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The Possibility Of Everything (2009)

by Hope Edelman(Favorite Author)

3.38 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0345506502 (ISBN13: 9780345506504)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Ballantine Books

review 1: I did find the first quarter of the book was too slow moving. I would have liked more of Hope Edelman contemplating what she had witnessed in her daughter and more of what she experienced. She declared she was in no way part of the 'new age' movement but I felt she could have explored her own intuitive response to Dodo (this imaginary friend) as I believed that she and her husband were aware of the negativity emanating from this 'friend'. My son had an imaginary friend but I didn't feel that fear around him, but a friend went through a similar horror experience to Edelman and it was really scary to watch.
review 2: I mostly believe in the saying "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all", but there are a few things I need to share about... more Hope Edelman's book, The Possibility of Everything. In this memoir recounting her family’s experience of going to Belize to exorcize her 3 yr old daughter of the imaginary playmate "Dodo", Edelman says she thinks there are two types of mothers. Those who trust and those who do. She pegs herself as one of those who "do", a tinkerer always trying to fix her daughters life. From my experience though there are two other types of mothers. Those who believe that their role is to be a leader for their child, guiding them as best they can to best decision. Then there are the mothers who totally let their children run the show, make the decisions and lead the parents, as if the parents are some type of biological servant. Hope Edelman seems to fall in the camp of the latter. From her descriptions of her exchanges with her daughter, it rarely seems like she takes any type of leadership role with her daughter or sets any boundaries. And with regard to letting her daughter blame all of her bad behavior on "Dodo", it goes to the extreme. My second son had an invisible friend. He was clear to point out to us that Rolo was "invisible" not "imaginary". Rolo had an invisible mom, brother, extended family. He lived at a local church and he also made the trees move. If my youngest tried to pawn off any of his behavior on Rolo, I was clear, maybe Rolo did it, but Chance was the one who I could see and give a time out too, Rolo would just have to get a time out from his invisible mom. Because really, what does it matter what the reason your child hits you? It's still wrong. You wouldn't let them get away with it if they said "Billy over there told me to do it". Why let them off the hook because they are creative enough to pin it on some one conveniently hard to locate? While I am happy equilibrium was reestablished in Hope's family after her daughters healing. I wonder how much of the process was protracted by the parent’s lack of self assuredness. One can only hope that this experience made her a more confident mother, one willing to play and be creative with her child, met her at her 3 yr old level and then take her by the hand and gently say, "Now we are going to go this way". less

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