Monday, May 12, 2014

The Wish List by Eoin Colfer

"Meg Finn is in trouble-unearthly trouble. Cast out of her home by her stepfather after her mother's death, Meg is a wanderer, a troublemaker. But after her latest stunt, finding a place to sleep is the least of her worries. Belch, her partner in crime, has gotten her involved in the attempted robbery of an elderly man, Lowrie McCall. And things go horribly wrong. After an accidental explosion, Meg's spirit is flung into limbo, and a race begins between the demonic and the divine to win her soul. Irreverent, hilarious, and touchingly hopeful, The Wish List takes readers on a journey of second chances, where joy is found in the most unexpected places."

Ah, yes, the happy trotting-out of every single heaven/hell trope. Ever. But no, seriously, I wouldn't exactly call this great literature--but then again, I really doubt it was meant to be. It's wholeheartedly simple, easy, read-in-a-day-or-two, fluff. Not to say that it's super light material, but the writing is very straightforward and the text is medium sized and it's insanely easy to finish quickly. But that may even be a bonus point for it, managing to hook me in and get me to plow right through it. Anyway, Meg was mostly likable and Lowrie was... well, you warm up to him. There are bits that managed a faint flutter at the heartstrings, and even though they could have been done a bit more subtly and powerfully, they mostly did their job of making me connect with the characters. As for the heaven/hell stuff I mentioned earlier, yes, total suspension of disbelief is required. There are some semi-groan-worthy plot devices, like magical stones that are given at the beginning and subsequently ignored until they become crucial on the second-to-last page, and the whole "tunnel of light" thing. But overall, just looking at the parts of the whole, it's a fairly enjoyable book to go through. The difficulty level is definitely middle school/low high school, but from that vantage point I think it would be pretty funny, interesting, and suspenseful. All depends on your outlook. So yeah, recommended for people mid-high school down. I honestly think you'd enjoy this if you picked it up, give it a spin. There's a copy at Kettleson and Mt. Edgecumbe.

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