As a young girl, on her mother's birthday, the young narrator asks her mom to stay home with her and her brother. They want to celebrate her birthday with her. Angry that her mom won't stay, she wishes death on her and death is what her mom gets. The girl realizes that she holds a power in wishes and believes herself responsible for her mom's death. She cannot forgive herself and turns to ice on the inside, incapable of any kind of relationship, including with her brother.
As a grown woman, her life is monotonous. She once again makes a wish. This time, that lightning will strike her. It does, but does not kill her. Instead it leaves her with ringing in her head and the inability to see red. In a support group for other lighting strike survivors, she hears about Lazarus. He died for 40 minutes before coming back to life. The narrator needs to understand what it's like being dead.
Before writing this review, I spent a good 10 minutes trying to remember what the name of the main character was. Looking at other reviews, it seems that we never learned it in the book, which I find hard to believe that I never really pieced this together while I was reading it.
This book is full of depressing subject matter. All the characters are Debbie Downers, but I still had hope that the narrator would find what she was looking for and be able to turn her life around. Thankfully, there is light at the end of the tunnel but it's quite a journey for a few of the characters to get there.
First Line: "Be careful what you wish for."
Rating:
(3/5)
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