Wish
By: Barbara O'Connor / Narrated by: Suzy Jackson
Length: 4 hrs and 41 mins
Truly a delightful audiobook. And the reservations I have are all because I’m a total jerk… It’s me, I tell you: NOT the book!
Wish was my choice for our little audiobook club, so I think that’s why I was twitchy and jumpy and kinda a jerk when assessing it as I listened to it.
Charlie is a young girl, and her broken family has hit such dire times that she’s been sent into the “hillbilly” mountains to live with her aunt (mom’s sister) and uncle. She’s confused, and she’s very angry. And considering she’s inherited her dad Scrappy’s temper, that means a LOT of outbursts and quite a bit of pushing and shoving. And that’s where I’m the jerk here. Cuz, see, I can listen to a book like Orphan Train and cut THAT young heroine some slack (I could see where years of being in the system and suffering abuse and neglect could make her act like a big ol’ jerk sometimes), I just couldn’t listen to young Charlie’s angry tirades and her hair-trigger temper without my toes curling. I simply wanted to snap: Get over it!
Fortunately, my mom and sister aren’t total jerks like I am, and they made me see how young and vulnerable and scared Charlie was, how she didn’t know a different way considering she was raised by a neglectful and narcissistic mother and a father who was ALWAYS getting into fights. They made me see that Charlie was just a girl trying to get along, making wish after desperate wish, hoping for she didn’t know what, as she’d never had much good in her life.
With her aunt and uncle, however, there’s that free space, that safe space, for icky things to come out. So, yes, there are the tirades that made me feel icky. But there’s soooo much love in her new abode too. Charlie makes friends with young Howard, another outcast due to his disability (seems like a leg shorter/longer than the other), and she eventually befriends stray Wishbone, the best dog ever.
The book is about all the things that go into breaking down Charlie’s walls, into tearing apart her preconceived notions, into discovering what it is for wishes to be made, for wishes to come true. And there are the truly delightful characters in her aunt (most ESPECIALLY) and her dear uncle who calls her pet names and who is genuinely happy to see her, to see Wishbone, when he comes home from work. Howard’s family also shows Charlie what a loving and respectful environment is, and she learns acceptance from them too, despite her occasional mean slip-of-the-tongue.
Then too, Charlie learns her temper, her strength, can be used for fighting the good fight, for sticking up for… for… a friend? Does she truly have a friend? She’s startled to learn that, here in these hillbilly mountains, she might just have that.
All comes to a head at the end, and there are choices to be made, startling realizations to be had. And it all makes Wish simply wonderful. Our little club had been hitting a few misses when we listened to this, so it was a relief, it was a joy (Once I got over my aversion to toes curling from very understandable fits of anger). And Suzy Jackson narrates this perfectly. Especially when young Howard keeps rushing to Charlie’s side, muttering, “Pineapple! Pineapple!”, the code word for her to take a step back and not deck anyone or say anything she might regret.
I learned a lot about what all can be wished upon. But I learned even more about what a pleasure it is when Life throws ya evil curveballs that turn out to be the best things possible…!
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