Blog: A Microcosm

I have another confession to make.  For a book reader and blogger, this is hard to admit, but I am obsessed and fascinated.  No where in my world did I anticipate I would be unable to stop reading the short stories that show up on Facebook, especially those with HOA Karens.  To be specific, I love it when ranches are being threatened.  (Not that I would ever probably live on a ranch…unknown crawling species being my weakness.) 

The stories are not always well written. They often have repeating information, needless ads and other irritants.  They are short, require no emotional attachment, usually have a good vs evil theme and are easily read. I also love a morally gray character who finally sees the truth.  They show the behaviors we see in our world with the cringe worthy entitled who think they are above the rest.  Perhaps even a portrayal of our world and country wrapped up simplistically in a short story.  A microcosm.

There is also a faint tint of community vs individualism. Perhaps that too is part of the American spirit:  not following convention, willing to stand up for yourself and your rights.  It’s following your own moral conscience against tyrants and bullies like the archetypical hero. (think Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter)

“It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness, and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end, because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it’ll shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something. (What are we holding on to, Sam?) That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo…and it’s worth fighting for.”

Perhaps this is why I read them…  a microcosm of life.

Please check out Elise’s interview with Tammy Greenwood and her newest book Everything has Happened.  The novel is in the mystery genre.  ”I wanted to explore what happens in the aftermath of an innocent man being suspected of a horrible crime.”  WOW