Category: Short Stories

Ominous October – The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell: A Newsflesh Novella by Mira Grant

Posted October 3, 2014 by Bonnie in Adult, Book Reviews, Ominous October, Read in 2014, Short Stories / 6 Comments

I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Ominous October – The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell: A Newsflesh Novella by Mira Grant

The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell: A Newsflesh Novella by Mira Grant
Series: Newsflesh #3.3
Published by Orbit on July 15th 2014
Pages: 112
Format: eARC
Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Goodreads

Also by this author: Feed, Deadline, Countdown: A Newsflesh Novella

Outside the classroom walls the Rising was spreading, but inside was a carefully protected sanctuary against the growing threat.

Or so the teachers and students thought.

On what will be the last day in the teaching career of Elaine Oldenburg, who fans of the series know as Foxy, she must fight to survive and protect her students when the zombie outbreak shatters the safety of her school.

‘We forget sometimes how easy it is for the survivors to look back on history and judge those who came before. It’s simpler when there is a villain, when there is a reason for things to have gone so terribly, terribly wrong. […] Sometimes there is no reason for things to go wrong. They just do.’

The year is 2036, twenty-two years since the Rising and life is no less dangerous. Despite those dangers though, some parents still choose to place their young children in public school systems (elementary and middle school) in order for them to fully develop their social skills before changing over to a fully virtual school system as most people have already done. Security has been increased and precautions have been made, however, the dangers were still lurking. The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell is the story of Seattle’s Evergreen Elementary School tragedy; a tragedy that painted a clear picture that those dangers were lurking closer than anyone thought.

The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell is a riveting and suspenseful novella set in the same world as Grant’s popular Newsflesh trilogy. The story follows Alaric Kwong and Mahir Gowda in current day 2044 who are conducting research on the tragedy trying to find the cause of it all. Flashbacks to 2036 are told from the point of view of teacher Elaine Oldenburg and show the flaws of the ‘secure school system’ she thought she worked in. Her desperation to survive and to keep as many of the children safe as possible is palpable and even knowing that all sorts of wrongs are likely to follow, the reader can’t help but hope for a miracle. Incredibly thrilling for a mere 112 pages, (although there is also an excerpt from Parasite at the end)Mira Grant continues to impress with her boldness. The ending was fairly inconclusive and I certainly wanted more but for all my fellow Newsflesh fans out there? This is a must read.

Tags: Ominous October

Short Story Review – Just One Night (Just One Day #2.5) by Gayle Forman

Posted June 5, 2014 by Bonnie in Book Reviews, Read in 2014, Short Stories, YA / 0 Comments

Just One Night by Gayle Forman
Series: Just One Day #2.5
Published by Viking Children's on May 29th 2014
Pages: 43
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Amazon
Goodreads

Also by this author: Just One Day, Just One Year

After spending one life-changing day in Paris with laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter, sheltered American good girl Allyson “Lulu” Healey discovered her new lover had disappeared without a trace. Just One Day followed Allyson’s quest to reunite with Willem; Just One Year chronicled the pair’s year apart from Willem’s perspective. Now, back together at last, this delectable e-novella reveals the couple’s final chapter.

Just One Day series

Just One Day (Just One Day #1) by Gayle Forman {Purchase – My Review}
Just One Year (Just One Day #2) by Gayle Forman {Purchase – My Review}

In Just One Day, Allyson and Willem meet for one memorable day before getting separated. In Just One Year, the two spend the following year searching for one another before finally succeeding. But did they get their happily ever after?

All be warned: there will be spoilers.

I wasn’t a huge fan of this series in general but was so thrown by the ending (or lack of ending) in book two that I knew I had to pick this up regardless. Allyson and Willem never generated any warm fuzzies for me but I still wanted to see what happened to the two of them in the end. After finishing Just One Night I have to say, they (author? publisher? whoever made the call to publish this.) should have left well enough alone. The two get their happily ever after, but Just One Night only manages to showcase Allyson’s creepy stalker obsession with Willem (I’m sorry, but who travels the globe searching for a guy she spent a single day with?) and Willem’s creepy foot fetish. I’m not joking. Did he obsess about her feet in the other books? Because if he did I must have blocked that shit out because, ew? For only 43 pages there were an obscene amount of foot comments. Here are several examples:

‘Allyson is sitting on the sofa, her sandals off, neatly placed under the coffee table. (The sight of her bare feet. What this is doing to Willem’s blood pressure. She might as well have taken off all her clothes.)’

