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Short Story Recommendations

Hello, everyone. Unfortunately, this blog post will be my last. Instead of reviewing a short story like I usually do, I will leave you with two short story recommendations based on my personal taste. My favorite stories of the few that I have reviewed are Allende’s And of Clay We Are Created and Boudinot’s The Littlest Hitler. My personal taste in short stories generally favors dark short stories with deep messages and themes, including stories that emphasize the dramatic aspects of character development. Usually they involve someone’s emotional struggle within themselves or at least one death throughout the story. Perhaps the most significant aspect in my personal taste in short stories is the suspense found in certain stories that I have already reviewed such as Poe’s A Tell-Tale Heart and Allende’s And of Clay We Are Created. Therefore, I recommend Keyes’s Flowers for Algernon and Aleeza’s A Case of Insomnia. I recommend A Case of Insomnia because it focuses on one aspe...
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Allende's "And of Clay We Are Created"

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Allende's And of Clay We Are Created is a story about a reporter who accompanies a girl who is dying and finds himself opening up to her. I think the gradual shift from an optimistic tone to a pessimistic tone and back to a relatively neutral tone was written well. The details given about both of their lives and the similarities begin to align as the story progresses. One of them is physically trapped and in pain, whereas the other is emotionally trapped and depressed. The fact that both of them are terrified even though one appears to be comforting the other is subtle in the beginning but more obvious in the end, which was a great addition to the story. The conversion of a fictional news story to a summary of the events in the perspective of a person who knows to the reporter is smooth, as opposed to being relatively awkward. I think that the news story that I linked could be used as the basis of a short story with a writing style similar to Allende's. http://news.b...
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Boudinot's "The Littlest Hitler"

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Boudinot's The Littlest Hitler  follows a young boy who decided to dress up as Hitler for Halloween. As expected, he runs into a few problems, most notably the moment when he realized a girl in his class dressed as Anne Frank. As I was reading the story, the protagonist's father showed more and more indications of being unqualified to be a father and lacking empathy. He seems to wholeheartedly support the decision to go to school dressed as Hitler. The fact that he was divorced indicated that his child would likely have issues regarding mental stability in the future. At the end, when the protagonist sticks his arm into the fire, it is an accurate representation of what many of us desire to do when we make mistakes. We seek to empathize and understand the pain of those that the mistake has offended. His act of self harm by burning his arm was an allusion to the way the Jewish prisoners in German concentration camps were cremated after they were killed. An event from my li...
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Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart"

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Diaz's "How to date a brown girl (black girl, white girl, or halfie)"

⭐⭐ This story seemed to have a relatively consistent writing style. Regarding humor, the story was somewhat strong. I added one star because of the humorous aspects of it and another for consistency. However, there didn't seem to be any robust underlying theme of the story. It didn't seem to ever progress, and the writing style seemed awkward. However, considering this was a satirical story, that was likely what Diaz was intending to do. Overall, I would give this story two out of five stars due to its lack of progression and a theme, but also the presence of a consistent writing style and humor. If I were to give advice in context of the story, I would say: If there’s something you don’t think people like about you, then try and change that. If you constantly talk about money, don’t. If you make finger guns at everyone you see when you walk down the street, try not doing that. Unlike in stories, you are the only one who can fix your character flaws. If there’s someone who...
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Atwood's "Happy Endings"

⭐⭐ The underlying message of Happy Endings  was very insightful. However, I disliked the method Atwood used to convey it. All of the stories seem somewhat similar. Mary and John meet each other. John mistreats her or makes a mistake. Mary is put upon. John is always at fault. The message seems to be that the same ending will always be achieved, but this effect is drastically dampened by the fact that the same person is making the mistakes. It would have been much easier to convey this message if Mary had made a mistake that caused John's disappointment. For example, a replacement middle that would have improved the story would have been something like: John fell in love with Mary, and Mary fell in love with John's credit card. He loved her unconditionally, as she loved it unconditionally. She simply uses him for his financial assets. For a while, she enjoyed it. She eventually grew bored with him. She was still excited by the vacation, the elegant meals, and the massive house....
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Bradbury's "All Summer in a Day"

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Bradbury's All Summer in a Day  shows the motivation for impulsive action and the irrationality behind it, as well as how the mistake might be forgotten, and later, regretted. Bradbury does an excellent job showing how the realization that they robbed Margot of her summer dawns on them. Considering the frequency of summers in the story, this is a grave mistake. Even the bystanders who were not directly responsible for this mistake were remorseful. I think Bradbury accurately described the motivation that the other children had, which was seemingly envy. A few years ago, my teacher insulted me so I retaliated by insulting him in an arguably disproportionate manner. I didn't feel any guilt until hours after it happened, but when I did, the realization dawned on me as it did on the children who locked Margot in the closet. Given the realism of this story, I would give it five out of five stars.
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