actually brought a smile to

...more

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Apr 23, 2017 Esil rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley

I loved Elizabeth Strout's My Name Is Lucy Barton. It was a short tight novel about an author reflecting on her harsh childhood and adult life while lying in a hospital bed with her mother at her side. There was something about Lucy that really touched me. My expectations were therefore high for Everything Is Possible. It's a collection of connected stories that are also linked to My Name Is Lucy Barton -- stories about people from Lucy's childhood town, bringing a different perspective to Lucy' ...more

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Apr 02, 2017 Iris P rated it it was amazing

Shelves: short-stories, fiction, netgalley, favorite-authors

Anything Is Possible

★★★★★ 5 Convincing Stars!

“Sarah Payne, the day she told us to go to the page without judgment, reminded us that we never knew, and never would know, what it would be like to understand another person fully."

― Elizabeth Strout, My Name is Lucy Barton

***********************************************

I received a free advance e-copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you!

In My Name Is Lucy Barton, the critically acclaimed 2016 ...more

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Jan 12, 2018 Dianne rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: arcs-and-goodreads-first-reads, best-of-2018

Just stellar, as always. Elizabeth Strout, how I love thee!

This amazing collection of 9 short stories revolves around the community of Amgash, Illinois, the hometown of Lucy Barton, the leading lady of Strout's previous novel ("My Name is Lucy Barton"). You don't necessarily need to read "Lucy Barton" first to tackle and enjoy this collection, but I highly recommend it. Lucy's backstory does illuminate several of these narratives.

Strout's characters are all loosely connected in some way across t ...more

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Mar 08, 2017 Michael rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: family-relationships, rural-life, fiction, netgalley, short-stories, illinois, maine

A masterful collection of nine connected stories. They all feature people with origins from a fictional rural northern Illinois community, Amgash, and triangulate with Lucy Barton, who moved away and became a successful writer. They were all affected one way or another by one in their midst who survived such abject poverty that she and her two cousins resorted to eating out of dumpsters. Now seventeen years later, her friends, family, and former enemies have all moved on in their lives, some cha A masterful collection of nine connected stories. They all feature people with origins from a fictional rural northern Illinois community, Amgash, and triangulate with Lucy Barton, who moved away and became a successful writer. They were all affected one way or another by one in their midst who survived such abject poverty that she and her two cousins resorted to eating out of dumpsters. Now seventeen years later, her friends, family, and former enemies have all moved on in their lives, some changed for the better, others fulfilling their meanness or weakness evident in their younger selves. Some find Lucy’s success as a shining example of hope while others are jealous or envious over the fate of someone who seemed the epitome of “trash.” As one example, here is the reaction of a former enemy of Lucy to her book:

Now , as Patty drove into her driveway, saw the lights she’d left on, she realized that Lucy Barton’s book had understood her. That was it—the book had understood her. …Lucy Barton had her own shame; oh boy did she have her own shame. And she had risen right straight out of it.

Each character featured in a story experiences a sort of epiphany which comes from a sudden breaking down of barriers with another person or a surprising revelation about someone they know closely. A school janitor, Tommy, who befriended Lucy during all her years of staying alone in the after school period, now seeks to build a bridge with her reclusive older brother Peter. He learns that Peter always assumed that he and Lucy’s father was guilty of burning down his farm whereas Tommy for his part had long come to see the disaster as an act of God which ultimately benefitted his children with the humbling outcome. In another story, a school guidance counselor, Patty, is attacked by one of Lucy’s nieces as “Fatty Patty” and a likely virgin, but somehow she breaks though to forgiveness and compassion for her to offer a pathway to hope in her life. In a third story, Lucy’s cousin Dottie lets one guest at her bed and breakfast unload a lot of twisted detail in her unhappy life with a doctor. When it turns out she has been used, she finds a way to seek a bit of revenge while at the same time finds grace in letting another more deserving guest unburden himself in wordless grief over some unspeakable pain. Another kind of sudden window between souls is experienced by Dottie’s brother Abel when he returns to a theater to retrieve his granddaughter’s toy pony and gets waylaid by the confessions of a depressed homosexual actor who portrayed Scrooge. In my favorite story in the collection, Angelina, a school teacher friend of Patty’s, visits her mother in Italy, where in her 70s she has taken up a new life with a much younger man after 50 years of unhappy marriage to her father. The balm of her mother’s love is still there for her as Angelina comes to reveal the failure of her own marriage.

