Take a photo of a barcode or cover
rachel_abby_reads 's review for:
My Wish List
by Anthea Bell, Grégoire Delacourt
Jocelyne is married, has two adult children, one infant dead at birth, a father with a 6 minute memory, and a business in a small town in France. Perhaps she is a little bored, things are a little routine; perhaps she wonders if this is really the life she dreamed of as a young woman.
Urged by her friends, she casually enters the lottery, and ends up winning 18 million euros. Rather than scream in excitement, she keeps it to herself and goes in silent anonymity to claim the check.
While waiting for the check to be printed, she meets with a government psychologist, who congratulates her on her luck, and condoles her for her great misfortune. For while she now has enough money to buy whatever she wants, she has also become the favorite contact of everyone looking for money: the mother with a child with her name suffering from cancer, an abused/neglected dog in need of a fairy godmother, a child with musculodystrophy tumbling down the stairs for lack of a chair lift; long lost relatives, bankers, investors, everyone who now wants a piece of her money.
And it gets worse: she has children? She is now their rich mother, expected to bankroll their lives, pay out, give them their share. Her husband? He'll need to quit his humdrum job to manage their fortune. Suicide, depression, plots, murder- ". . .this script is written in advance, Madame Guerbette, written long ago, greed burns everything in its path."
Jocelyne keeps her good fortune secret while she decides what she wants to do with her new found wealth, what her dreams are, what she wants most.
"I loved my life deeply, but the moment that I won the lottery I knew that the money would wreck it all, and for what?
"For a bigger vegetable plot? . . . A larger, more luxurious house?. . .Breast implants? A nose job? No, no and no again. I already had what money can't buy but can only destroy.
"Happiness.
"My happiness, anyway. Mine. With all its flaws, its banalities, its petty drawbacks. But mine.
"A huge flaming, unique happiness."
If I ever wanted to win the lottery, this book gave me serious pause. It highlighted how happy I am in my small, simple, unexotic life. I will light no skies with my brilliance, beauty, talent or (whatever). But I am content with the life I have, the people I know, and the blessings I have received. Maybe the trick is to not ruin a good thing by wishing it were something else.
Urged by her friends, she casually enters the lottery, and ends up winning 18 million euros. Rather than scream in excitement, she keeps it to herself and goes in silent anonymity to claim the check.
While waiting for the check to be printed, she meets with a government psychologist, who congratulates her on her luck, and condoles her for her great misfortune. For while she now has enough money to buy whatever she wants, she has also become the favorite contact of everyone looking for money: the mother with a child with her name suffering from cancer, an abused/neglected dog in need of a fairy godmother, a child with musculodystrophy tumbling down the stairs for lack of a chair lift; long lost relatives, bankers, investors, everyone who now wants a piece of her money.
And it gets worse: she has children? She is now their rich mother, expected to bankroll their lives, pay out, give them their share. Her husband? He'll need to quit his humdrum job to manage their fortune. Suicide, depression, plots, murder- ". . .this script is written in advance, Madame Guerbette, written long ago, greed burns everything in its path."
Jocelyne keeps her good fortune secret while she decides what she wants to do with her new found wealth, what her dreams are, what she wants most.
Spoiler
Jocelyne writes lists of what she wants - small things, gifts to fulfill her husband's dreams, plans to provide for her children and father, and realizes in the end -"I loved my life deeply, but the moment that I won the lottery I knew that the money would wreck it all, and for what?
"For a bigger vegetable plot? . . . A larger, more luxurious house?. . .Breast implants? A nose job? No, no and no again. I already had what money can't buy but can only destroy.
"Happiness.
"My happiness, anyway. Mine. With all its flaws, its banalities, its petty drawbacks. But mine.
"A huge flaming, unique happiness."
If I ever wanted to win the lottery, this book gave me serious pause. It highlighted how happy I am in my small, simple, unexotic life. I will light no skies with my brilliance, beauty, talent or (whatever). But I am content with the life I have, the people I know, and the blessings I have received. Maybe the trick is to not ruin a good thing by wishing it were something else.