FROM THE CRADLE TO THE GRAVE

This book contains eight short stories written by different English speaking writers, such as Hector Hugh Munro (known as Saki), Evelyn Waugh, Somerset Maugham, Roald Dahl, Frank Sargeson, Raymond Carver, H,E. Bates and Susan Hill. All of them are masters of the short-story genre.

The stories deal with the trials of life in different stages of human development such as youth, family, madness, marriage, morality, sincerity, love, children, submission, fears, death, routines, vulnerability, loneliness, rules, tyranny, domination, chances,... To sum up, some of the most relevant aspects of human existence. They are all narrated in a straightforward and clear manner and are not hard to understand.

I really enjoyed reading this book for many reasons. To begin with, it doesn’t take much time to read the stories because they are rather short and they are independent one of each other. Therefore, you can read at different times without losing the storyline. Moreover, the texts are not very difficult to understand, despite the richness of vocabulary. And finally, I like human stories and all of them deal with matters related to human existence.

I liked all the stories, but if I had to choose one of them, maybe I would choose the third one: “The Colonel’s Lady” by Somerset Maugham. This story deals with the ignorance between people who share their lives. For example, in this story the Colonel’s wife wins an award for her writing, but he wasn’t even aware of the fact that she was a writer. In my opinion, it is a very powerful story that comes up with many controversial issues such us truth, sincerity, attraction, complicity, trust, sexuality, partner roles, success, marriage, beauty, youth, etc.

To finish, I would like to say that all the stories are very appropriate to maintain subsequent discussion. In fact, at the end of each story there is some vocabulary, some activities and some questions to discuss.

I would recommend this book to everyone who likes stories that are short but powerful at the same time.