‘It all feels like a dream and yet as natural as breathing. This is what you do. Put Allyson’s feet into your lap.’

‘They are on the stairs and she is under him and he’s got that wrist of hers in his mouth (finally!) but it’s not enough, he wants all of her (the feet!) […]’

“…Allyson is sitting next to him, and with everyone jammed at the table, she is right up close. And then she slips off her sandals under the table and sort of nuzzles her foot against his.
He loses his appetite, for food anyway.”

In addition to the creepy foot comments there was one ‘memorable’ scene in particular where Allyson was behind Willem on the bike he was riding and she decides to make out with his back, I guess since his mouth wasn’t available.

‘She can nuzzle against his back and lick his vertebra if she wants to. (She does, so she does.)’

‘Willem is just desperate for it to end. He is so full of wanting that it is painful and Allyson keeps lifting his shirt and licking his back, which she shouldn’t do while he’s riding a bike because he might pass out. (But she shouldn’t stop, either.)’

This is the fourth Gayle Forman book I’ve read yet was the poorest showcasing of her writing skills. The point of view was often unclear and would switch up at random without any section breaks resulting in a strange disjointed feel to this short tale. Plus, I’m not sure what was up with the strange sentences she decided belonged in parenthesis for no apparent reason.

Just One Night was intended to give fans the happily ever after that was lacking in Just One Year but it just didn’t do it for me. It failed to create emotional resonance I would have expected for two people that spent the past year searching for one another. Maybe it’s because I can’t look past the creepy feet comments or the fact that it seemed to be about nothing more than the two sleeping with each other. Maybe it’s because I never cared for their story or either one of their characters but I didn’t feel there was anything truly romantic about this love story.

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley {Purchase – My Review}
Golden by Jessi Kirby {Purchase – My Review}
This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales {Purchase – My Review}

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Short Story Review – Fracture Me (Shatter Me #2.5) by Tahereh Mafi

Posted March 7, 2014 by Bonnie in Book Reviews, Read in 2014, Short Stories, YA / 5 Comments

Fracture Me by Tahereh Mafi
Series: Shatter Me #2.5
Published by HarperCollins on December 17, 2013
Pages: 72
Format: eBook
Amazon
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Also by this author: Shatter Me, Unravel Me

In this electrifying sixty-page companion novella to the New York Times bestselling Shatter Me series, discover the fate of the Omega Point rebels as they go up against The Reestablishment. Set during and soon after the final moments of Unravel Me, Fracture Me is told from Adam's perspective.

As Omega Point prepares to launch an all-out assault on The Reestablishment soldiers stationed in Sector 45, Adam's focus couldn't be further from the upcoming battle. He's reeling from his breakup with Juliette, scared for his best friend's life, and as concerned as ever for his brother James's safety. And just as Adam begins to wonder if this life is really for him, the alarms sound. It's time for war.

On the battlefield, it seems like the odds are in their favor—but taking down Warner, Adam's newly discovered half brother, won't be that easy. The Reestablishment can't tolerate a rebellion, and they'll do anything to crush the resistance . . . including killing everyone Adam has ever cared about.

Fracture Me sets the stage for Ignite Me, the explosive finale in Tahereh Mafi's epic dystopian series. It's a novella not to be missed by fans who crave action-packed stories with tantalizing romance like Divergent by Veronica Roth, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and Legend by Marie Lu.

I usually skip on writing reviews for short stories because I tend to think of them as nothing more than filler to tide us readers over till the next installment. But I’m making an exception. Because this short story pissed me off.

Fracture Me is told from the POV of Adam and tells his part of the story that we don’t see at the end of Unravel Me. Adam is still upset about losing Juliette, he’s concerned about what happened to Kenji and he’s worried about leaving his little brother James. All understandable things to be concerned about.

My issue with this short story is it presented Adam in a completely different light than what we’ve come to expect. Adam was crazy with feelings for Juliette. Remember?

“It’s been me and you against the world forever,” he says.”It’s always been that way. It’s my fault I took so long to do something about it.”

There’s even the tagline on the cover! “I WILL NOT LOSE HER.” But in Fracture Me, he’s completely changed his tune. And he’s become a bit of a dick. The scene where Adam, Juliette and Kenji are on the battlefield is when his supposed true colors towards Juliette show.

‘The smart thing to do would be to hide her somewhere. Keep her safe. Out of danger. A weak link can bring everything down with it, and I don’t think this is the time to be taking chances.’

