Gwendy's Button Box (The Button Box, #1)

Title: Gwendy's Button Box (The Button Box, #1)

Author: Richard Chizmar

Published in: 2017

Date read: 5th October 2021

Score: 4/5

Genre: Fantasy, Supernatural

Plot: (Warning, may contain spoilers):
"Gwendy's Button Box" by Richard Chizmar (with Stephen King contributing as co-author in later books of the series) is a supernatural novella that explores the allure of power, the weight of choice, and the quiet struggle against temptation.

The story begins in the summer of 1974 in Castle Rock, Maine. Twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson, a slightly overweight and bullied girl, is trying to shed pounds by running up the hundreds of steps known as the "Suicide Stairs." At the top, she encounters a mysterious, impeccably dressed man in a black suit and a black hat named Richard Farris.

Farris offers Gwendy a strange and beautiful gift: a highly polished wooden box with various buttons. This "button box" is no ordinary object. It has several levers that dispense rare and delicious chocolate coins and beautiful silver dollars. More ominously, it also has eight coloured buttons, each with a different effect on the world, including a red button that Farris implies could bring about global destruction. He warns Gwendy that the box is a great responsibility and that she must resist the temptation to misuse its power.

Gwendy accepts the box, and her life immediately takes a turn for the better. She loses weight, becomes popular, excels academically and athletically, and experiences a newfound confidence. She carefully uses the coin-dispensing levers to subtly improve her family's financial situation. However, the true test lies in the coloured buttons and the immense power they represent.

Throughout her adolescence, Gwendy carries the burden of the box. She must constantly battle her own curiosity, fear, and the darker impulses that the box seems to subtly encourage. She hides it, moves it, and tries to ignore it, but the responsibility and its allure are always there. The novella explores her internal struggle, the moments of temptation, and her growing maturity as she grapples with the immense potential for good or evil that the box holds.

Years pass, and Gwendy grows into a successful adult, still secretly carrying the box. The story jumps forward to show her life as an adult congresswoman. Then, Farris reappears, just as mysteriously as he arrived, to reclaim the box. The meeting is brief, and the purpose of the box, or Farris's true identity, remains largely enigmatic. "Gwendy's Button Box" is a compelling tale about the nature of power, free will, and the quiet heroism of resisting temptation, framed as a dark fairy tale.

Comments:
What a genuinely beautiful story. As well as the intrigue of "where is this going?", there is the envy of what Gwendy has been given...we all want.

Books that we've read by Richard Chizmar (5):
Gwendy's Button Box (The Button Box, #1) (2017), Gwendy's Magic Feather (The Button Box, #2) (2019), Chasing the Boogeyman (2021), Gwendy's Final Task (The Button Box, #3) (2022), Becoming the Boogeyman (2023)