Three stories stand out as a particular twist away from the parallel themes of the book. In two cases, a sudden breach between people is the focus instead of a surprising bridge. In one, a Vietnam veteran with PTSD is breaking up with his mistress and shows some surprising kindness that damages the marriage he is trying to protect. In another case, one of the hauty, superior “Nicely girls” who were so cruel and bullying to Lucy in her childhood undergoes a form of karma when her wealthy husband reveals his true colors as a lecher and abuser of a woman photographer who stays in their home as an artist-in-residence at the local college. The third story to stretch the mold is the one that features Lucy herself visiting her brother Peter and sister Vicky for the first time since leaving. Just as progress is being made toward relief of the jealousies and misunderstanding between them, the step to epiphany is interrupted by a panic attack that overwhelms Lucy and forces her to leave. The strategy on Strout’s part seems to be to leave it up to the reader to complete the bridging more explicit in the other stories.

I was very moved by the forms of human connection on display in this book. Strout has quickly become one of my favorite authors. She is so competent at spinning tales with potent truths embedded or resonating out of them, with no hint of pretentious self-indulgence. I thought it was brilliant how the hope of a surprising transformation of understanding between people, as expressed in the book’s title, “Anything is Possible,” turns out to conform to the very last line of the book.

The best "take home" message for me comes from Patty's urge to comfort Angelina over her disconnection with her mother:
But she wanted to say right now: Listen to this! Lucy Barton’s mother was awful to her, and her father—oh dear God, her father … But Lucy loved them, she loved her mother, and her mother loved her! We’re all just a mess, Angelina, trying hard as we can, we love imperfectly, Angelina, but it’s okay.

This book was provided by the publisher for review through the Netgalley program. ...more

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Apr 05, 2017 Jennifer rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories, 2017-books

I expect I'll be the odd one out on this book. While I see glowing accolates and many 4.5 and 5 star reviews, I just had a hard time connecting with it. I cannot put my finger on the exact reason. Strout's My Name Is Lucy Barton was extraordinary, and this book is written in a similar vein. Strout takes us to Lucy's hometown where we meet people from her past as well as her siblings. Every person is so completely *human* -- flawed, imperfect, and in this book, profoundly sad (perhaps that was my ...more

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Jul 26, 2020 Sandy *The world could end while I was reading and I would never notice* rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020, audio, 4-star, contemporary-fiction, short-stories, domestic-drama, purely-for-pleasure, slice-of-life, netgalley-arc

EXCERPT: Tommy knew many things as a result of being the janitor in that school for more than thirty years: he knew of girls' pregnancies and of drunken mothers and cheating spouses, for he overheard these things talked about by the students in their small huddles by the bathrooms, or near the cafeteria; in many ways he was invisible, he understood that. But Lucy Barton had troubled him the most. She and her sister, Vicky, and her brother, Pete, had been viciously scorned by the other kids, and EXCERPT: Tommy knew many things as a result of being the janitor in that school for more than thirty years: he knew of girls' pregnancies and of drunken mothers and cheating spouses, for he overheard these things talked about by the students in their small huddles by the bathrooms, or near the cafeteria; in many ways he was invisible, he understood that. But Lucy Barton had troubled him the most. She and her sister, Vicky, and her brother, Pete, had been viciously scorned by the other kids, and by some of the teachers too. Yet, because Lucy stayed after school so often for so many years, he felt - though she seldom spoke - that he knew her the best. One time, when she was in the fourth grade, it was his first year working there, he had opened the door to a classroom and found her lying on three chairs pushed together, over near the radiators, her coat as a blanket, fast asleep. He had stared at her, watching her chest move slightly up and down, seen the dark circles beneath her eyes, her eyelashes spread like tiny twinkling stars, for her eyelids had been moist as though she had been weeping before she slept, and then he backed out slowly, quietly as he could; it had felt almost unseemly to have come upon her like that.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: Short story collection 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) returns to visit her siblings after seventeen years of absence.

