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Short stories often prove to be an ideal choice, especially, when we are on a short commute or have a limited time to get freshen up by reading. Fables, wisdom lessons and thrillers are popular genres in this segment. Writing a short story is a challenge in itself. On one hand, you don’t have the luxury of writing a few pages to set the tempo of the story and introducing prominent characters. It is like running 100 meters race. From the very first sentence, you need to give your best.
| Book Title | : | Blood Relatives (Short Story) |
| Author | : | Jay Path |
| Publisher | : | Self Published (December 12, 2019) |
| # of Pages | : | 3563 KB; 12 (Kindle EBook) |
| # of Chapters | : | – |
| Purchase Link(s) | : |
We often talk about interesting short stories or small EBooks we get a chance to read. Here quick links to some such books we got a chance to read recently.
- Ilu – A Hindi Short EBook By Kamal Upadhyay
- A Woman’s Ritual by Sudha Murty
- In Enemy Hands: A Novella By Mainak Dhar
Continuing the quest, today we will be talking about Blood Relatives, a short story By Jay Path.
This Is Here In For You
Book Cover:
Let us take a look at the cover page of this book.
Being an entry point to the virtual world explored within, the cover page creates the first impression of the book. And, you all know the impact of the first impression :).
Blood Relatives: Short Story By Jay Path | Book Cover
As you can see, 3 people are shown on the cover page. They are actually three protagonists of the story. A daughter and her parents. “Blood” in the title is written with dark red color and you can see blood drops at the bottom of all those letters. It reflects the story and its important thread in more than one ways. The spectrum of colors in the background reflects the vastness of “Relations”.
A thoughtful cover page that is not very attractive.
It is a very short story – just 12 pages – so I will keep it brief. And yes, I will try to keep away the spoilers, but, be advised that some of them are unavoidable. So, please read with consent.
The story starts with Upir‘s arrival from school. Like any other teenager, she was preoccupied with her thoughts in her own fictional world. And, according to her, her parents are misfit in that world! While her mother was curious about “how her day was gone?”, she was keen to finish her food, complete her homework and visit her friend Sandy.
Upir meets with Sandy and Theo at Sandy’s home. Sandy’s uncle sent some gift for her and they all are curious to open the gift-box.
What gift she might have received? How the things move forward from this point, is better to explore by reading it.
Views And Reviews:
The story starts in an interesting way. Rather than exploring a thrilling incident or a chase or something like that; the author starts it will a teenage school-girl returning to her home. Based on her interaction with her family and her desperation to run to her friend’s home, gives a hint of the girl possibly leading to some trouble. But, the way the story evolves, it moves on an interesting track.
Jay, the author, seems to be good at exploring scenes. In fact the first two paragraphs of the story are enough to let a reader know that. Sometimes an author goes into too much of detailing and thus making the story slower. For this story though, the author keeps the balance pretty well. For example, read the following scene:
Upir tried to complete her homework as quickly as possible. The science book lay open on her desk as she took notes. It was well worn, with several pages dog-eared, and with a lot of neon green highlights and underlining.
It is detailed yet not stretched, right?
Same way, you find emotions are explored in the very same manner.
“Like always,” replied Upir using a special mix of indifference, defiance, and rebellion that teenagers save exclusively for their parents.
The author seems to understand the thought-process of growing up kids, and he keeps writing some fantastic lines like:
With his masculinity under challenge; he didn’t want to look like a wealing in front of his younger sister’s friend.
The end of the story is interesting but you might be looking for more thrills with a solid conclusion. The story tries to keep a balance between “thriller” and “paranormal” genres. That possibly prevents the author from those two attributes.
Of course, the main characters are developed pretty effectively. And, some other characters also are mentioned during various other scenes. The way the author has explored the journey of Upir going to and from her friend’s house is interesting. The contrast between both the travels (just 5 blocks away) is something you will surely enjoy.
We have received the review copy from the author, so it is value for money for us. As of now, I see the book is available at quite a high price. For a short story like this, the price must have been lower.
Summary:
An interesting story that is well explored in the initial segment. In fact, the conclusion could have been better, the story is good otherwise. It is pricey as of now, so go for it when a good promotional offer is available.
ThinkerViews Rating:
Around 7 out of 10.
Quick Purchase Links:
Over To You:
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