Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout

I have not read, “My Name is Lucy Barton” and apparently Anything is Possible is a continuation or at least related to that novel.  That makes sense, because the only character that I really remember from the story is Lucy Barton.

The book is actually a collection of short stories of the people who live in Lucy’s hometown, Amgash, Illinois.   At the time that I was reading it, I had no idea it was short stories.  It just seemed to keep tossing more and more characters at me and I honestly couldn’t keep track of them.  After reading some other reviews, I see that these are back stories to the characters in the My Name is Lucy Barton book.

The writing is beautiful and even though I had to reacquaint myself with a character each time they appeared, I enjoyed the stories.  The only memorable character to me was Lucy Barton.  Perhaps because she made it out of Amgash, Illinois and was the only character who’s life didn’t follow a predictable path.

I enjoyed the book and probably would have enjoyed it more if I had known it was to be read more like short stories or essays about the characters in a small town.

I received and ARC of this book.