As You Wish has such an interesting concept that I was honestly so excited to read about. However, I felt that it just didn’t deliver partially, because it seemed like the author didn’t know exactly how she wanted the “wishing” ability to go, and partially because of the characters.
The book follows Eldon, a high schooler 25 days away from his birthday and wishing Day. And on that day, he’ll get to make a wish, and it will FOR SURE come true. In order to make a decision on what to wish for, he goes around the town asking people why they wished for and recruits his two friends Merrill and Norie to help out.
I feel like if this had been told from Norie’s POV, or even Penelope’s (another student), then this might have been a four star read for me. But we follow Eldon, and he’s a complainer and a jerk for most of the book.
Generally, I hate complainers. In and out of books. And Eldon complained a lot. I really don’t blame him for being conflicted on what to wish for, but why the CONSTANT complaining. And while I understand that after difficult family situations, and losing his friend, and girlfriend because of the wishes he would be upset, and want to change something, I think there was too much complaining. And he had a lot to be thankful for and he sometime just made bad decisions for no reason (drinking, b&e, getting mad at his friends for no reason, etc.).
But when he DOES change something, and even changes his attitude towards life and starts handling things better, he ends up getting blamed for it by some of his friends??
So what was the lesson of the book? I don’t know. But I think if it had been more clear about whether or not we should be grateful for what we have, or that what's popular isn't always right and what's right isn't always popular, then this would have felt more of a solid read for me.
The book follows Eldon, a high schooler 25 days away from his birthday and wishing Day. And on that day, he’ll get to make a wish, and it will FOR SURE come true. In order to make a decision on what to wish for, he goes around the town asking people why they wished for and recruits his two friends Merrill and Norie to help out.
I feel like if this had been told from Norie’s POV, or even Penelope’s (another student), then this might have been a four star read for me. But we follow Eldon, and he’s a complainer and a jerk for most of the book.
Generally, I hate complainers. In and out of books. And Eldon complained a lot. I really don’t blame him for being conflicted on what to wish for, but why the CONSTANT complaining. And while I understand that after difficult family situations, and losing his friend, and girlfriend because of the wishes he would be upset, and want to change something, I think there was too much complaining. And he had a lot to be thankful for and he sometime just made bad decisions for no reason (drinking, b&e, getting mad at his friends for no reason, etc.).
But when he DOES change something, and even changes his attitude towards life and starts handling things better, he ends up getting blamed for it by some of his friends??
So what was the lesson of the book? I don’t know. But I think if it had been more clear about whether or not we should be grateful for what we have, or that what's popular isn't always right and what's right isn't always popular, then this would have felt more of a solid read for me.