This book is an awful lot of fun. I happened upon an excerpt from The Impossible Us a few years back, and on the strength of the preview, pre-ordered it.

Naturally, I forgot all about the matter, but was delighted to eventually receive the book in the mail. 

Okay, the concept–this is not really a spoiler since it’s right on the back cover, but if you’d prefer to know nothing, stop reading here and just get yourself a copy.    

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If you’re still reading, here’s the setup: a misdirected email ends up introducing Bee (a young woman, a bit of a workaholic with a successful small business) and Nick (struggling with a failing marriage and an unsuccessful writing career). They hit it off immediately, beginning a long correspondence, and eventually falling in love. Their efforts to meet in person go incredibly awry, and for good reason–after some misunderstandings and hurt feelings, they realize that they are actually living in parallel universes, connected by some kind of cosmic glitch.

Once they understand their predicament, things get really interesting…since they can’t be together, the next best thing is to find, and pursue, their counterparts in each other’s worlds. Dishonest? Manipulative? Messy? Unfair? Potentially dangerous? Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes, but also, perfectly understandable. After all, true love doesn’t come along too often, in this world, or any other.

Unsurprisingly, things get very complicated. Sarah Lotz does a masterful job with the main characters, their corresponding selves, and a variety of assorted friends and relatives (times two). It’s complex, but not at all confusing. I was mostly intrigued by Nick’s timeline (considerably better than the one that Bee, and we, live in). In his version of planet Earth, they use green energy, have universal basic income, had a past U.S. President Gore, passed privacy legislation, and had no 9/11, Iraq War, ISIS, Brexit, or Star Wars prequels. The pandemic? We’ll get to that.

Bee and Nick are flawed but extremely likable characters, and the reader (or this reader, anyway) is rooting for them all along, despite some of their ill-considered decisions. I won’t tell you whether they’ll get to their happy ending or what any such ending might even look like–pick up this clever, funny, and big-hearted novel and find out for yourself.  

HOW TO PURCHASE: AMAZON

About Me

Laura LaVelle is Wonder Shuffle's Culture Editor. A fan of the great indoors, you can find her in her native NYC, her home in Connecticut, or at a concert, play, library, bookstore, or museum just about anywhere in the world.

NOVEL: The Impossible Us

AUTHOR: Sara Lotz

YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2022

LEAD-IN IMAGE

Book cover - Penguin Random House