The Wish
From the number one internationally bestselling author
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Teenager Jesse loves her friends, her little brother and her parents - even when they're both arguing, which they seem to do all the time these days.
And she also loves playing interactive computer games, from her hospital bed in the children's cancer ward.
So, when Jesse is offered the chance to have her greatest wish fulfilled, she immediately knows what she wants: a digital 3D recreation of her life - something to be there for her friends and family to watch and relive ... perhaps without her.
There is only one person with the technical skills and creativity to make this happen: the highly talented but reclusive Alex, a visionary 3D CGI video/games designer. Unlike Jesse, Alex doesn't love a lot of things. To be honest, he's not really sure he knows how to. He's in his late twenties, but his troubled past has left him wary of forming any kind of emotional relationship.
But when he enters Jesse's world, his journey towards connection begins. A beautiful and unexpected friendship blossoms between the desperately ill teenager and the isolated young man, changing both their lives - and those of the people around them - forever.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Historical novelist Morris (The Tattooist of Auschwitz) turns to contemporary fiction with an affecting if hackneyed story of a dying teen's last wish. Jesse, 15, is in and out of the hospital with terminal leukemia. Alex, about to turn 30, is a brilliant but socially awkward coder working at a CGI studio, who lives alone except for his dog. When Jesse makes a wish through a foundation for an immersive 3-D film of her life to leave for her family after she's gone, Alex's company takes on the project. Working together, Alex and Jesse incorporate drawings by her younger brother, her mother's poetry, photos of the family at their favorite picnic spot on the beach, and staged scenes featuring Jesse to surprise her family. Meanwhile, the strain of Jesse's illness has torn her parents' marriage apart, and her father treats Alex with contempt and hostility. What's more, Alex's boss wants to turn Jesse's wish into a publicity stunt, which nearly drives Alex to quit. Though Morris avoids the maudlin by sustaining an upbeat tone, the plot veers into cliché, as when Alex finds himself falling in love with a blue-eyed social worker at the hospital. It's a mixed bag.
