The Possibilities

Starred review from January 13, 2014
A grieving mother tries to make peace with her son’s death in this wry and heartwarming second novel from the author of The Descendants. Sarah St. John, a talk show host in the seasonal ski town of Breckenridge, Colo., is devastated when her 22-year-old son, Cully, is killed by an avalanche. She seeks solace in an unorthodox support group: her impolitic father, who lives with her; her best friend, Suzanne, whose own divorce occupies her attention; and Billy, Cully’s father, whose distance from Sarah’s life diminishes as they grieve for their son together. On the cusp of emotional recovery, Sarah and her family are thrown again when they meet a young woman whose story raises new questions about Cully’s life. With a deft and dry humor, Hemmings tackles the unique and unexpectedly humorous ways in which one is expected to mourn: a woman in town whose son died in a similar accident asks Sarah to join Parents Against Avalanche Disaster, “as if by not joining PAAD you were promoting avalanche disaster.” But, on closer inspection, the novel is a treatise on parenthood: Sarah struggles less with Cully’s death, and more with the fear that she never really knew him at all. “What’s the point of everything parents do,” she asks herself, “if the kids aren’t going to employ us?” Agent: David Forrer, Inkwell Management.

Narrator Joy Osmanski creates distinctive voices and then seems to disappear into them. In a masterful portrayal, she becomes Sarah, the bereaved narrator who is mourning the loss of her son, Cully. She also smoothly shifts into the other characters--Sarah's father, her best friend, Cully's father, and his girlfriend--to create conversations that are so sharp, thoughtful, and, sometimes, funny that the listener can't resist reacting aloud. Her performance is of the highest quality, so natural and well paced that it feels like one's own thoughts animating the words. With palpable warmth, Osmanski confidently navigates a simultaneously heartbreaking and hilarious audiobook. Fans of Hemmings's previous hit novel (and later film), THE DESCENDANTS, will love this--but no one should miss it. L.B.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

Starred review from April 1, 2014
Three months after her 21-year-old son, Cully, is killed in an avalanche, Sarah St. John decides to go back to work. But her job as cohost of Fresh Tracks, a program that is piped into the hotel rooms of Breckenridge, Colorado, now seems inane. Added to that, when Sarah and her best friend, Suzanne, clean out Cully's room, they find evidence that he was selling pot. More surprises about Cully come to light when a girl named Kit appears on Sarah's doorstep. Soon it is revealed that Cully and Kit had a relationship, and Sarah and her father, Lyle, with whom she shares her house, are drawn to Kit because she seems to make Cully more reachable. The whole of what Sarah calls her tribe Sarah, Lyle, Suzanne, and Kit, along with Cully's dad, Billy, whom Sarah never marriedgo on a road trip to Colorado Springs to attend a memorial service for Cully, and the trip helps them find a way to move forward and achieve a measure of peace. As she did in The Descendants (2007), Hemmings deftly deploys her idyllic setting, leavens tragedy with humor, avoids sentimentality, and offers characters whom readers will find very appealing. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Anticipation will be running high for the second novel from Hemmings, whose debut, The Descendants, has been published in 20 other countries and was made into an Oscar Awardwinning film directed by Alexander Payne and starring George Clooney.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)