MY THOUGHTS: Elizabeth Strout always creeps up on me and takes me unawares. She is a master of making the ordinary extraordinary, of taking the everyday minutiae of life and revealing their hidden depths and nuances, of highlighting the gaps between perception and reality.

The common thread between all ten of these short stories, is Lucy Barton, of 'My Name is Lucy Barton', which was the first book I had ever read by this author. These stories are set in the town of Amgash, Illinois, where Lucy grew up. They are about other members of her family, people she knew, and people who knew, or knew of, her.

The characters are complex, and not always nice, the relationships difficult, the plot intricately ordinary. This could be any community, anywhere in the world. There is luck, good and bad, plenty and poverty, opportunities taken, and wasted, love reciprocated, and unrequited, affairs, deceit, blackmail, abuse, and bravery, so much bravery, although it is mostly not recognised as such.

I was sad to close the cover on this book. But I will be back to visit with Ms Strout soon. I have Olive Kitteridge in my sights.

****

THE AUTHOR: Elizabeth Strout is the author of several novels, including: Abide with Me, a national bestseller and BookSense pick, and Amy and Isabelle, which won the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize, and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize in England. In 2009 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her book Olive Kitteridge. Her short stories have been published in a number of magazines, including The New Yorker. She teaches at the Master of Fine Arts program at Queens University of Charlotte.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Random House Publishing Group via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system, please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also posted on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/... ...more

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Dec 31, 2018 Hugh rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2018, modern-lit

This was my 147th and last book of 2018, and my first review of 2019. This collection of stories is a companion piece to the Booker longlisted My Name is Lucy Barton, and I came very close to awarding it 5 stars.

This collection is largely set in the rural backwater of Amgash, Illinois, the small town from which Lucy escaped her impoverished childhood to become a writer in New York. Each of the stories is self-contained, but there are links both to the earlier book and to other stories in this on ...more

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Feb 04, 2017 PattyMacDotComma rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arc-netgalley-done, aa, fiction-adult, shortstories-essays, kindle, favourites-adult

5★
Disclaimer. Elizabeth Strout is one of my favourite writers and I loved My Name Is Lucy Barton, so I was predisposed to enjoy this. And I did. She catches people when they are most vulnerable.

Lucy, her family and other townsfolk she and her mother reminisced about in the previous book feature in separate stories and occasionally appear in each other’s. Whether you connect all the dots or not doesn't really matter, but of course when you do make the connections, it multiplies the enjoyment. Ah, ...more

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Play Book Tag: Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout - 5 Stars	1	7	Mar 15, 2021 11:33PM
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. Book about 5 people in a small town.. one is an elderly man who’s married. Starts off with him buying flowers for his wife. He stops to visit a man named Peter who lives alone. [s]	6	42	Jul 17, 2019 12:37PM
ACPL Online Book ...: Treatment of relationships (slight spoiler)	6	11	Apr 23, 2019 02:41PM
ACPL Online Book ...: Why a short-story structure?	5	4	Apr 23, 2019 07:06AM
ACPL Online Book ...: The legend of Lucy Barton in Amgash (slight spoiler)	2	11	Apr 17, 2019 01:59PM
ACPL Online Book ...: Moments of grace (Slight spoiler)	2	10	Apr 17, 2019 01:17PM
ACPL Online Book ...: Which character or story affected you the most?	2	11	Apr 17, 2019 12:46PM

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About Elizabeth Strout

Elizabeth Strout

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Elizabeth Strout is the author of several novels, including: Abide with Me, a national bestseller and BookSense pick, and Amy and Isabelle, which won the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize, and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize in England. In 2009 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her book Olive Kitteri ...more