Appointment with Love By S.L Kishor -- Review

Soldier, the main character of the short story Appointment with Love by American writer S.L Kishor falls in love with a person he has never seen. He finally saw the object of his passion and remembered their emotional relationship over a great distance. 

The author keeps the intrigue up to the end of the story. Readers will know about the plot after reading this short story, not from this review.



Here is the link to the text of the story:
http://posyo.narod.ru/LITERATURE/love.htm

Adam by Kurt Vonnegut -- Review

In the short story “Adam” by Kurt Vonnegut the main character is a man (his name is Heinz) who is waiting in the waiting room of a maternity hospital.

He and his wife are holocaust survivors. When a nurse informes Heinz that his son is born, he is very excited and wants to share it with everyone around him. But people are indifferent.

Kurt Vonnegut showed in this story how a life’s experience influences the ability of people to feel one another’s grief or joy.



This is a link to the text of the story:
https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/api/lessons/1c2bb46ffdf0fed14bcbaaaf4904ec70/AdambyKurtVonnegut.pdf

The Unconquered by W. Somerset Maugham - Review

"The Unconquered" was written in 1943 by the British writer W. Somerset Maugham.

The setting of the story is life in a French village during the Nazi occupation. This is a life story, and each character has his own image of the world and worldview, which leads to the epilogue.

The author does not justify anyone. The reader must be prepared to experience horror and shock. If you are not ready for it - don’t read this story.

This is a link to the text of the story:

https://www.enghienlesbains.fr/sites/default/files/media/downloads/The%20Unconquered.pdf

The Field of Mustard by A. E. Coppard --- Review

“The Field of Mustard” written by an English writer and poet Alfred Edgar Coppard represents a combination of realism and lyricism. The author uses a simple conversation between two peasant women. The narration includes the description of the natural world and the fate of each individual person, where the lost possibilities, desires, and disappointments occur.

Here is the link to the text of the story:

https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20181020

To Build a Fire by Jack London -- Review

The theme of the story "To Build a Fire" by Jack London is the confrontation between man and the harsh northern nature.

A character of the story dies but dies with dignity, like a strong opponent of the severity of nature. The reason for his death is that he overestimated his human capabilities.

The man as a king of nature failed in the confrontation with nature, to which it was necessary to adapt. An important way to present this idea is the image of a dog, which, being part of nature, does not oppose it.



This is a link to the text of the story:
https://hchissaquah.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/to-build-a-fire.pdf

"The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin --- Review

"The Story of an Hour" is a short story written by Kate Chopin in 1894. The author explores in the story a concept of happiness. The main idea for ​​the story is - a marriage without love for a woman - it is like being in a prison.

The title emphasizes the idea of fate, where the main events can occur in a short time, in this case - in an hour.

The reason for happiness in the story is the loss of a loved one - a husband. Here the source of happiness is negative emotions and events. 

The heroine realizes that she can’t hold in her tears when she is imagining the body of her husband, who loved her. The most important thing for her is that she will have the years, which will belong only to her. Freedom is what she is aware of.

The culmination of the story was her husband returning, alive, and safe. After that, the heroine suddenly died. 

Are her thoughts sinful?  Is her husband guilty for her death? These are questions for readers and a subject for discussion.

Here is the link to the text of the story:

https://litfit.webs.com/u4_storyofanhour_se.pdf

My First Goose by Isaac Babel --- Review --

The main character of the story "My First Goose" by Isaac Babel is an intelligent person who described one episode of his life. It occurred during the civil war in Russia after the Russian revolution. The hunger held back for one evening for a group of people.

The main character was the only person who was literate. He read aloud the article of Vladimir Lenin in the Soviet newspaper that right now there is a shortage of everything. The fighters listened to the reading with great attention with great respect toward Lenin.

As the narrator said after that: "... and then we went to sleep in the hayloft. Six of us slept there warming each other, our legs tangled, under the holes in the roof which let in the stars." What thoughts were hidden by the author in this short story - readers may only guess.



This is a link to the text of the story:
https://www.shortstoryproject.com/story/my-first-goose