‘Kenji and Castle are always blowing smoke up her ass when they shouldn’t, and honestly? It’s dangerous. It’s not good to make her think she can do this kind of thing when really, it’ll probably get her killed.’

And this is where I get pissed because this is not how his character has been written in the previous two novels and is not what I think anyone would have expected from him at this point. Sure, I get it, this is the first we’re truly seeing things from his POV so there’s always the possibility that we read him wrong. But that’s not it. The issue here is, it all feels like one giant cop-out to solidify the ongoing issue the love triangle caused because clearly she’s gotta pick one. So let’s solve that by turning one of the guys into a total prick who thinks so highly of Juliette. Problem solved. We now have a clear winner.

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Audiobook Review – The Neil Gaiman Audio Collection

Posted October 19, 2013 by Bonnie in Audiobooks, Book Reviews, Middle Grade, Read in 2013, Short Stories / 5 Comments

The Neil Gaiman Audio Collection by Neil Gaiman
Narrator: Neil Gaiman
Published by Harper Audio on August 31st 2004
Length: 48 mins
Genres: Fantasy, Kiddie Books
Format: Audiobook
Source: Library
Amazon
Goodreads

Four of beloved author Neil Gaiman's delightfully scary, strange, and hilarious children's tales read by the author, now available unabridged. This collection includes: The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish: An unforgettable story that will take readers on a journey into the murky mind of a young boy and the perils of striking a bargain. The Wolves in the Walls: Lucy is sure there are wolves living in the walls of their house -- and, as everybody says, if the wolves come out of the walls, it's all over. Her family doesn't believe her. Then one day, the wolves come out. Cinnamon: This charming fable of an exotic princess who refuses to speak currently exists only on Neil's official website and has never been published in print or any other format. Crazy Hair: Bonnie tries to comb the narrator's crazy hair -- where gorillas leap and tigers stalk -- and is in for a surprise in this delightful rhyming tale.

The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish

*3 stars*

The unnamed narrator, who is only a child, finds himself in a world of trouble when he trades his dad to his friend Nathan for two goldfish. They were marvelous goldfish, and his dad was wasn’t very exciting anyways, but his mother took issue and sent him off to get his dad back. Once he gets to Nathan’s house he finds that Nathan also thought his dad uninteresting and didn’t actually have him anymore because he had been traded to another friend for an electric guitar. The pattern continued.

A very odd story at face-value but is essentially a sententious story of the hazards of trading and I suppose a lesson in ownership. Will children be able to understand this? I suppose it depends on the age but if it was one of my children reading this, my guess would be their brains would quickly begin to concoct ways on how they could trade me for some goldfish.

The Wolves in the Walls

*3.5 stars*

When Lucy started hearing noises in the walls that hustled and bustled, crinkled and crackled and knew that there were most certainly wolves inside the walls. Her mother tried to silence her fears by telling her it was more than likely just mice because it certainly couldn’t be wolves because once the wolves come out, it’s all over. But Lucy knew it couldn’t possibly be mice.

Once the wolves come out it’s up to Lucy to save her family. ‘The Wolves in the Walls’ is a tale I believe kids would identify with because of the ‘Boy Who Cried Wolf’ nature of it all and the adults dismissal of her beliefs as simply a case of an overactive imagination. Despite the obvious embellishments to enhance the entertainment of the story I found this to be a cute lesson for kids on learning how to trust your instincts and face your fears.

Cinnamon

*4 stars*

Cinnamon was a princess and was not only blind but did not speak. Her father’s concern increases until he offers many riches to anyone who could get his daughter to finally speak. Many come and many fail but when a man-eating tiger arrives at the palace no one believes he would be of any help to Cinnamon, other than a help to his appetite.

The night the tiger had with Cinnamon was spent telling her of the land outside of the palace and inevitably spurred her interest and curiosity. Rich in symbolism yet simple in scope, Cinnamon is a perfect lesson in seeing past riches, experiencing new things and finding the true value of life itself.

Crazy Hair

*3 stars*

Bonnie’s encounters a stranger that has hair that is so incredibly crazy that there is a honest-to-goodness jungle inside of it. Bonnie insists that it’s definitely manageable and just needs a good brushing. As she begins to brush, something entirely unexpected occurs.

Neil Gaiman clearly wrote this story about himself. Crazy Hair is a bizarre imagining of what takes place within hair that is crazy and beyond control. The rhyming rhythm puts a smile on your face and would likely be a fantastic read-aloud to any child.

