Why not get yourself a get out of jail free card? If the mayor could wish himself into office by rigging elections, it’s obvious that people are able to screw around with the laws of society. I’m a true crime junkie, don’t judge) and all you would need to do is wish that the police could never catch you. I stopped and tried to think of what I would wish for as a serial killer (yes, I actually put time into thinking about this. What if the person is a pedophile or a serial killer? There are people who can have those desires begin before the age of eighteen, so they would all be in the running to have their wishes fulfilled. Part of the reason I’d be interested in an entire side novel that was nothing but a collection of wishes is I’d want to know what would happen if there was someone who was truly sick getting the chance to make their wish. And when you think about the lengths that people go to, that’s pretty benign. Your neighbours could destroy everything you are with a single wish and you wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop it.

I suppose that people are just so invested in getting their own wishes when the time comes that no one considers leaving this screwed up situation. I’m surprised there’s so much trust when it comes to the way that the town wishes. If a wish could change the way that someone loved someone else, could you changes the political views of a person? Could you take a queer person and make them straight or vice versa? That got me thinking about the other things that people could do with their wishes. It’s a horrifying story of forced love, of taking someone’s desires to live a different life and forcing it to fit your own desires. This whole wish system is a nightmare when it comes to consent and one of the biggest tragedies in my mind was the story of Eldon’s parents, with the father who can’t help but quietly love his mother for the rest of their lives. I was thinking about grabbing the ten commandments and showing how you could break every single one, but it became too horrifying and I think six is enough.

You could wish to own someone else’s property.

You can wish to know everyone’s secrets.

You can wish for people to want to have sex with you.

You can wish for someone to die or be harmed.

Here are some loopholes I thought of as I was reading through the book: Maybe I thought about it too much, but although there are guidelines, they don’t feel strict enough to me. Giving people the power to wish for anything and not putting more restrictions on it is terrifying to me. So can we just take a moment to talk about how messed up of a town Madison must be?

If you haven’t read my review on As You Wish by Chelsea Sedoti, you can check it out here. Click through here and there be spoilers.

As you wish book chelsea sedoti