Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus More



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.

Copyright 2007-2010: All the posts within this blog were originally posted by Teddy Rose and should not be reproduced without express written permission.

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.

Copyright 2007-2010: All the posts within this blog were originally posted by Teddy Rose and should not be reproduced without express written permission.

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
Copyright 2007-2010: All the posts within this blog were originally posted by Teddy Rose and should not be reproduced without express written permission.