Title: Resistance, Revolution & Other Love Stories
Author: K
Publisher: FriesenPress
ISBN: 978-1525566509
Pages: 186
Genre: Family Life Fiction/Short Stories/Literary Fiction
Reviewed by: Tony Espinoza
Pacific Book Review
One of life’s grandest ventures is the pursuit of love. Love is a very layered and complex topic, with it encompassing both the greatest feeling of elation and joy when two people find one another, or the darkness that comes when love turns into obsession and compulsion in nature. As Thomas à Kempis once said, “Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of trouble, attempts what is above its strength, pleads no excuse of impossibility; for it thinks all things lawful for itself, and all things possible.”
In author K’s Resistance, Revolution & Other Love Stories, the author explores how love becomes the most revolutionary act a person can commit through several short stories. Blending elements of sci-fi, thrillers, fables and even realism and allegory, the collection explores love in all its forms. From classic tales of two young boys who have fallen for the same girl, to stories of young women trying to manage her relationship with her mother, and even tales of men forming friendships and love with automatons, this fantastic collection does a great job of exploring this journey so many of us go on in life.
This is a well-written collection of short stories. What immediately stands out is the wide-range of genres the author incorporates into the narratives of each story. Immediately the short story “Calamity Jane” stands out as this powerful genre fiction tale that explores two best friends and their ties to Jane, a young woman who has captured both of their hearts. The philosophical way the protagonist explores his feelings for Jane are a great contrast to the high-school, hormonal teenage characters he is surrounded by and the drama that naturally follows. Then the narrative changes in the story “The Hand”, in which a dystopian future sees the concept of family and monogamy are eliminated in exchange for the practice of the “One” where workers often join together physically at random and those who want to keep their children must escape from the prison of their lives. Each story jumps back and forth between genres, exploring love in unique ways that very few authors manage to capture in just one short story collection.
This is the perfect read for those who enjoy short stories, especially those that explore genre fiction and love in its many forms. The author does an incredible job of really crafting unique characters and engaging narratives which prove to be not only emotional in their delivery but thought provoking as well, challenging the reader to really examine the concept of love, both the good and the bad, and how it changes the way we act and think.
An entertaining, fast-paced and powerful collection of short stories, author K’s Resistance, Revolution & Other Love Stories is a must-read book. The mature storytelling which connects the physical aspect of love with the emotional and even spiritual nature of the emotion, along with great character growth and philosophical style writing that really delves into the nature of love make this a masterful read that readers won’t want to put down.
