Life moves in a fluid motion. We constantly march forward, leaving memories, people, and who we once were to the past, sometimes never to be seen again. When faced with her last Christmas following a cancer diagnosis, in The Wish by Nicholas Sparks we follow the story of Maggie Dawes, a woman blogging about her journey with cancer as she helps run a gallery which displays her photography in Manhattan. As we switch back and forth between her childhood and adulthood, the flow of time makes us question if anything ever truly gets left behind.
We encounter Maggie as she recounts a time of her life lightyears away from her final months. At sixteen, she is pregnant after her first time with a boy who cared too little for her; at age 39, in 2019, her face is shallowed, skin taut, as she continues to lose weight due to her chemotherapy. We cycle between the feeling of truly living for the first time and the present day, a mortal reminder that everything eventually comes to an end.
Our hearts tingle as we watch young Maggie fall in love with the endearing and charming Bryce after moving to her aunt’s small town to hide her pregnancy. Yet, more profoundly, we feel also a deeper love that flows through the pages—familial love. From Maggie’s aunt who understands Maggie in a quiet manner that often doesn’t even require words, to the unequivocal connection between Bryce’s entire family and the love they spread to Maggie, Maggie’s journey proves that even through the biggest hardships, family is there to take care of us.
Throughout the shifting between major stages of Maggie’s life, her pregnancy and illness, we start to understand why she became a photographer. While she has an eye naturally geared to capturing the right moment, she never intended on photography becoming such a big part of her identity growing up. It was her relationship with Bryce that ignited the passion in her, and the memory of their time together that kept her career moving forward. Thus we understand: what we least expect often ends up hitting us square in the back without any warning, and, suddenly, puzzle pieces fit together that once seemed impossible to connect.
Although a very late plot twist can very easily seem unfounded or unearned, The Wish escapes this cliche—completely wrecking your emotions in the final fifty pages. Its bittersweet ending, although evident by the terminal understanding of Maggie’s life throughout the book, still comes as a shock. Tears will flow. With this sadness comes also a need to introspect: because of x that happens in the book, you come to question where you’re at in your life and the direction you’re going. Be prepared to cry and contemplate.
The two stages of Maggie’s life center around Christmas. However, since the book is filled with plenty of small town jolly moments as well as big city ones, anyone will recognize their own form of celebration within the pages. As the daughter of two Catholic parents, sent to live with her Aunt who was once a nun, the religious aspect of this book is very present. They go to church on Sundays and another main character constantly brings up his journey towards becoming a priest, but luckily it doesn’t overwhelm the story or pass judgement.
If you’re searching for a book to read coming up to winter break that will fill you with joy and those warm feelings that everyone searches for during the holiday season when trying to get away from the harsh realities of life, this might not be the book for you. However, if you want a book that will make you reminisce about your first love that was never meant to work out, reconsider what you cherish about your relationships with your family, and leave you with an appreciation for the expanse of time ahead of you to find your path, this book will be just right.