Chaim Potok’s The Chosen throws the reader into a bildungsroman, a coming of age story, of two Jews, Danny Saunders and Reuven Malter, during the tail-end of World War Two and its aftermath as the horrors of the Holocaust are unveiled to the public, and movements like Zionism rise to debate the idea of the Read more…
Guy de Maupassant: Ironically Disturbing Henri Rene Albert Guy de Maupassant was a prolific French writer of the mid-to-late 1800s writing some 300 short stories, six novels, three travelogues, and one volume of verse (a book of poetry). He published his first story, “Boule de Suif” or “Ball of Fat” in 1880 and it is Read more…
A practical joke is a trick played on someone to make them look foolish and to amuse others. This idea is explored by Guy de Maupassant in his stories, “A Normandy Joke” and “An Uncomfortable Bed.” In “A Normandy Joke,” it starts off with a wedding procession, the bridegroom being a wealthy sportsman by the Read more…
Curing an age-old curse: Lewis Barnavelt’s triumph Spoiler Alert: Do not read if you are going to get the book. The book is difficult to find (only in print in the UK) and first editions are very expensive. The fifth installment of the Lewis Barnavelt series, The Vengeance of the Witch-Finder, builds a nice storyline through Read more…
‘Twas the Summer of 1888 Joseph Ponce, an 11 year old boy who lives in a town in New York along the Hudson. Beacon, New York, to be specific. He was just enjoying his summer after being shipped off to boarding school by his parents. However, on another side of the animal kingdom, a family Read more…
