I did not care for this book at first, because it was not at all what I was expecting. Never judge a book by its blurb. As I relaxed and just let the book be what it was, I enjoyed the writing, and the vivid descriptions of Belize and Guatemala. Edelman is good with words. The story itself never really gripped me, but that is probably a matter of perspective: I did not relate to the subject matter. Others might find it just what they are looking for. ( )

The Possibility of Everything was a compelling read, although I found myself incredibly annoyed with both parents throughout the entire book. I'll chalk that up to not being a parent myself, and not having the ability to appropriately empathize with the challenges of parenting a child who has behavioral problems. I'm not sure I'd recommend this book to any of my friends who are parents, but would definitely recommend it to my fellow non-breeders. That, and I'd recommend it to my spouse's hippy-dippy California-dwelling Taos-visiting goddess-worshipping cousin's wife. She'd totally love this book. ( )

Lovers of memoirs; anyone looking to find a sense of hope in a difficult world; anyone willing to believe in the possibility of everything.

What I Have to Say: This was an amazingly beautiful, hopeful book that ignited my love of travel and adventure while at the same time reminding me how beautiful it is to have the option to choose to believe in whatever we please.
In this memoir, Hope and her family travel to Belize on what starts off as a vacation but in the end turns into a journey of healing and faith. Her daughter is sick, and though she may not have previously realized it, her marriage is in a shambles. On their trip to Belize, Hope will be forced to test her faith over and over and over again. At on point in time in the book, she says "I still have no idea how it's possible to believe in the potential of something while simultaneously refusing it the right to exist, but it is." For me, this one phrase just about sums up the entire book. Hope believes in the possibility of everything, and she wants so badly to believe in more than just the possibility, to believe in the existence of everything. Throughout the entire book she struggles with this, trying so hard to believe for the sake of her sick daughter, whose imaginary friend is changing her personality in so many negative ways. Does she have a negative spirit attached to her?
At some points I found this frustrating. I also believe in the possibility of everything, but after that, I believe we can choose whether or not to believe. And, for the most part, I choose to believe. For example, no one has ever PROVEN that unicorns don't exist, so I choose to believe that they do. For me, it's more a question of choice than faith (is there a difference?), and it was therefore sometimes hard for me to see her struggling with something that seemed to me so obvious. Hope's book taught me, though, that, for most people, it's a question of faith. And Hope's struggle to believe in the power of having faith, and to learn how to have faith, is inspiring and powerful.
With each Shaman they visit, each new mini-trip they take, we see Hope's faith growing. We see her doing things she never previously dreamed of doing for the love of her daughter, Maya. And through it all, we see how this heals her family when she didn't even know it needed to be healed. No, Hope doesn't magically transform from a skeptic to a believer in just this one trip, but we see this awesome voyage making many profound cracks in her skepticism, and we see how just having faith gives us the power to grow.
Aside from the deep, emotional implications of this book, like I said, it also played on my love of travel. It takes place in Belize, and Hope does a great job of weaving on Shamanistic and Maya(n?) history. The book left me begging my boyfriend to agree to go to Belize with me for our next vacation, and I was excited to learn so much about the Maya Indians and their history.
"The Possiblity of Everything" is beautifully written and deeply touching while also being an incredibly enojyable, emotional, quick read! ( )

I enjoyed The Possibility of Everything, enough, certainly, to seek out more of Hope Edelman's writing. I enjoyed the descriptive travelogue of Belize as much as I enjoyed the family dynamic of the non-believing, rational Hope and her spiritual, filled-with-hope husband Uzi. The story is a compelling one about Hope's daughter Maya, a possibly malignant imaginary friend, and Maya's abrupt personality change. This is a well-paced and engrossing story. ( )

A long time ago a friend recommended Hope Edelman’s earlier book Motherless Daughters. For some reason I never found the time to read it, but now I will. I loved The Possibility of Everything beginning with its title. Edelman describes herself as a religious skeptic and dates that cynicism from the time of her mother’s death. How can a teenager continue to believe in a god who would allow such a tragedy, create such despair. Her husband Uzi by contrast is spiritual, open to the possibility of everything. Hope married Uzi because he was the kindest man she had ever met, and she needs this kindness to help solve their three-year-old daughter’s sudden personality disorder. Maya physically attacks Hope and then claims that an imaginary companion, Dodo, is the villain. Dodo becomes Maya’s constant companion and ready scapegoat. Maya’s erratic behavior begins to deeply alarm her parents who wonder whether she is merely imaginative or perhaps possessed by an evil spirit. They decide to take a vacation in Belize and while there visit a famous shaman, who they hope might help Maya. The book becomes a combination travelogue, personal diary, and history textbook. As Edelman and her family travel through Central America searching for a way to help Maya the rich Mayan past merges with the vibrant present. If the reader’s curiosity about Maya’s psyche can be restrained there is much to be learned about a people and a culture vastly different from our modern industrial world’s. Reading an uncorrected proof can be troubling but Edelman’s beautiful prose overcomes the rough spots. Edleman describes a wonderful, magical journey that has the power to change not only the way she views the world but also the way the reader does. At the end of the book, Edelman discovers a white rock lying on the beach. The rock has eight holes, perfect for a menorah, perfect for a symbolic blending of an ancient Jewish tradition and the Mayan adventure that has convinced Edelman of the possibility of everything.

dsbj ( )