The Possibility of Everything

by Hope Edelman

Book Overview

Look for the discussion guide inside In the autumn of 2000, Hope Edelman was a woman adrift, questioning her marriage, her profession, and her place in the larger world. Feeling vulnerable and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345506502
• ISBN13: 9780345506504
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 329 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Anything is possible!

I loved this book. Hope Edelman's memoir is touching, insightful and, yes, even healing. Like Hope, I also lost my mother when I was a teenager, so many of the emotions and feelings she describes I could totally identify with. Perhaps that's why this memoir impacted me so strongly, but I think anyone reading this book will be inspired and touched by it. At one point in the book Edelman points out that a friend would later say (after proofing the manuscript for her) that they are always traveling somewhere - on a journey. That's really what this book is all about - a journey of healing and discovery. Along the way Edelman provides vivid descriptions and details about the exotic, beautiful country they travel. While Edelman and her husband seek out a "cure" to rid their daughter of her strangely influential imaginary friend, Dodo, Edelman herself goes through a transformation. She and her husband, Uzi, strengthen their bond along the way as well. It's a journey where afterward you discover, like Hope did, that anything is possible. After reading this book, I found myself longing to visit the same country and experience the same healing transformation that she did. I highly recommend it, in fact, I've already passed on my copy to a friend for reading.

A beautiful, honest ode to parenting

Hope Edelman's memoir is remarkable in its pure, beautiful honesty, its engaging voice, and its exploration of the moment in every parent's life when he/she wonders--has something gone terribly wrong with my child? Edelman reveals the feelings that many parents share when her daughter Maya begins acting in ways that are unfamiliar to her. Her family's trip to Belize to find ways to help her daughter shows the desperation many parents feel when trying to help a distressed child. The memoir is especially beautiful when it layers in Edelman's experiences with her own parents. The trip to Belize to help Maya is suspenseful (more suspenseful!) than any thriller. When Edelman carries out the shaman Rosita's prescription for helpinng Maya, the action is so simple and beautiful it brought me to tears. Buy this book for anyone who is, has been, or wants to be a parent--it speaks to the deepest fears and vulnerabilities of many mothers. It will leave you breathless.

Six Stars!

I absolutely adored this book. I sucked it down in one long setting and it was wonderful. From the canyon country of Los Angeles and the woods of Connecticut to the beaches of Belize, it has a beautiful travel and life memoir framing the story. The story of amazing expansive love that only those readers with a child can possibly understand. The insanity of a child being overtaken by an imaginary friend - but not a happy, helpful playmate. A dark complicated spirit. I hate even thinking about these things because I know if it happened here, in my family - I'd absolutely lose my mind. I mean, how do you even think about going into Pacific Care to your pediatrician to begin a dialogue on spiritual possesion? They'd have Social Services there so fast, your head would spin - joke intended. Can you start with the local priest - or synagogue or the corner church? Do you talk to the person in charge? What do you do? Throw in there a parent who is ALWAYS working and you are left by yourself with a rather sinister and complicated issue. And trust me, life in Los Angeles and the outskirts is both sinister and complicated enough without a resident demon. So, Edelman, Uzi her husband and daughter Maya go on vacation. They arrive in Belize after some typically crazed flight arrangements - (NEVER cheap out on Latin American air fares with lesser known carriers, especially when flying with kids). The evil entity, known as Dodo comes along as well. Shaman, Ancient Healers and a long enough vacation resolve the dark and the journey is beautiful and worth reading. My favorite parts were those that focused on Maya's insights - she knew the shaman was trying to take her cough away. She saw the entities that linger in the ruins. She had knowledge that was not her own and that can only come from a spiritual companion. I'm so disappointed to hear from the other reviewers that they thought that the book went on in too much detail and that it was too long. That makes me sad. Because this is a reader's read. If you love details and poring over stories that have wonderful descriptions and details (think Proust) this is a sublime read on many different levels. However, even with that there were two additional take away questions that I felt needed answers. The first one dealt with Maya's doll - I wish the story would have taken more time and effort to present the doll as a portal to this spirit - I thought that was going to be the direction - especially when the first Medicine Man makes a point of asking about the doll. The second question I had was why it had taken this family SO long to get away to reclaim their sense of selves. Even Bill Gates took a vacation - WHY did they wait so long - almost to the brink of dissolution before they decide to go? Anyway, it is a beautiful story, a wonderful read. It's for late night cups of coffee and an ethereal experience in the wonders of what is and how we perceive it. I loved it.

It's A Matter Of Faith

After reading this Memoir by Hope Edelman I believe she could write fiction wonderfully. This story she tells of her trip to Belize with her husband Uzi, and daughter, Maya, captivated me. She tells the story of how she was dealing with an imaginary friend of her daughters and it was becoming quite a problem. Maya in most respects seems to be an average only child, a little spoiled, who can be a little "stinker". She has screaming fits and blames them on "DoDo", her imaginary friend. I can remember similar incidents with my own children and was able to relate quite well. Hope is a stay at home working Mom. Uzi, runs a [...] business and works late hours, leaving Hope doing most of the parenting. Dealing with the increasing problems she is having with her daughter and the distance she is feeling in her marriage, Hope becomes very distraught as far as how to deal with the problem. When talking to her husband about this, they decide they need a vacation. Belize is where they decide to go. Uzi is a very calm man open to alternative lifestyle and believes in a the bigger picture, things unseen. Hope has little faith in anything she can't control. She only believes in what she knows to be a proven, visible truth. In traveling to Belize, Uzi decides that they should have their daughter seen by a Shaman, a healer. They experience a very interesting journey through the jungle and with people who do believe in a faith that is real and strong. It was a joy to read this book as a mother and as a person with a strong faith of my own. "Hooray" for Hope and I hope that she can continue on her path of discovering the importance of having faith in anything and everything as the title of her book so aptly says.

DoDo and the shaman

How far would you be willing to go to separate your child from her/his imaginary friend? I'm not talking about the mostly harmless imaginary friend as in "Family Circus" where "Not Me" does all the bad things - knocking over a vase, writing on the wall, that sort of thing. I'm talking about the sort of imaginary friend that makes you question your child's sanity and wonder what DNA you may have passed on to your child. I am most familiar with M's Edelman's incredible book "Motherless Daughters". On that basis alone, I picked this book out. And it definitely didn't disappoint. M's Edelman's 3 year daughter Maya seems like the "normal" child that age. High spirited, imaginative and creative, it's not unusual for a child of that age to have an imaginary friend in lieu of younger siblings. (My younger son had an imaginary friend at that age, too. His name was Aaron Copeland. Nothing like DoDo.) So why worry - the kid will get over it in time. Not for Maya. Her friend DoDo was beyond mischievous. He didn't want her to eat her food, food she had previously enjoyed. He didn't want her to take her medicine. He didn't want her to get better. That aspect frightened M's Edelman and her husband. It would frighten me to death. So M's Edelman, who was the practical one, only believing what she could see, and her husband make a difficult decision - possibly the only decision left after they had exhausted the alternatives. They decide to take Maya to Mayan healers in Belize. This book details all the steps involved in such a courageous undertaking. I say it's courageous because few people can admit there might be something beyond what they can see. Few people are willing to trust a healer so completely with something as precious as their child. Yet they do.... How does it work out? Who really needed to be healed? How does this all play out? M's Edelman writes a detailed memoir of how she came to be in Belize with her family and the far reaching ramifications of that visit. I recommend this book highly. It's a great read and M's Edelman is a skilled writer. At turns funny, heartbreaking and thought provoking, it is a great read.