Showing posts with label Short Story Read in 2008. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Short Story Read in 2008. Show all posts

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Love and Honour and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice by Nam Le


A Short Story

This short story comes from Nam Le's book of short stories titled "The Boat."This story is based loosely on Nam Le's life. His young life, as he is not quite 30 years old.

Nam's family are immigrants from Vietnam. They live in Melbourne Australia, but Nam leaves his job as a lawyer and moves to Iowa to attend a writer's school. His father, who lives in Sydney Australia has come to visit him. Why, Nam is not sure. Nam has a deadline breathing down his back to write a story and a case of writers block. This is one of the worst possible times his father could have chosen to visit.

Nam's father was very strict when he was growing up. He was expected to study 10 hours per day, even during summer break. No girlfriends were allowed, period. He has not told his father about his American girlfriend and doesn't plan too. However, his girlfriend doesn't seem too concerned about this.

This is a complex story with several themes running through it. There's the immigrant / ethnic experience, Vietnam war/US atrocities, and love relationships. The central theme in the story is that of the father / son relationship.

With all of these complex issues, I wasn't convinced that Le would be able to pull this off as a short story. I was pleasantly surprised to see how successful he was. His swift prose runs seamlessly through this story. Could he make it into a novella or novel? In my opinion, yes. However, this is Nam Le's first book. I would love to see him write a novel in the future, but this will do quite nicely for now! Even better, I have the rest of this book of short stories to read yet.

4.5/5

If you are interested in reading Love and Honour and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice by Nam Le, You can read it in its entirety here.

Posted by Teddy Rose at 10:24 PM 7 comments  

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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Family Values by Laurel-Rain Snow- An Amazon Short



Model of a Dysfunctional Family!


The story opens with a family sitting around the table for a big Thanksgiving meal. The father is sitting at the head of the table quietly shoveling in food, only grunting when spoken to. Skye’s children are like most normal children, running around the table giggling. Her eldest brother Irving is at the opposite end of the table and the rest of the family on the sides.

Skye hasn’t seen Irving for quite a long time and was really looking forward to seeing him. She planned to spend a few days there before heading back home to Fresno. Irving isn’t looking forward to spending time with Skye and her little "brats".

Writing a short story is a different kind of art then writing a novel. Not all writers can put the details just so, to make up a short story the feels complete. Snow shines at this!

In only 15 pages, Laurel-Rain Snow manages to make up a believable family with believable issues. This is a vivid exploration of childhood abuse and sibling rivalry.

I highly recommend this story.

Posted by Teddy Rose at 8:19 PM 8 comments  

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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Picture Perfect by Cheryl Kaye Tardif- An Amazon Short




Chilling Mystery

Caroline is just like any other older sister. She doesn't think that she should always have to look after her little sister Belle. Couldn't she just disappear?

The year is 1956 and Caroline is given $3.00 to take Belle to the Calgary Summer Carnival. She must go on rides the Belle wants to go on and pick the pink cotton candy from her hair. Everything is about Belle.

At the end of the street, the girls saw 'Grandpa's Tymeless Fotos.' This is where life changed Caroline’s life forever. As in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Caroline finds out what pictures can really do.

I enjoyed this short story immensely. Cheryl Kaye Tardif has the knack of making a suspenseful story sound believable.

Highly recommended!

5/5

Posted by Teddy Rose at 8:36 PM 14 comments  

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Thursday, October 23, 2008

Finding Jesus by Barry Aitchison




Fun and Thought Provoking

Father Padraic O’Casey will be 80 years old next month. He would like to retire, but the higher ups refuse to let him. They don’t want make someone else take over a diminished parish.

Recently, the church crucifix has gone missing off of its hanging place and shown up in different and unusual places around the church. Is someone playing tricks? That’s what the church thinks. However more and more parishioners are coming back to church, looking for a miracle. Things spiral out of control as more and more people show up and the media get involved.

When I first heard about this story, I couldn’t help but think about the toast with the resemblance of Jesus that turned up on Ebay. Bids were in the thousands of dollars. That is a true story and it seems to me that this one pokes a bit of fun at it.

Aitchison writes with a thought provoking sense of humor that pokes a little fun at all sides. With his little twist of an ending he had me laughing out loud. Aitchison at the same time writes in a respectful manner that won't offend.

4/5

Note: If you would like to read this short story, it is only available on Amazon.com, for 49 cents. However, Aitchison does offer a free download of one featured short story per month on his website. Here is the link.


Posted by Teddy Rose at 11:04 PM 7 comments  

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Monday, August 25, 2008

An Ex-Mas Feast by Uwen Akpan









Brutal Reality in Modern Day Africa



This is one short story in Uwen Akpan’s short fiction collection titled Say Your One of Them

Jigana, an eight-year-old boy whose family lives in a makeshift shack in the outskirts of Nairobi, narrates the story. They are dirt poor and send their 12-year-old daughter out on the street to sell her body to feed the family. They also want to send Jigana, as their eldest son, to school. Short on food, the mother gives her children kabire (glue) to sniff to curb their appetite. "She and Baba hardly ever took kabire. Kabire is for children only."

It is not an easy story to read and does make the reader feel really uncomfortable. However, it tells a story that must be told. It is well written and gets the point across.

5/5

Also reviewed by:

caribousmom

Note to my fellow bloggers who also reviewed this book: If you would like me to link your review at the bottom of my review, please leave a comment with the link to your review.


Posted by Teddy Rose at 2:24 PM 21 comments  

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Monday, July 7, 2008

Mr. Bones by Paul Theroux



A Short Story in Review

This short story appearing in The New Yorker on September 17, 2007. Thanks to Wendy at Caribousmom for reviewing this story and bringing it to my attention.

The narrator of the story reminiscences about growing up with his "impossible" to know father. Around 1956 his father lost his job and became a shoe salesman, which he hated. He bought a house in disrepair without consulting his wife.

He joined up with some men who decided to perform a minstrel show. His solo rehearsal started at home, making his wife play piano for him. After awhile he started making up his face in the traditional black and called himself Mr. Bones. He became Mr. Bones, to the horror of his family and would not take anything seriously. He teased his family members mercilessly and would not address real household concerns.

The story touches on themes of race and a dysfunctional family life. This was a kind of bizarre story, but I quite liked it. The writing was rich and immersed the reader in the story.

To read the full short story, go here or click on the picture.

4/5

Also reviewed at:

Posted by Teddy Rose at 12:06 PM 5 comments  

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