But Eldon wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, because in Madison, everyone gets one wish-and that wish always comes true.

In the sandy Mojave Desert, Madison is a small town on the road between nothing and nowhere. Frankly, I had a hard time finishing it.What if you could ask for anything- and get it? The writing seemed derivative and puerile at times, and so did the plot. None of these, however, rise above the level of a side-note Eldon’s self-absorbed angst remains front and center.Īt the end, Eldon claims to have grown up, but it isn’t convincing, and none of the other questions raised by the story have been resolved.Įvaluation: Although the premise was enticing, the book itself was quite unsatisfying. Other topics are thrown in but only explored superficially, including belief in God versus belief in magic, gender preference and the fear and social judgment that might accompany non-hetero choices, the ability (or not) of members of the opposite sex to have friendships, the value of a life and the right to choose to live it or not, and even sex trafficking. Between whining about that and obsessing over Ebba, that is pretty much the core of the “action.”

He faces intense pressure from his mother to wish for money to pay for medical care for his sister Ebba, who is brain-dead after an accident for which Eldon irrationally feels guilty.Įldon also agonizes because he used to be the most popular and handsome and talented in his high school class, but as others got their wishes to be popular and handsome and talented, he is just ordinary, and doesn’t like it. Similar stories of wishes that had a negative backlash are interspersed throughout the book in a somewhat irritating format reminiscent of the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life.”Īs the day of his wish approaches, Eldon agonizes over what to wish. Eldon, our main protagonist who is about to have his 18th birthday, knows, for example, that his mother wished for his father to love her, but ended up getting over him relatively fast, especially when he became an uncritical worshipper of her. In addition, wishes are granted with extreme specificity and permanent repercussions, so that wording is critical, with the magic wish granter (whoever or whatever it is) being very talented at parsing sentences. The wish can bring you beauty or money or a skill, but there are some restrictions, such as the fact that nothing you wish for can have any impact outside of the town, in order for this magical power to stay secret. This book centers around one central theme: “be careful what you wish for.” The citizens of Madison, Nevada, a small isolated desert town, have a secret: when you reach your 18th birthday, you enter a magical cave, and are granted a wish.

As you wish book chelsea sedoti