The Possibilities by Kaui Hart Hemmings

The Possibilities by Kaui Hart Hemmings – 288 pages

Book Blurb:

In the idyllic ski town of Breckenridge, Colorado, Sarah St. John is reeling. Three months ago, her twenty-two-year-old son, Cully, died in an avalanche. Though single, Sarah is hardly alone in her grief. Her father, a retiree, tries to distract her with gadgets from the QVC home shopping channel. Sarah’s best friend offers life advice by venting details of her own messy divorce. Even Cully’s father reemerges, stirring more emotions and confusion than Sarah needs. Still, Sarah feels she is facing the stages of grief — the anger, the sadness, the letting go — alone. Barely ready to face the fact she will never again hear the swoosh of her son’s ski pants, or watch him skateboard past her window, Sarah is surprised when a strange girl arrives on her doorstep. Unexpected and unexplained, she bears a secret from Cully that could change all of their lives forever.

My Review: 5 stars

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Fabulous book. This author is so skilled at creating believable, relatable, flawed and awesome characters. The dialogue is pitch perfect and I literally watched this book as a movie in my head. Hemmings took a tragic subject and through a look at everyday life and realizing what it is she has left to live for, she endures. I loved her relationship with her best friend. They were painfully honest with one another and for that I applaud the author. Not all friendships are rainbows and sunshine. It’s the real friends that you can be down and dirty with to shake the pain out. The bonds between parent and child were beautifully portrayed in the multi-generational family situation. Hemmings added just enough romance to keep the reader on its toes.

Well done and yes, it’s been confirmed it will be a movie. If it’s done anything like The Decedents (Hemmings’ earlier novel and movie adaptation), I’ll be there, with or without my popcorn.

Quotes I liked:

The best is only the best when others can’t buy it. And you can, because you’re blessed.”

– “Sometimes friends are so unfriendly to each other.”

– “Why is it that when a child feels sad or ashamed, they’re mean to their parents?”

– “Funny how that emotion, embarrassment, is just deer-in-the-headlights debilitating. You can hurt someone and go around thumping your chest like a baboon. But to be embarrassed, that’s tough. Makes people veer quite incredibly from logic.”

– “This was Seth—my object, my focus for so long—I was finally getting his attention, yet his words were making this bright star of a boy fade fast. Don’t fade. Be perfect. Be from a book. “

– “Part of me feels comforted that her child is disappointing her. Both pride and displeasure in one’s children seem to make mothers bond.”