Short Story Review Examples
Read ‘The Law of Life’ Jack London Sample and Get Better at Studying Literature
Jack London’s works are impressively strong with the intensity of emotions they bring to readers. His ‘The Law of Life’ is not an exclusion. The author wants to show us that the most important task of being human is to appreciate life. In this ‘The Law of Life’ literary analysis sample, every student can consider that Jack London demonstrates the negotiation of the norms of morality, because the only thing characters want to save is their own lives. They even…
Story Review Example of The Fall of the House of Usher
Symbolic Elements in The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe Summary The narrator goes to the House of Usher. It is unkempt with cracks, decays in various places and has an evil atmosphere. His friend Roderick, who is both physically and emotionally sick, sent him a letter requesting his company and assistance. The narrator finds the inside of the house as creepy as the outside. He notes that Roderick is less energetic and looks pale unlike…
Review of The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
Symbols and Their Meanings In The Snows of Kilimanjaro By Ernest Hemingway “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” is a short story about a writer named Harry and his rich wife Helen who were on a safari in Africa. While on their safari, they encounter a problem when their truck temporarily breaks-down due to a burned-out bearing. Harry decides to photograph a herd of waterbuck while waiting for assistance and unfortunately is scratched by a thorn (Leard, 1988). In the process, gangrene…
The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant
Lessons We Can Learn from “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant A popular French writer of the 19th century, Guy de Maupassant, is the author of about 300 short stories. One of the most famous short stories of Maupassant’s is “The Necklace” (“La Parure”). In some editions it has a title, “The Diamond Necklace”. This story was first published in the French newspaper Le Gaulois on 17th of February 1884 (Roberts, 1991). In this short story, Maupassant describes the life…
“A Hunger Artist” by Franz Kafka
“A Hunger Artist” by Franz Kafka: The Art of Starvation or a Meaningless Self-Sacrifice “A Hunger Artist” is a short story written by the well-known Czech author Franz Kafka. It was first published in the respected German periodical literary magazine Die neue Rundschau in October, 1922 (Gray, 2005, p. 206). In this story, Kafka explores such existential themes as death, isolation, spiritual poverty, and asceticism. Its major subject, though, is the complicated relationship between an artist and the public. “A…
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button By F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, narrates a man who is born old and ages backwards. The story focuses on the way age dictates aspects of identity. The story’s intent is to allow audiences to realize how many years it takes before they are in a position of realizing who they are. The author does not stop at where physical appearance is greatly concerned. Having been born old, Benjamin had the face and body of…
Short Story Review Examples From Professional Writers
A lot of students are faced with the problem of writing reviews for the first time. This page is intended for amateurs. It is worthwhile to look at our short story review examples, as they will teach you how to write a short story on your own. Only our examples and practice, pure practice, will help people who like to write reviews and want to do it better, and ideally – want to get readers. So, let’s find out what short story reviews are and how their samples can help you with your writing.
What Is a Short Story Review
A short story review is an evaluation of a short story designed to convey an impression for the target audience. You can see that if you look at any short review example presented on our site. This is a small text containing a survey and analysis of a short story. Today we will mainly talk about short story reviews, although much of what has been said can be projected onto films, games, music, etc.
The review can be:
- Official – printed in a government or departmental publication on the occasion of the publication of a short story of national importance. It is written with observance of all norms of etiquette, with neutral or restrained laudatory language.
- Functional – to compose an impression of the short story according to specific tasks and goals: how much the product is suitable for a particular publishing house and series, how well it can be sold, and whether it covers any specific issues. It is written clearly and intelligibly, and the content is more important than the form. You will notice this if you look at a short story review template presented on our site.
- Informative – for potential readers and buyers, in order to help make a decision, this type focuses on whether it is worth reading or not. It is written simply, but it is possible to beautify the words slightly, and make some analysis. It is recommended to add a couple of quotes in greater detail.
- An essay on the topic – this is a discussion of the futility of everything with the use of the short story as a starting point. The more beautiful and mysterious it is written, the better. The reviewer’s development of thoughts is limited only by their presence.
- Publicistic – the author focuses attention on the problem from which society suffers. It is written brightly, harshly, and is necessarily disputable.
- Critical – the work (and often the author) is anatomized, dissected, and disassembled: what he/she said, what he/she wanted to say, what the readers thought, which of them were wrong, and how a clever reviewer noticed all this. The main requirements are to follow the logic, to not go down to a simple presentation of the argument, and to argue the position. And also it is necessary to ensure that in the text of the review there were no mistakes: a critic who knows the material worse than the one criticized is miserable.
- Paid – this is an obviously laudatory or insulting review of the short story. When writing, it is important not to overdo it with laudatory sentences, otherwise it will even repel the customer, and he or she will not pay.
- Private response – this is a subjective impression of a story, without attempts for objective criticism or analysis. It is written in a lively language, and jargon and slang are acceptable (in all other types of reviews they are not welcome).
A professional reviewer always knows for which target audience he or she is writing, why he or she chose this particular work and precisely this format of submission, what goal he or she wants to achieve, and in what way. And, of course, those who do not read the short story before writing a review deserve shame and desecration. We emphasize – read other reviews, but do not look through and steal other people’s thoughts and opinions.
