Extaordinaryreads

Blurb

The Road Less Travelled is a piece of writing containing five fictional stream of consciousness. Narratives covering the concepts of love, hope, trust, courage and gratefulness. The central theme is the importance of contemplation.

Quote

"The world we have created on the earth seemingly spins against it as if to slow it down in a bid to discipline time. It is only in the quietude of the night when the earth holds us still, do we note the true pace of nature. We expect love, life and lessons learned to come as immediately as the instant everything that is at hand but reality unfolds as a rose which cannot be forced open lest we rent asunder. We must grant our hearts and minds time enough to ponder and wonder over our actions, thoughts and emotions because sometimes all that is needed for betterment is a turn of a heart or one thought no less!"

Review

I won a copy of 'A Road Less Travelled' by Morning Hope in a giveaway competition here on Booklikes. Obviously the author is using a pen name 'Morning Hope'. The author, in a forward to the anthology, admits that the name is a conjuring based on the initials of his first name and surname, very mysterious indeed! Additionally, I suspect, from the quality of the writing in the collection of short stories, that a play on the word morning is afoot -- morning :- beginning and mourning :- end appended by 'Hope' --I think it is intentional and wholly disconcerting ... as is each tale in the book.

This is a "deep" work, but I suspect that even if literature is not your thing, you will find the prose lyrical and arresting, as well as the heart of each offering unique and insightful. My favorite story of the bunch, and it's difficult to choose, is Blue. The point at which the male protagonist removes his glasses in order to see color for the first time in a while, only to give the item which, to him is unutterably beautiful, AWAY! confounded me and simply blew my mind! and although that says quite a bit about the tale, I don't think its a spoiler.

The writing is sometimes dark, sometimes heavy, but the author manages the themes with aplomb and maturity, turning each piece out with a lightness that often belies it's central theme. This is a short collection of short stories and I challenge you to find better writing anywhere... You won't!