Book Review by K.S.Loganathan
Matt Haig is an English writer and journalist. His latest book ‘The Life Impossible’, is currently a top ten best seller in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. In this book, the main character is a retired mathematician from England whose anhedonia is unblocked by a mystical experience in Ibiza to which she travels in response to an old friend’s bequest.
The title of the book is from a Spanish marine biologist Alberto Ribas ‘s work ‘La vida Impossible’, that revealed that the seagrass in Ibiza , which is 100,000 years old, has an alien force manifesting as a bioluminescence with unnatural properties. He was discredited by the scientific community, but he plays an important part in the novel. The story can be classed as’ soft’ magical realism wherein the fantasy elements are not explained in depth. It is however suffused with liberal doses of mathematics, philosophy, ,nature, and alien life.
The mathematician, Grace Winters, who has lost her husband and son recently, is lonely and grieving in her house in Lincoln. She moves to Ibiza to live in a “roadside shack” on a busy road, gifted by a virtual stranger. Her concept of a boundary between mathematical reality and fantasy and her logical world crumbles as the events unfold, and she acquires extra-sensory talents like mind-reading, telepathy, telekinesis , clairvoyance, and precognition . As the story is told in the first-person narrative, her transition to activism is rather abrupt, as she exhibits “pattern – breaking” behaviour. She joins forces with Alberto and his daughter Marta to challenge the force of darkness, which seeks to destabilize the island.
There are lovely descriptions of Ibiza and lots of philosophical musings, for example- Life is a chiaroscuro: Reality is merely a ( persistent) illusion, Aliens are everywhere, etc.
The story is about second chances. In my opinion, it should have been told in the third person and should have included more and diverse personalities and their insights on life. But it deals with topical issues and the fans of Matt Haig will be glad to lap it up.
2 Responses
Thank you for a detailed review of the book Aishwariya. Simply loved reading and am so fascinated by all the overflow of fantasy into the logical world. Matt Haig’s books are like that, the magic brings hope, and a feeling that everything gets to be alright in the end.
Thank you, Sona. Have conveyed it to my dad. I have read and loved Midnight Library and The Comfort Book in the past.