Genre: Short
Story Collection
Description:
This is a collection of three short Christmas stories.
Fourth
Wish
A homeless man finds himself leading a trio of privileged but
neglected youths on Christmas Eve journey to fulfill their Christmas wishes.
Best
Christmas Ever
An eight year-olds remembrance of a Christmas Eve his parents would
rather forget.
Broken
Christmas
A soldier leaves the frozen battlefield behind and goes home for
Christmas via his dreams.
Author:
There is very little information about David Henderson! Except this on
Goodreads, and it says nothing. ~sigh~ However, he has website you can check
out now.
Appraisal:
The
Fourth Wish
Conrad seems to fit the typical homeless man at the beginning of this
story. Until three eleven year-old boys spending their Christmas at a boarding
school find him drunk and passed out on the snowy steps of their school. They
manage to drag him into the school and down the hall to the showers. The only clothes
they have for him to put on is a Santa suit, which they had been playing
dress-up with to entertain themselves on Christmas Eve. Once Conrad dons the
suit, the magic of Christmas takes over. Somehow Conrad finds it in himself to
try and fulfill the three boys Christmas wishes. It is amazing what can be
accomplished with a little ingenuity. The journey that Conrad takes the boys on
is a well-told story that will make you smile. I loved this story.
Best
Christmas Ever
The events of this Christmas Eve through the eyes of eight year-old
Jimmy is hysterical. Nothing about this Christmas Eve is typical or what you
would expect. The memorable day flowed seamlessly as they escalated and I
laughed out loud. This is the best story
ever!
Broken
Christmas
You can tell after reading the first two stories, this author knows
what he is doing. I knew from the title of the story this one was going to be
heart wrenching, but that still didn’t prepare me for what was coming.
David Henderson has given us a sampling of his range in these three
short stories. I found his stories easy to get drawn into and I cared about the
characters. I think all the stories had a nice pacing and flowed well. I look
forward to reading more from this author.
If you find yourself needing to escape for a few minutes during the
Christmas rush this book would be a good choice.
FYI:
Added for
Reprise Review: Broken Christmas
by David Henderson was a nominee in the Short Story Collections and Anthologies
category for B&P 2013 Readers' Choice Awards. Original review ran November
8, 2012.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating:
***** Five Stars
Reviewed
by: ?wazithinkin
Approximate
word count: 15-20,000 words
No comments:
Post a Comment