All four of these stories were the whimsical sort of tales full of symbolism and life lessons that I’ve come to expect from Gaiman. I enjoyed Crazy Hair the most because of the wonderful rhyming style but Cinnamon was the best overall for its fantastic message. Would love to check all of these out someday to be able to appreciate the artwork of Dave McKean.

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Short Story Review – Twittering from the Circus of the Dead by Joe Hill

Posted August 10, 2013 by Bonnie in Adult, Book Reviews, Read in 2013, Short Stories / 1 Comment

Twittering from the Circus of the Dead by Joe Hill
Published by William Morrow on August 6th 2013
Pages: 39
Genres: Horror, Zombies
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Amazon
Goodreads

Also by this author: NOS4A2, The Fireman: A Novel, Strange Weather

Come one, come all. The show's about to begin. Step right up for the Circus of the Dead: where YOU are the concessions. #CircusoftheDead

@TWITTERING It was just a family road trip to Colorado for snowboarding and skiing.
8:47 PM – 6 Aug 13

@TWITTERING The trip home turns disastrous when they stumble upon the #CircusoftheDead
8:51 PM – 6 Aug 13

@TWITTERING Stopping and taking a break sounds like a plan. Might as well take in some entertainment.
8:54 PM – 6 Aug 13

@TWITTERING The special effects are amazing but something is definitely off.
8:56 PM – 6 Aug 13

@TWITTERING Nobody takes it seriously. Those aren’t real zombies after all. Zombies don’t exist.
8:59 PM – 6 Aug 13

@TWITTERING Nothing goes according to plan. Not when you stop at #CircusoftheDead
9:06PM – 6 Aug 13

@TWITTERING #CircusoftheDead Creepy. Gruesome. Eerie. Full of startling horror.
9:10PM – 6 Aug 13

@TWITTERING #CircusoftheDead All too brief. Abrupt. Inconclusive.
9:11PM – 6 Aug 13

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Early Review – A Textbook Case (A Lincoln Rhyme Short Story) by Jeffery Deaver

Posted March 29, 2013 by Bonnie in Adult, Book Reviews, Early Review, Read in 2013, Short Stories / 3 Comments

I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Early Review – A Textbook Case (A Lincoln Rhyme Short Story) by Jeffery Deaver

A Textbook Case by Jeffery Deaver
Series: Lincoln Rhyme #11
Published by Grand Central Publishing on April 2nd 2013
Pages: 65
Genres: Contemporary, Detective, Mystery, Thriller
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley
Amazon
Goodreads

Also by this author: The Kill Room, The October List, The Skin Collector

From Jeffery Deaver--the New York Times bestselling author of the upcoming Lincoln Rhyme novel THE KILL ROOM (on sale June 4, 2013)--comes an original short story featuring Rhyme.

When a young woman is found brutally murdered in a parking garage, with a veritable mountain of potential evidence to sift through, it may be the most challenging case former NYPD detective Lincoln Rhyme has ever taken on.

‘It was clear that the classic textbook procedure for running a case forensically wasn’t going to work’

Lincoln Rhyme is renowned for his forensic knowledge but even he is tested when a recent murder is buried, literally, in evidence. The perpetrator has attempted to cover any evidence they personally left in the smartest way possible; by flooding the scene full of incidental evidence. Extremely smart, except he detailed that exact scenario in his highly prominent forensic textbook. The more digging his team does in uncovering the relevant pieces of evidence, the greater Rhyme’s suspicion that someone may be using his textbook against him to get away with murder.

I’ve read eight of Jeffery Deaver’s ‘Lincoln Rhyme’ novels but this is my first short story of his. His books always contain a mystery so skilfully constructed it’s almost as if you’re watching a puzzle slowly disassemble itself as you turn each page. All of his novels are quite large and the disassembling takes time so I was interested in seeing how well he’s able to build a mystery with so few pages. Admittedly it doesn’t have the same flair that his full-length novels have but it was still an enjoyable and quick read. Any of the Lincoln Rhyme novels work fairly well as a stand-alone, but if you’re a newbie to Deaver’s works I’d recommend A Textbook Case to give you a glimpse at what he’s capable of.

