What if you could ask for anything- and get it? In the sandy Mojave Desert, Madison is a small town on the road between nothing and nowhere. But Eldon wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, because in Madison, everyone gets one wish—and that wish always comes true. Some people wish for money, some people wish for love, but Eldon has seen how wishes have broken the people around him. And with the lives of his family and friends in chaos, he’s left with more questions than answers. Can he make their lives better? How can he be happy if the people around him aren’t? And what hope is there for any of them if happiness isn’t an achievable dream? Doubts build, leading Eldon to a more outlandish and scary thought: maybe you can’t wish for happiness…maybe, just maybe, you have to make it for yourself.
Publication Year: 2018
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0I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Madison is a little town in the middle of the Mojave desert. It's so small that most people stop to fill up on gas, and keep on driving as they travel; most people don't event give it a second glance. That is just what the people of Madison want though because if people really knew the truth about this town no one would ever want to leave.
What if on your 18th birthday you got to make a wish, and that wish came true? Of course there are limitations on what you can wish for (no bringing people back from the dead, or affecting things outside of Madison), but this is something that most kids in Madison look forward to for most of their lives.
Almost 18-year-old Eldon is feeling the pressure his upcoming wish day. His best friend already made his wish, but Eldon is really struggling to narrow down what he wants. He's feeling pressure from his mother to wish for something to help his sister, but he isn't sure what to do. It's during his wish day class that he gets advice from his teacher; go out and ask people what their wishes were to get a better idea of what to do. So begins Eldon's quest to find out what to wish for.
What he never expected was to be even more uncertain and conflicted.
I had a really hard time getting through this book. When I read the synopsis, I thought I was going to be hooked and unable to put it down, but that wasn't the case. I can't really put my finger down on why I wasn't in to this story, I think part of it might be that I never got a real sense of Eldon as a person which in turn didn't make me really engaged or care about what would happen to him. I did like the way that Sedoti gave me glimmers of the real story, leaving little crumbs for me to follow as I got deeper in to the story. Overall I would say this is a pass for most libraries.
0Skimmed for Teen Summer Reading list
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