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A review by _reedmylife_
The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
The Wishing Game is one of the most boring and misleading books I have ever read.
When I first heard about this book, I was expecting something extravagant, something that was straight out of the Willy Wonka world but for books. Sadly, all readers will find in this book is an odd romance, sad characters that it is hard to feel bad for, and weird trauma issues that are only used as devices to move along the storyline.
I wasn't a huge fan of the setup of The Wishing Game from the beginning, I found it lackluster but I was willing to give it a shot. Lucy is pretty annoying and I was never really able to enjoy her as a character. I also was unaware just how much this adoption storyline was going to be a part of the entire book. It was done pretty poor and I felt like it dragged the story down. I understand what Shaffer was trying to do with building awareness for foster kids, as well as trying to bring in the Clock Island book theme that "kids should never be sad or feel alone," but it really made the story drag on because it is all Lucy could talk about.
Speaking of all Lucy can talk about, her relationship with Hugo is weird to me. I am fine with an age gap but the fact that he met her when she was 13 and he was 21 weirds me out a bit. I also just don't see the chemistry between them. I truly believe Lucy is only attracted to him because he was good with Christopher and he is the illustrator for the Clock Island books.
I don't mean to fully shit on this novel, and I will say the one thing I liked about this book was that it showed all the ways our parents fail us oftentimes without knowing it. Maybe if I was a parent, I would have liked this book better but with someone who has childhood trauma, I thought I would at least be able to connect with some of these characters. Sadly, it caused me more trauma to read this painstakingly slow book.
I think if I knew what I was getting myself into when starting The Wishing Game I could have possibly enjoyed it more. For me, there was too much child and parent content for my liking as I hate reading about kids and parents if it is the center of the story. I also wish there were trigger warnings for some of the more serious topics within the book as it came as a complete surprise to me when they were just randomly added to make these characters have any sort of depth.
TRIGGER WARNING: Miscarriage, Addiction, Overdose, Child Neglect, Molestation, Abandonment
When I first heard about this book, I was expecting something extravagant, something that was straight out of the Willy Wonka world but for books. Sadly, all readers will find in this book is an odd romance, sad characters that it is hard to feel bad for, and weird trauma issues that are only used as devices to move along the storyline.
I wasn't a huge fan of the setup of The Wishing Game from the beginning, I found it lackluster but I was willing to give it a shot. Lucy is pretty annoying and I was never really able to enjoy her as a character. I also was unaware just how much this adoption storyline was going to be a part of the entire book. It was done pretty poor and I felt like it dragged the story down. I understand what Shaffer was trying to do with building awareness for foster kids, as well as trying to bring in the Clock Island book theme that "kids should never be sad or feel alone," but it really made the story drag on because it is all Lucy could talk about.
Speaking of all Lucy can talk about, her relationship with Hugo is weird to me. I am fine with an age gap but the fact that he met her when she was 13 and he was 21 weirds me out a bit. I also just don't see the chemistry between them. I truly believe Lucy is only attracted to him because he was good with Christopher and he is the illustrator for the Clock Island books.
I don't mean to fully shit on this novel, and I will say the one thing I liked about this book was that it showed all the ways our parents fail us oftentimes without knowing it. Maybe if I was a parent, I would have liked this book better but with someone who has childhood trauma, I thought I would at least be able to connect with some of these characters. Sadly, it caused me more trauma to read this painstakingly slow book.
I think if I knew what I was getting myself into when starting The Wishing Game I could have possibly enjoyed it more. For me, there was too much child and parent content for my liking as I hate reading about kids and parents if it is the center of the story. I also wish there were trigger warnings for some of the more serious topics within the book as it came as a complete surprise to me when they were just randomly added to make these characters have any sort of depth.
TRIGGER WARNING: Miscarriage, Addiction, Overdose, Child Neglect, Molestation, Abandonment
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Sexual assault
Moderate: Cancer, Miscarriage, and Addiction