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Book Tour Review – Married Love: And Other Stories by Tessa Hadley

Posted November 27, 2012 by Bonnie in Adult, Book Reviews, Book Tour, Read in 2012, Short Stories, TLC Book Tours / 0 Comments

I received this book free from TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Book Tour Review – Married Love: And Other Stories by Tessa Hadley

Married Love and Other Stories by Tessa Hadley
Published by Harper Perennial on November 20th 2012
Pages: 240
Genres: Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Romance
Format: ARC
Source: TLC Book Tours
Amazon
Goodreads

A girl haunts the edges of her parents' party; a film director drops dead, leaving his film unfinished and releasing his wife to a new life; an eighteen-year-old insists on marrying her music professor, then finds herself shut out from his secrets; three friends who were intimate as teenagers meet up again after the death of the women who brought them together. Ranging widely across generations and classes, and evoking a world that expands beyond the pages, these are the stories of Tessa Hadley's astonishing new collection.

On full display are the qualities for which Tessa Hadley has long been praised: her unflinching examination of family relationships; her humor, warmth and psychological acuity; her powerful, precise and emotionally dense prose. In this collection there are domestic dramas, generational sagas, wrenching love affairs and epiphanies-captured and distilled to remarkable effect. Married Love is a collection to treasure, a masterful new work from one of today's most accomplished storytellers.

‘He knew how passionately she succumbed to the roles she dreamed up for herself. She won’t be able to get out of this one, he thought. She can’t stop now.’

Married Love: And Other Stories is a collection of short fictional contemporary stories. Married Love is not all about domestic bliss. It’s about the every day struggles that the characters encounter. Each story is a showcasing of a brief moment that manages to convey an entire life without leaving one feeling incomplete by the shortness of it.

‘For a moment, however, she could imagine the sensation of chewing politely and sufferingly on a mouthful of broken crystal, tasting salty blood.’

Reviewing a collection of short stories is always difficult. Do you review each one individually? Do you rate them as a whole? All in all, the characters within her stories are strongly written and despite the fact that I certainly preferred a few more than others they all managed to shine in their own way. Her writing was stately and succinct and quite enjoyable. My interest has definitely been piqued and I would love to read more from this author.

‘I couldn’t help being swept along by the idea of someone changing who she was: I knew I wasn’t capable of this; I was just helplessly forever me.’

This post was a part of the Married Love blog tour.

Click the button below for a complete list of tour stops.

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Short Story Review – Frayed (Madison Lark #1) by Blakely Chorpenning

Posted March 28, 2012 by Bonnie in Adult, Book Reviews, Read in 2012, Short Stories / 0 Comments

I received this book free from the Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Short Story Review – Frayed (Madison Lark #1) by Blakely Chorpenning

Frayed by Blakely Chorpenning
Series: Madison Lark #1
Published by Self-Published on December 14, 2011
Pages: 152
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Format: eARC
Source: the Author
Amazon
Goodreads

Fray loves being a semi-pro fighter and free spirit. However, when a deadly faction begins abducting supernatural teens in the Blue Hills of North Carolina for excruciating experiments, she quickly learns there is more to life than glitzy opponents and late night trysts. Fray and a crew of unlikely allies must rescue the children before they are dissected alive. Being a leopard shapeshifter helps. Confronting personal prejudice and traversing feelings for a tempestuous ex do not mix. But Fray is willing to go all the way to stop her world from changing. That is, until the ultimate sacrifice forces her to realize just how overdue change is. Her most shocking discovery: Everyone's human. At least a little...

When local teenagers start disappearing from the various shifter communities, old rivalries get put on the back burner in order to stop this from continuing.

Fray is a leopard shifter and a semi-pro mixed martial arts fighter. To sum it up: she’s quite the badass. Highly independent and extremely sarcastic I grew quite fond of Fray. After finding out that more teenagers are disappearing, her and her family realizes that someone needs to look into this to prevent any future kidnappings and it needs to be Fray. She teams up with a vampire/investigator to find out why these kidnappings are happening and who’s responsible.

I really enjoyed this introduction novella. I think it presented a good picture of what’s to be expected in this upcoming series. This has a surprisingly interesting plot with strong and likable characters. I also enjoyed the underlying story of overcoming deep-seated prejudices and learning how to overcome those challenges to complete the common goal. I think I would have enjoyed it a teensy bit more if it was longer and the author was able to dive a bit deeper in respects to world-building. Character development was spot on though.

Recommended for you UF fans out there.

