To Read & To Write

Have you heard this story before? A woman, torn between her feelings for two different men, ends up making the wrong decision and lives a life of pain, suffering, and longing. Does that sound familiar? Though that storyline comprises the basic plot of Samuel Park’s “This Burns My Heart” (2011), I promise that there is something especially distinctive about this story, which I would even go so far as to call an epic saga. The novel is made up of four parts, each one named for a plant organism special to Korean culture; Part 1: Chrysanthemum, Part 2: Orchid, Part 3: Plum Blossom, and Part 4: Bamboo.   Each of these plants represents something specific, which is beautifully explained by Park within the context of the story, but can be said simply to symbolize resilience, strength, and persistence in the face of harsh circumstances. These characteristics align with how Korean society became after the war, during the 1960s. Everyone in “This Burns My Heart” is an embodiment ...

Sometimes a good object lesson made in story form can be better than something overly dramatic and dripping with sentimentality. The Light Between Oceans is a perfect object lesson about the blurred lines between the usually stark contrast of right and wrong. Morality, no matter how much some might like to convince themselves of it, is never easy. London based, Australian author M.L. Stedman writes her powerful first story, The Light Between Oceans, conveying this complexity in all its perfect dimensions. Tom Sherbourne, well-respected World War I veteran, is emotionally and spiritually wounded after his return from action, especially by the fact that he survived while many of his comrades were brutally killed. The question of why *he* was the one that was allowed to live nags at him daily. Damaged also from a broken home, Sherbourne puts the entirety of his mind and soul into his work. He is detailed and exhaustive in the work he does, and soon he is known as one of the best light...

Not many books are able to leave the reader with such powerful emotions as the novel “Girl In The Moonlight” by Charles Dubow. The feeling is almost even painful at times, and it is complex, just as much as the characters in the story are, as the story urges one to contemplate what has just been read months and months after, maybe without even realizing it. This is the mark of a great book. Moreover, a great piece of literature. Charles Dubow gives readers access to an unquestionably elusive and exclusive world of prestige and glamour, with all its idiosyncrasies, etiquettes, and privileges. Dubow portrays families that have a lot of money, and there is nothing sugarcoated about their lives; there is nothing that makes them any “richer” than the next man. The book is a pleasure to read because it presents a gateway into a social stratum by which only the few are a part. The book also allows the reader to take note of the best works of art by reminding us of such people as Rainer M...