SPOIL FREE SUMMARY
Meg gets a second chance at Heaven but in order to do so, she must help a grumpy old man named Lowrie. Together they go through his wish list, but it may be harder then it seems when otherworldly forces compete to stop them.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Meg starts out as rather selfish but her victimhood evokes sympathy. She is rather guarded but eventually starts to care for Lowrie. Eventually her arc ends by a complete change of heart about a certain character.
Lowrie is a cranky old man who has a long list of regrets. With each new task on the list, he reveals more about himself by revealing his past. He slowly changes and realizes maybe his life wasn't as bad as he thought and also learns to forgive someone who wronged him.
Finn is an acquintance of Meg's that talks her into helping her with a robbery. He is rather violent and not too bright. He is a two dimensional cartoon character that is basically a pawn of the demons.
Beezlebub works under Satan and communicates with Peter.
Saint Peter guards the gate of heaven like the religious myth says. He is rather cranky because he is stuck with a job he hates.
PACING
The story starts with action but balances it out with slower scenes of exposition between Lowrie and Meg, and between certain demons. There is a surprising amount of action just with the main characters without any interference from the demons.
Also there are hints of something terrible that Meg did to her stepfather all throughout the story. The suspense helps the story. Not to mention that Finn gets has only a week to stop Meg so its a ticking time bomb to the plot.
COMEDY
Colfer has his usual comedic writing and I found most of it enjoyable. I admit some of the conversations between St. Peter and Beelzebub were kind of cheesy (not to mention Satan and dog boy Finn). I much more enjoyed the comic portions regarding Meg and Lowrie.
Also Meg's commentary is charming. In one scene, she points out that old people had their own fashions before Playstation. She says they were sad looking clothes, but they were happy. I had to laugh at that.
MEG'S SECRET
Near the last portion of the book, we discover just what Meg did to get revenge on her stepfather. I suppose it was clever and took a lot of work to do, but I almost expected something darker. I mean, she didn't hurt him, she hurt an object.
I guess she humiliated him, but it never made me go, oh, should she have done that? Might she regret it? No moral dilemma for me, because it was silly, not dangerous.
FOREHADOWING
Meg gets two blue stones early on. But she doesn't understand what they are for until the end of the story when she is told.
MEG'S STEPFATHER
I felt like Meg's stepfather was kind of cartoonish. I would rather there had been something likable about him at one time, that would have made it make sense why Meg's mom liked him.
He was the basic fat, lazy, selfish guy who everyone else thinks is great for some reason, but only Meg knows the truth. I would have rather he had been painted as smart, charming and manipulative. But secretly violent or something. Something deeper. To be fair, turns out he was violent but it's just so Meg can be further justified in her future actions.
CLIMAX
Meg helps Lowrie with his final task and ends up doing another good deed, this one a surprise.
MEG'S CHANGE OF HEART-SPOILERS
Near the climax, Meg heals Lowrie and then for some reason she heals her stepfather. Apparently he saw a glimpse of hell, so she believes he will be a better person. Somehow I doubt it. He would probably just rationalize it away as a delusion. Either way Meg's actions seemed out of the blue.
CONCLUSION
Meg and Lowrie are funny and charming. Their relationship dynamic was the best part of the story. I loved seeing them learn about each other and open up.
But the villains of the story were cheesy and never really threatening.
Also I found Meg's reveal about what she did to her stepfather rather underwhelming and her change of heart near the end felt forced. Like Colfer realized he needed to show how much she had changed.
But still, if you like Colfer and his brand of comedy, you will probably enjoy it. I give “The Wishlist” three stars.
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