SHORT STORY SERIES - The End of the Party by Graham Greene

23zGwTg83sdYy8VQjs9pSPqkW5ZbYGeX2EE3NxrCb8x6G13KCGf8urf4MMxk99znVmLGe.png
Designed with Canva

hive divider.png

After eating out, plus a lot of junk for so long, today I finally went to the market (yup, I can't believe that either) and prepared a decent local dish. You're probably wondering why the hell I am telling you that in a book review. Well, I don't know myself. Anyways, welcome to today's short story review by yours truly. I realized we don't have a lot of literary works in this genre in Africa, and I would have loved to actually read and dissect some as most of the works in this genre are influenced by demographics and cultures. I decided to go for a prolific American author this time.

Graham Greene is a giant of the 20th century English literature. He has written some stellar novels like, The Third Man, The Power, and the Glory, etc. His subtle use of imagery and his lexicon is something of immense beauty.

13369893.jpg
image source

hive divider.png

  • Author - Graham Greene
  • Title - The End of the Party
  • Published --
  • Genre - Horror, Fiction, Short Stories

PLOT

The story starts with two brothers in their house, just waking up in preparation for a party of their mate later that day. One of the brothers, the younger one, was scared and anxious as opposed to the older brother. After a series of futile attempts to evade going to the party due to his fear of the dark, as the game of Hide and Seek would be played, he eventually attends the party, nervous and afraid. His older brother sees the fear in his younger brother's face and tries to excuse him from the game by telling their chaperone, but he only fails woefully and ended up causing the younger brother to be taunted. Eventually, the game starts. Little did the elder brother know that tragedy is about to strike.

SETTING

No place was mentioned by the author in the book. The story was set in the boy's room and the mansion of the birthday boy.

CHARACTERS

  • Peter Morton the elder brother
  • Francis Morton the Younger
  • Mrs. Henne-Falcon the chaperone at the party and mother to;
  • Collin Henne-Falcon the birthday boy
  • Joyce and Mabel Warren, birthday attendant

PURPOSE

I think this story teaches the important lesson of listening to kids. Growing up in a world of adults and all can be most challenging for them and everything can be scary.

2dk2RRM2dZ8gKjXsrozapsD83FxL3Xbyyi5LFttAhrXxr16mCe4arfLJNNn76D2TkdbELqVYnEymT6pvR1dM9ZgPadrqGpmEt2ei9bCovr6j6VECoPaFcqWXnyuGtBDLvHBACN9SWfEnaPNoEWBxgi6Ps4KLjrdjZF6cxNjq1g.png
Designed with Canva

hive divider.png

The ending of this story send shivers down my spine. It did not have a happy ending at all. On the contrary, the ending was rather tragic. I enjoy the author's choice of words and the overall diction. The use of imagery might seem obvious but it's a paradox in the real sense; darkness and Light. The theme of the story seems rather elusive too, but a very important movement was started after this work. The idea was to help children with disabilities. All through the story, the author elaborates with clear and concise words, his message, including the bond the twins share, so much so that in the end, even after tragedy strikes, the elder brother is unaware due to this bond. A story worth reading by everyone. I will totally recommend this piece for all ages and I will rate it a 4/5.

RNFetchBlobTmp_ix0c66z7ppx964akbrq8l.jpg

Thank you for reading my short story review yet again. I try not to give spoilers, :) Everything said herein is actually my own opinion. If there is anything I might have missed out, misinterpreted, or quoted wrongly, please point me towards it in the comment. Also, you could drop me your mail, so I could email you the link. It's just over 3.5k word count, it's free. Till next time.



0
0
0.000
13 comments
avatar

I loved this review, plus I'm intrigued to know that it's related for children with disabilities, I'm sure I'll be looking for it to read. Another point in its favor that you mention it is word choice, I imagine it was pretty easy to understand. Thanks for sharing it. Regards. 🤗

0
0
0.000
avatar

You're welcome

I'm quite delighted with your kind and well thought out response

Yes it's a story for kids and adults as well, and it's very easy to understand. If you Google the title you should find it on Google books if not, let me know if you need the link.

Thank you ❤️

0
0
0.000
avatar

This post has been manually curated by @bhattg from Indiaunited community. Join us on our Discord Server.

Do you know that you can earn a passive income by delegating to @indiaunited. We share 100 % of the curation rewards with the delegators.

Here are some handy links for delegations: 100HP, 250HP, 500HP, 1000HP.

Read our latest announcement post to get more information.

image.png

Please contribute to the community by upvoting this comment and posts made by @indiaunited.

0
0
0.000
avatar

To say that this story intrigues me is an understatement, you've gone out of your way not to give spoilers (which I appreciate) and it makes me curious to read this story and find out for myself what that not so happy ending is.🤔

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thank you for the support Nic. You know, it's something I've been learning for some time now to improve my storytelling and overall writing.

Thank you for noticing 😊
You should read it

0
0
0.000
avatar

It's been so long I've read a novel. School took that favourite pastime away from me.
I like how you broke down the story. I feel compelled to give it a read myself. Keep it up bro! 👏🏾

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thank you my gee

Appreciate your nice comment. This one is in the genre of short stories so maybe you might make time to give it a go

Cheers mate ✌️

0
0
0.000
avatar

I haven't read a book with an unhappy ending in a long time. It sounds very interesting and, without a doubt, you managed to intrigue me. It seems like a good read.
Cheers!

0
0
0.000
avatar

I'm happy I did
It's a pretty short story but it's intriguing too.

Thank you for your comment 😌

0
0
0.000
avatar

haha even as adult, growing up around adult is also a scary thing. So, perhaps the author is projecting his idea into the books and gives a warning and/or cautionary tale for kids.

0
0
0.000
avatar

That is an interesting take.
I never saw it from that perspective.

Thank you 😌

0
0
0.000