Book Club Questions for The Life Impossible by Matt Haig

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Book club questions for The Life Impossible takes an in-depth look at this magical story about second chances. There will be spoilers so for more context about the book, check out my spoiler-free review first.

I thought The Life Impossible was a great adventurous story. As I mentioned in my review, I had some issues with it at first, but the story really grew on me. And I ended up getting teared up in several areas. Matt Haig is such a wonderful writer.

I especially loved this line: “All reading, in short, is telepathy and all reading is time travel. It connects us to everyone and everywhere and every time and every imagined dream.”

Let me know what you think about the book in the comments section below!

The Synopsis

When retired math teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan.

Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the island, Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life, and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.

Filled with wonder and wild adventure, thisis a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning.

Book Club Questions for The Life Impossible

1. Why do you think the author Matt Haig decided to have a 72-year-old widow for his protagonist?
2. Let’s discuss the significance of the title, The Life Impossible, in relation to the story and the larger message of the book.
3. The story is written as a email composed by Grace to her former student. Do you like the letter writing narrative? Why or why not?
4. After receiving the shock of being left a house in Ibiza by a former colleague, why did Grace decide to book a one way ticket and check it out?
5. When did you get that sense that this wasn’t a straight forward story, and that there was something magical, and even sci-fi, about Ibiza and what happened to Christina?
6. Despite her better judgment, she goes to Alberto, the man she knows is involved somehow with Christina’s disappearance. Why did Grace undertake this investigation?
7. We learn quite a bit about Grace’s past. Her 11-year-old son tragically died, and she always blamed herself for what happened. She eventually cheats on her husband in an effort to feel something again. And after her husband passed away, she is all alone. Let’s discuss all those key revelations and how it shaped the Grace we meet at the beginning of the novel.
8. It turns out that Christina and Alberto gained powers from a mysterious underwater entity, known as La Presencia, which gives them a form of telepathy, for at least a period of time. What were your thoughts as you read about the explanation of this discovery?
9. La Presencia calls to Grace, and she eventually receives the telepathy powers as well—in fact, she received even more skills than anyone else. Why do you think La Prescencia specifically wanted Grace? What did it see in Grace that she didn’t see in herself?
10. Why is La Presencia at this location in Ibiza? What is its purpose? What is the connection to the Salacia planet? Did you like this sci-fi/alien aspect? Why or why not?
11. Should Alberto have traveled to Salacia like Christina or do you understand why he decided to live out his remaining days in Ibiza?
12. Why was important for Grace to have those final conversations with her husband and son? What did these conversations help achieve? How did it help absolve herself of guilt for past mistakes?
13. Let’s talk about the villain, Art, why did he use his powers from La Presencia for evil?
14. What were your thoughts about the climax, and nature fighting back at Art?
15. Did you like the ending? What happens next for Grace?
16. Some of the key themes of the novel including second chances and overcoming grief. Let’s talk about these themes and any additional ones you picked up on.
17. What was your favorite passage or quote?
18. What would you do if you gained powers like Grace?

Additional Recommendations

Hope you enjoy book club questions for The Life Impossible! Here are some more recommendations along with links to book club questions.

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig’s enchanting blockbuster novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

Aside from a delay, there will be no problems. The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed.

Because on this ordinary, short, domestic flight, something extraordinary happens. People learn how and when they are going to die. For some, their death is far in the future—age 103!—and they laugh. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all.

How do they know this? There were ostensibly more interesting people on the flight (the bride and groom, the jittery, possibly famous woman, the giant Hemsworth-esque guy who looks like an off-duty superhero, the frazzled, gorgeous flight attendant) but none would become as famous as “The Death Lady.”

Not a single passenger or crew member will later recall noticing her board the plane. She wasn’t exceptionally old or young, rude or polite. She wasn’t drunk or nervous or pregnant. Her appearance and demeanor were unremarkable. But what she did on that flight was truly remarkable.

A few months later, one passenger dies exactly as she predicted. Then two more passengers die, again, as she said they would. Soon no one is thinking this is simply an entertaining story at a cocktail party.

If you were told you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently? Would you try to dodge your destiny?

Happy reading!