A book in tune with youth

The collection of 14 short stories is about the years of youth, the first emotions in life, future dreams and even the emotional trauma caused by family circumstances or disappointments in the twenties. The main setting of these stories is school, lecture hall... along with the brilliant summer, with the harsh sunlight or sudden rain, enough to make the stories more colorful and poetic.

The book is divided into two parts: the first seven stories by author Minh (real name Xuan Quynh), and the next seven stories by Sua (real name Doan Trang). Two young girls with gentle writing styles, telling small stories, enough to make readers linger and think.

Minh's stories have a melancholy tone, sometimes more like an essay to open one's heart, to confide than a story with a beginning and an end. Her characters often have thorny, careless or sensitive personalities, mature beyond their age. Therefore, their inner world is often fragile due to worries and psychological barriers that are difficult to overcome. Although the stories often leave the ending open, they still sow rays of light and optimistic signals in the hearts of readers. Like the girl in the story "Under the porch in summer", after going through the process of love and heartbreak, she realized many things and healed herself as well as inspired her younger brother. The most impressive story is "Running under the sun" because the story makes readers feel sorry and tormented about the fate of two brothers after their parents divorced. Everyone has pain and hidden hurt, and unfortunately, the hurt person goes on to hurt others. Fortunately, the ending of the story opens a way out for those involved to look back at the incident and correct their mistakes…

Meanwhile, author Sua has a clearer, more humorous writing style and a very optimistic spirit. She shared: “No matter how broken I am, the stories I write must have a beautiful ending. That’s why I tell stories about summer, because no matter how heartbroken I am, looking up I still see the sky is very blue” (page 115). And that’s right, reading her stories will make you love life, see life more gently. Like the character Nguyen comforting the heartbroken girl: reasons are just excuses, if you only think about the reasons for gains and losses, when will you be able to enjoy the present, to feel the beauty of the simple things around us (story “Red Hair”).

Minh and Sua are both familiar short story authors in the Hoa Hoc Tro newspaper and the publication “Milk Tea for the Soul”. Both of them have also contributed to many other short story collections. In the story collection “There is a summer that has never been forgotten”, the two young writers continue to leave a strong impression of their youth, exploiting friendships, love and the concerns of youth. No matter who or what they write about, they always sow “green seeds” in the hearts of readers, as the character “I” in the story “The Day the Earth and Sky Were Green” admits: “Summer has never seemed so green. My true green has sprouted” (page 199).

Comment (0)