Runaway by Alice Munro — Review

The story "Runaway" by Canadian writer Alice Munro is about relationships between people. It seems they reached a dead end, but after a real threat of losing a loved one they rekindled their relationship again.

The main characters of the story are ordinary women whose desires can’t match with their dreams. The theme of escape (escape from life) is presented as a main idea of the story.


A distinctive feature of Munro’s story is unpredictability. As soon as readers expect a logical outcome, the author turns to the opposite direction and everything goes upside down.





This is the link to the text of the story:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/08/11/runaway-4

A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings: A Tale For Children — Gabriel Garcia Marquez — Review

In the short story “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings: A Tale For Children '' prominent Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez described the appearance of an angel to ordinary people.

The desire of people to see magic results in some unpleasant things such as consumerism, obsession with money, inadequate attitude to old age, and absence of gratitude.

The author perfectly describes the character of human nature in a crowd of people using the character of an angel.



Here is the link to the text of the story:
https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~cinichol/CreativeWriting/323/MarquezManwithWings.htm

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri — Review

The story "Interpreter of Maladies" is about an Indian tour guide who communicates with a client, a woman who tells a shameful secret from her past.

The laconic style and deep psychologism of Jumpa Lahiri depicts the inner world of the characters. The subtle humour of seemingly insignificant events in the life of ordinary people acquire a deep meaning.

The story is included in the debut book of Jhumpa Lahiri. This book won the Pulitzer Prize.


Here is the link to the text of the story:
https://onlinereadfreenovel.com/jhumpa-lahiri/page,5,36922-interpreter_of_maladies.html

Go See Eddie by J.D.Salinger — Review

The short story “Go See Eddie” by J.D. Salinger is written in a form of dialogue between brother and sister. The reader immediately immerses in the story’s events, a kind of everyday scene from life, and is able to observe what is going on.

Salinger does not express his opinion, he allows readers to think about the characters and their actions.





This is a link to the text of the story:

https://www.ae-lib.org.ua/texts/salinger__early_stories__en.htm

The Geranium by Flannery O'Connor – Review

In the short story "Geranium" O'Connor addressed to the readers several important issues:

One of them is longing for the native land. The story talks about an elder man who has moved from a small village into a big city and he can’t find a place for himself. The city is too big for him, everything here is different;from the trees to the greenery.

The familiar world is lost forever. There is no river here, and he doesn’t notice the smell of the earth and warmth of the sun.

Everyone seems like a stranger to him. The only thing that reminds him of his native South is a pot of geraniums, which stands by the window of the house across.



This is a link to the text of the story:
https://biblioklept.org/2014/02/24/the-geranium-flannery-oconnor/

The Drummer Boy of Shiloh by Ray Bradbury — Review

The main theme of the story “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” by Ray Bradbury is a feeling of the upcoming bloody battle during the Civil War of the North and South in the USA.

The general and the little drummer are talking on a spring evening in a military camp. In a day or two the Battle of Shiloh will take place, and everyone is afraid in their own way. The story was wtitten by Bradbury after he read in the newspaper about an person whose great-grandfather was known as the drummer boy of Shiloh. The story represents a ganre of a psychological sketch on the theme “before the battle”.

Here is the link to the text of the story:
http://mrhay.weebly.com/uploads/8/2/5/3/8253688/drummerboy_story.pdf

Penal Colony by Franz Kafka - Review

The story “Penal Colony” by Franz Kafka has no plot. It is a rather detailed, in fact a very detailed, description of execution. The description is so naturalistic and cruel that some readers may want to halt reading.

In the beginning, the reader hates the officer conducting the execution, who is so proud of it, and explains it in such detail and with such passion. Yet, the denouement is very unexpected.  It seems like the world has changed.

Definitely, it is a brutal book, but interesting with a rapidly changing main idea and course of events.

 

Here is the link to the text of the story:

https://arts.uwaterloo.ca/~raha/793CA_web/PenalColony.pdf