We All Want Impossible Things

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses terminal illness, death, grieving, and drug use, which feature in the source text.

Ash Feld is the single mother of two daughters, college student Jules and high schooler Belle. Ash is the protagonist and narrator of the story, which traces her development from a generally self-centered and self-destructive individual into a person who has experienced great loss and become a far more selfless, vulnerable, and loving individual in the process. Each chapter is interspersed with asides that illuminate her past, her relationships, and her innermost thoughts and feelings. Ash will see a sunset or hear a song and proceed to narrate a specific memory that relates to the present moment in some way. Although the novel takes place over the course of two or three weeks, Ash’s recollections paint a much fuller portrait of her character.

Over the course of the novel, the struggle that Ash endures in caring for her best friend, Edi, and attempting to work through her feelings of grief and anger come out in a number of different ways. Some of them are unhealthy, some are unhelpful, but once Edi’s condition takes its final turn Ash begins to change for the better.