
Anything Is Possible
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– Unabridged
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Penguin presents the unabridged downloadable audiobook edition of Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout, read by Kimberly Farr.
An unforgettable cast of small-town characters copes with love and loss from the number one New York Times best-selling and Man Booker long-listed author of My Name Is Lucy Barton
Recalling Olive Kitteridge in its richness, structure, and complexity, Anything Is Possible explores the whole range of human emotion through the intimate dramas of people struggling to understand themselves and others.
Anything Is Possible tells the story of the inhabitants of rural, dusty Amgash, Illinois, the hometown of Lucy Barton, a successful New York writer who finally returns, after 17 years of absence, to visit the siblings she left behind. Reverberating with the deep bonds of family and the hope that comes with reconciliation, Anything Is Possible again underscores Elizabeth Strout's place as one of America's most respected and cherished authors.
- Listening Length8 hours and 29 minutes
- Audible release date4 May 2017
- LanguageEnglish
- ASINB06XT9FBKJ
- VersionUnabridged
- Program TypeAudiobook
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Product details
Listening Length | 8 hours and 29 minutes |
---|---|
Author | Elizabeth Strout |
Narrator | Kimberly Farr |
Whispersync for Voice | Ready |
Audible.com.au Release Date | 04 May 2017 |
Publisher | Penguin Books Ltd |
Program Type | Audiobook |
Version | Unabridged |
Language | English |
ASIN | B06XT9FBKJ |
Best Sellers Rank | 9,319 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 223 in Family Life Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) 402 in Literary Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) 1,011 in Family Life Fiction (Books) |
Customer reviews
Top reviews from Australia
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Very well written a good command of language. thanks for an enjoyable reading experience.
Top reviews from other countries

Not an actual sequel to the author’s previous novel ‘My Name is Lucy Barton’ this book does feature her and takes us to her home town of Amgash and the surrounding area (such as Carlisle) Illinois. Here we read of other members of the Barton family, including cousins, as well as other people from the area.
Filled with various themes so we can see depression, desire and loneliness, along with desperation and gossip, and so on. As incidents occur and we find out things that are going on in the present as well as in the past, so we find characters that are skilfully drawn with scenarios that we either have experience of or can empathise with. This is beautifully written, and the people really come to life, with their warts and all, giving us a deeper insight into life and what it means to be human. None of us are perfect, and this is shown here, with flaws appearing in characters, that adds to that human touch.
You do not have to have read the Lucy Barton novel to appreciate this, and due to the structure, even if you do not normally read short story books you may soon find yourself enjoying this, as the tales interconnect, and as I have already mentioned this does have a feel of a novel about it. Giving us a greater depth than the page count may indicate this really is a pure pleasure to read.

Seemingly innocuous scenes unfold with a gradual shift in tone and mood, that are sometimes alarming and violent, sometimes touching and sad, but always moving, as a character learns something about himself or herself, or revisits a distant memory and wonders at how it has been distorted just so. Strout’s impeccable skill at fully investing in the moment such that the immediate surroundings acquire significance and become part of the character’s frame of reference for a feeling or some hard truth that he or she has to suddenly grapple with is in full force in these interconnected narratives. For instance, when a pliant wife confronts the awful crimes her husband commits and worse, that she has been complicit with, “the Hopper painting hung on the wall with an indifference so vast it began to feel personal, as though it had been painted for this moment.”
Oftentimes a simple truth uttered in the midst of tremendous hurt and pain, at the right place and time, offers a glimmer of hope and acceptance, such as this one: “And remorse, well, to be able to show remorse - to be able to be sorry about what we’ve done that’s hurt other people - that keeps us human.” And as much as we battle ourselves and the world at large each day on our own, and realise that “everyone... was mainly and mostly interested in themselves”, as a woman Patty listened to her friend turning a conversation back to her own to her own troubles, she reflected on the devotion of her late husband: “This was the skin that protected you from the world - this loving of another person you shared your life with.” The sadness and longing of that sentence was palpable in the context of all that Patty had loved and lost.
Strout may not offer any pithy answers but she expertly dissects the contradictions of this thing we call the human condition, exposing its bare bones for our reflection and examination, and it’s difficult to step out from this novel without a certain reverence for one’s life and its complicated relationships.


I struggled to figure out the relationships between the different characters - often having to go back to remind myself who a person was and what their connection was. I might get the Lucy Barton novel, as I did (in general) like the writing style, and hope that a cohesive single story line will be easier to handle!

It is 254 pages with 9 chapters that are names rather than numbered.
The book is structured in the format of 9 short stories, each one focusing on one character in the community, all linked by Lucy Barton. Lucy had a difficult childhood in the town then moved away to become successful in New York. Each chapter is perfectly formed - standing alone as a story but then linking beautifully with all the other chapters to give a complete novel.
My Name is Lucy Barton is the first book in the series and this is the second (I didn't realise this until I started reading). It is not necessary to have read the previous novel before this one although it will add back story. If you haven't read Lucy Barton then it would work to read it after this one as the story will be much more complete and you will get more historical context.
Each of the chapters start with a fairly cosy setup then quickly descend into darkness, some being quite disturbing for the characters and the reader.
Cleverly, as each chapter revealing more about it's subject, the style of writing changes to match their personality.
I was surprised which people has been chosen by the author but was fascinated to hear their voices. I wanted to know their unique stories and find out more about why they see the world in the way they do.
This is such an amazing book, structurally as well as on many other levels. There is no particular plot, just a perfect observation of a group of people connected by community.