Category: Short Story

Short Story Review: Hansel and Gretel

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Title: Hansel and Gretel
Author: Brothers Grimm
Rating: 2.5 / 5

Hello fellow readers, and welcome to another Short Story Review.

This review could be considered more of a fairy tale than a short story, but they’ll be lumped together in the future for the sake of easiness.

We all know the story of Hansel and Gretel. Their father leaves them in the forest where they chance upon a witch’s hut made of sweets. The witch wants to eat the children, but they trick her into the oven and cook her up until they chance upon their dad in the woods who takes them back home.

Its a simple story, and really quite ridiculous in modern standards, but it is sort of funny to think about.

There is a bunch of historical and metaphorical significance to the story, but it’s such a short story, that it’s easy to forget about it all.

There have been dozens of different adaptations of Hansel and Gretel since the original release in 1812, all with a bit of a unique twist.

The most interesting one I saw was two young Jewish children who get lost in the woods during World War 2. You can imagine where that story goes, but it seemed a dark and interesting story to say the least.

What Fairy Tales did you read about as a kid? Any stories that most people wouldn’t have heard of? If so, you should share them with me in the comments or on social media.
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The Snow Queen Review

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Title: The Snow Queen
Author: Hans Christian Anderson
Rating: 6 / 10

Happy Monday again fellow readers. Since Frozen 2 just came out in theatres recently, I thought I would review the short story that inspired it all, The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson.

”The Snow Queen” is the story of a little girl’s grit, her way with animals, and a magic mirror. It was written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen in 1845. One of his longest and most famous tales, ”The Snow Queen” has been the inspiration for books and films, including Disney’s Frozen.

Despite being written in 1844, I actually quite enjoyed this little piece. The thing I liked about it the most is also the thing I disliked the most, but I’ll get into more of that now.

The Snow Queen is quite lacking. There are not a lot of details given in the seven different stories contained in this piece.

Anderson literally jumps months at a time in a matter of sentences, which can get frustrating because I wanted more substance to it.

I wanted the story to be fleshed out more, because I wanted to get into the mind of Anderson more.

He is a fantastic author, and one of the most famous authors in the world.

The fact that there isn’t much fleshing out of the story is also the great aspect of it too. Its not bogged down with pointless detail and story.

The reader gets to use their imagination to enjoy the piece, and fill in any blanks if and when they want.

The story is rather simple. Two friends, a Gerta and Kay, are playing together when Kay gets a piece of glass stuck in his eye. This glass was a part of a magical mirror that the hobgoblin possessed, but had now broken on the earth.

When Kay gets this mirror stuck in his eye and in his heart, he starts to see the worst in the world, and starts treating Gerta badly.

Kay gets taken away by The Snow Queen when he is out on his sled to her winter palace.

Gerta becomes worried when summer comes and nobody can find Kay, and asks the trees, the plants, the river, an evil old lady, a pirate, an old man to see if they knew where Kay had gone, until finally she found Kay in the Snow Queen’s castle.

Kay didn’t respond to Gerta at first, until her tears melted his frozen heart. The Snow Queen saw her reflection in Gerta’s mirror, turning her back into the kind little girl that she used to be, letting Kay and Gerta return to their home together.

If you know anything about Frozen, you know these stories are not similar at all.

Instead, there are some aspects of the two stories that overlap.

The frozen heart, Ice Queen, and the act of love thawing their heart are two of the aspects that overlap, but otherwise there’s nothing similar about them.

The Snow Queen is what it is. A short story that, at its time, was something of magic and wonderment. It’s a great story for kids and adults.

I hadn’t actually read the story until recently, and I quite enjoyed it. Its a simple piece to read, but I found it very inspiring and thought provoking.

Anderson is a fantastic author, and does a good job of creating a story filled with joy and wonder for all ages.

Have you read The Snow Queen? I’ve never spoken to someone who has, so let’s talk about it in the comments.

Why I Like Short Stories

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I’ve been interested in reading and writing since I was a little kid, and my go to type of book to read was a nice long chapter book. The thicker the better.

My philosophy was, the thicker it was, the more time and effort were put into it, therefore the book must be good right?

Well that’s not completely wrong, but it does have its faults. Just because a book is long, doesn’t mean it is good, but I would say a majority of them are.

What I didn’t realize until the last few years, is that short stories and anthology series really good. I read them in high-school and university, but they’re usually pretty bland and full of symbolism, plus schools rarely ever pick good reading material.

I didn’t mind short stories usually, but they weren’t my favorite thing, until recently. I’ve read a handful of short stories over the past few years, and I’ve really enjoyed them.

Usually a book with a more fleshed out story is better, because they have answers to all the questions and all of the story lines typically end some how.

What’s to complain about in that case? I’m getting the complete story, I should be happy about it.

That’s true, at least in my opinion, but there is another truth that goes along with it. Just because you don’t get the full story, doesn’t mean the story isn’t good.

There is some sort of magic that comes with creating your own story, or finishing a puzzle, and I think that’s something that short stories inspire in people.

They let people fill in the remaining pieces of the puzzle they started, and give people a chance to finish the story how they want it.

If a short story is done well, it tells just enough of a story to satisfy your needs, but not a complete enough story that it gives you all the answers.

It finds the fine line between mystery and answer. Giving you the steak, and you bring the potatoes.

It’s a near magical thing, creating a short story that makes the reader want more. I put the success of short stories up to a test. If a short story is done well, I imagine at least a half dozen different things that could happen in that story.

If a short story is done well, I go looking for more content from that world, author, or anything, just to help me finish it.

If a short story isn’t done well, that’s all there is to it. The story ends at the last word. There’s no wondering what happened next, there’s no finishing the puzzle. The story lives and dies in its own pages.

You might be thinking that you haven’t read a short story that was good, or maybe you haven’t read one that was bad. Either way, everyone has their opinions.

I’ve read a few short stories that fall into both categories, but its the ones that I crave more of that made me fall in love with short stories.

Type it Out Tuesday: February 12

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Since it’s Valentine’s Day coming up in a few days, I figured that people would appreciate a Valentine’s Day themed writing prompt…the thing about this one is that it’s for all those single people who don’t have anything to do on Valentine’s Day (which is more than okay because being single isn’t a bad thing).

Here it is:

It’s Valentine’s Day, and this is the first time you’ve been single in a while, but you won’t let that get you down. You decided to stay at home and binge watch that new Netflix show you found.

Continue from there, and describe the perfect evening to yourself.

As always, I’d love to see what you can make of this.