The Kiss by Kate Chopin — Review

The short story “The Kiss” by Kate Chopin is about a woman who wants to marry a rich man. She carefully plans how to achieve her aims using all her charm. She is narcissistic, vain and manipulative, and she thinks that she has a right to play with people's emotions.

There are two male characters in the story. One is naive and has a weak character. Another, on the contrary, doesn't let women manipulate him.

These characters play in love like in a game of chess. The question who is the winner has a connection with the last line of the story: ‘A person can't have everything in this world’.



Here is the link to the text of the story:
https://americanliterature.com/author/kate-chopin/short-story/the-kiss

Man From the South by Roald Dahl — Review

The plot of the story “Man From the South” by Roald Dahl includes intriguing circumstances related to the Cadillac as a high-stakes commodity. The terms of the argument between a young American and an older man are eerie but very interesting.

Roald Dahl writes cheerfully about terrible and scary things. He turns everything upside down so the reader sees an unexpected denouement in the end.



Here is the link to the text of the story:
https://www.classicshorts.com/stories/south.html

Death of a Traveling Salesman by Eudora Welty Review

The story “Death of a Traveling Salesman” by Eudora Welty reflects modern American reality from the point of view of the loss of true values - the disintegration of the human personality.

The main character of the story is under the pressure of bourgeois morality, imbued with the psychology of money-grubbing society. The story is the ultimate confession of a dead man.



This is link to the text of the story:
http://writing2.richmond.edu/jessid/eng423/restricted/2welty.pdf

Boys And Girls by Alice Munro — Review

The story “Boys And Girls” by Alice Munro tells about a young girl who lives in a harsh Canadian wilderness. She helps her father in daily situations as if she was a boy.

With the onset of adolescence, the parents suddenly become concerned that their child did not correspond to the generally accepted stereotype of a mother's helper.

She never suffers from the problem of gender self-identification, until a certain age comes.

However, over time, in a completely natural way, she rediscovers her role as a girl and she finds a lot of advantages. The moral of the story is that everything has its time; nature sooner or later takes its toll.


Here is the text of the story:
https://womeninlit.tripod.com/alicemunro.htm

Choice Spirits by W. W. Jacobs — Review

The story “Choice Spirits” by W. W. Jacobs tells how the crew of the ship makes a desperate attempt to punish the prudent and stingy captain. The crew believes that their intentions can help to overcome the greed of the captain who forces them to eat only rotten meat, rancid fat, and old crackers.

Sailors act according to their own understanding and within the limits of their mental abilities.

In the story, the reader will discover who the winners are and what comes out of the story.



Here is the link to the text of the story:
https://americanliterature.com/author/w-w-jacobs/short-story/choice-spirits

Chemistry by Graham Swift — Review

At first glance, the title of the story might sound rather strange. Chemistry ... Chemistry is the science of the composition, structure, properties of substances and their transformations.

In this story, chemistry appears as both a reality and a symbol. The Grandfather has a hobby where he experiments with chemical elements. This is an interest which might ultimately destroy him. 

The boy is the narrator and he seems to be the only one who really understands what is happening. The child's observations are mixed with adult understanding and descriptions of the events.


Here is the link to the text of the story:
https://psv4.userapi.com/c536132/u500001729/docs/d31/ffdd0f275576/Chemistry.pdf?extra=fKKavQ3EI6EaPb88TywfLN7Bg8-WPEw48BLR_-Pm7T3Y6UNMuaTm0CT_L57nFQhzi4Gf5Lhln5JAWh-rjD19_LxdnXr1FxNcBZIzmii4MSu_DVB_F5j2xNmRY4dmyQbnh4F7_9y6qV3G1BXcidPyR-L50w

Cat in the Rain by Ernest Hemingway — Review

In his story “Cat in the Rain” Ernest Hemingway describes the mood of an American woman who has arrived at an Italian hotel with her husband.

Lonely even when they are together - this is what sometimes happens when one of the spouses seems to be around all the time, but at the same time does not seem to see the partner at all or understand what is happening in their lives.



This is a link to the text of the story:
https://lingvistov.ru/blog/reading-club/reading-club-intermediate-cat-in-the-rain-by-ernest-hemingway/?ysclid=lb6qmsvge9351494888