Tags: Shifters

Short Story Review – The Pigeon by Patrick Süskind

Posted March 1, 2012 by Bonnie in Adult, Book Reviews, Read in 2012, Short Stories / 1 Comment

The Pigeon by Patrick Süskind
Published by Penguin Books on May 12, 1988
Pages: 96
Genres: Literary Fiction
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
Amazon
Goodreads

Also by this author: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Set in Paris and attracting comparisons with Franz Kafka and Edgar Allan Poe, "The Pigeon" is Patrick Suskind's tense, disturbing follow-up to the bestselling "Perfume". The novella tells the story of a day in the meticulously ordered life of bank security guard, Jonathan Noel, who has been hiding from life since his wife left him for her Tunisian lover. When Jonathan opens his front door on a day he believes will be just like any other, he encounters not the desired empty hallway but an unwelcome, diabolical intruder...

‘At the time the pigeon affair overtook him, unhinging his life from one day to the next, Jonathan Noel, already past fifty, could look back over a good twenty-year period of total uneventfulness and would never have expected anything of importance could ever overtake him again – other than death some day.’

‘The Pigeon’ is an incredibly short story detailing a day (albeit a rather momentous day) in the life of Jonathan Noel. Jonathan leads a secluded and private life as a bank security guard in Paris. He enjoys the life he has made for himself and is perfectly content with it continuing as such for his remaining years; however, on his way to work one morning this all comes collapsing down around him as he discovers a pigeon on his front porch. As soon as the pigeon entered his life, his life literally came crumbling apart in his mind. All of his carefully made plans became as fragile as a snowflake.

‘…but he suddenly no longer saw himself – that is, he no longer saw himself as a part of the world surrounding him. It was rather, as if for a few seconds he were standing far away, outside it, and were regarding this world through the wrong end of a telescope.’

I became an instant fan of Patrick Süskind after stumbling upon his novel ‘Pefume’. It left such a permanent imprint on me and is still one of my favorite books to date. I’m not sure why I never looked into whether or not he had any additional works, but after embarking on my ‘1001 Books to Read Before I Die’ reading challenge I discovered ‘The Pigeon’ as one of those 1001. Overjoyed, I knew I had to have it.

Patrick Süskind’s writing is so thoroughly impressionable that earlier this afternoon I saw a pigeon on the side of the road and had to suppress a shiver as Jonathan’s fears flooded my mind. Mildly amusing, but, I’m not sure I’ll be able to look at a pigeon the same again. His descriptions of the pigeon and Jonathan’s instant anxiety over the pigeon were immediately understandable even though, looking at the bigger picture, it seemed as if he made a fuss over nothing. I’ll admit, I laughed at first because it seemed quite absurd, but as the story progressed you can see now it’s not just the pigeon that affected poor Jonathan in that manner; it was just the catalyst to a series of events that disrupted his painstakingly normal existence.

I’m giving ‘The Pigeon’ 5 stars for one reason and one reason only (and it’s not because it’s as great a story as Perfume because it isn’t): because he’s a truly amazing writer. I will read anything written by Patrick Süskind. It’s just such a shame that there aren’t more novels of his in existence to read.

Tags: Favorites, German Literature

Short Story Review – The End of the Party by Graham Greene

Posted January 6, 2012 by Bonnie in Book Reviews, Read in 2012, Short Stories, YA / 0 Comments

The End of the Party by Graham Greene
on 1929
Pages: 6
Genres: Dystopian/Post-Apocalyptic, Horror
Format: eBook
Source: Freebie
Amazon
Goodreads

Peter and his fearful twin brother Francis attend a birthday party which ends in tragedy.

I read the occasional short story but I can’t for the life of me remember the last one that really stuck with me. This was the most brilliantly written short story I think I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I have several Graham Greene novels on my plan-to-read-someday list but I do believe those will be moved up the list; I was blown away by the power of his writing in this extremely short story. He was able to successfully establish an ample story and a potent relationship in a little more than 3,500 words. Bravo, Mr. Greene.

‘As a twin he was in many ways an only child. To address Peter was to speak to his own image in a mirror, an image a little altered by a flaw in the glass, so as to throw back less a likeness of what he was than of what he wished to be, what he would be without his unreasoning fear of darkness, footsteps of strangers, the flight of bats in dusk-filled gardens.’

Twin brothers Peter and Francis have been invited to a birthday party that Francis does not wish to attend.

”I’m afraid of going. I won’t go. I daren’t go. They’ll make me hide in the dark, and I’m afraid of the dark. I’ll scream and scream and scream.”

Regardless, the twins still end up attending. What follows is so terribly shocking and tragic. Suffice it to say, the ending left me breathless. Thank you, Wendy. Without your review I don’t believe I ever would have read this.

Free to read here.

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Category: Short Stories

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