Structure of Short Story Review Examples
The review has a head, neck, body, and tail. The head is the name of the text: distinct, catchy, and at the same time related to the theme of the short story. The neck is the so-called lead, two or three dense introductory lines that set the tone and outline the subject of the conversation. The body is the actual text of the review. The tail is the conclusions of the reviewer, his or her resume. Without a tail, the review looks lonely and harsh – do not offend the poor thing! Each story review example you can find on our site has all these structural elements.
Be sure to indicate authorship, the title of the short story, and, for published works, output data. You should write whether this is a novelty or a reprint, and whether the short story is marked by some significant awards. Denote the genre in form (short story, in our case) and in content (fantasy, drama, alternative story, etc.). Describe the main story line (but without spoilers!), list the main characters, places of action, and key moments of the story. Try to understand and convey to the readers the main thoughts of the work (not necessarily, but it is better to do). While writing a review, it is possible to use several approaches: external observation, non-evaluative analysis, critical analysis, and polemic with the author. It is also possible to use a short story review template to understand how to write your own review.
A review is not only intended to discuss the story. You can also include thoughts, feelings, and philosophies. Short sentences, a minimum of adjectives, a clear meaning, and an unambiguous conclusion are the main features of a good review. A review of up to a maximum of 5,400 words is the ideal format for calm and thorough reasoning of a single work. You can talk about the place of the story in the author’s work, draw parallels, add your impressions and conclusions, analyze in detail the merits and demerits of the text – and at the same time not tire the reader.
However, a review of more than 5,400 words is simply obligated to aim at more than just the problems of one story. Write about the literary process and tendencies of the genre, compare it with similar works, analyze the work of the author in general, actively quote and add your thoughts – you can not do without them in a large text.
Criteria for Evaluation in Short Story Review Examples
What can be taken into account when evaluating and analyzing a story? The overall impression of the story can be whole, fragmented, powerful, weak, pleasant, or pathetic. The plot – how logically is it presented, and are there any moments that do not work for it? The narrative may be dynamic, unhurried, protracted, chased, or tattered. How do the dynamics of the narrative correspond to the genre and tasks set in the story?
For the characters – how detailed and authentic are they, and is their psychology natural enough, could they do these actions under the given circumstances? Are these characters sympathetic to the reader? Do they provoke empathy or disgust? And for language and style – consider them in general and in the context of the task.
Consider reliability in general and in detail. Are the laws of nature and science violated in the story? Did they wear such clothes at the appointed time, did they talk in that language at the appointed time, and does everything in the story sound right? And on the assumption of fantasy – what were the fantastic elements, how competently were they designed, and how necessary? Is it possible, without prejudice to the story, to remove princesses with dragons, space travel, or plasma guns from the setting?
For discussing the psychology of relationships, do the characters have internal motivations for actions? Are these motivations sufficient, and do they behave in a variety of ways or rigidly follow standard reactions? Is the main idea of the text ethical, clever, and original? What does the story teach the reader? What does it want to tell the reader? Is it possible to isolate the author’s idea from the text from the first reading?
In terms of originality – how banal is the idea, from where and what the author borrowed his or her ideas, and who is quoted or paraphrased? If it seems that the book opens a new genre or direction, certainly mention it. Catch and show mistakes and blunders to society. Of course, you should do this if you are sure that the author is mistaken, and not purposely distort events and realities. And if it also happens that an unprofessional editor has worked on the story – their mistakes are comparable to the mistakes of the writers themselves. However, each story review example that you can find on our site is absolutely free of mistakes.
Pay attention to public significance – the text may indicate moments useful for, say, patriotic upbringing or national identity, and describes complex ethical issues and choices. Extra-literary merits, for example, contain historical, ethnographic, or social significance. A mediocre written story can still be interesting as a source of information.
Focus on relevance – whether the topic is relevant, whether it is interesting to the public, and for what audience the story is written for.
How a Short Story Review Template Can Help You
Our examples can take an important place in your life if you don’t know how to write reviews. If you feel you can’t write a decent short story review, you need to read through the examples we presented. It is not necessary to read all of the samples, just choose the ones that are more suitable for your topic.
To become a reviewer, one must remember: the review should be written after you read and completely understand the work you need to review. Don’t use absolutely all the clever words you know in your review. Writing a review is not a method of self-expression; you can see that if you read reviews on our site written by professional writers.
The right to review short stories needs to be earned – only the opinion of very few reviewers is interesting to readers. The reviewer must know the material at least as well as the author of the story. It is better not even to speak about grammatical, stylistic, and other mistakes. As you can see, our samples don’t contain any mistakes.
In order to avoid getting into an idiotic position, we check all literary, scientific, technical, and other terms – both how they are written and what they mean. When we write our samples, we are convinced that we do not make any errors, as only in this way you will see that our writers will not make any mistakes in your papers.
When we write our short story examples, we carefully read the names of the characters, places, and objects. We don’t confuse all of the names, as we know that the credibility of the review will be lost. We follow the style. Poor language and jargon are inappropriate in the review – that’s why our samples don’t have them.
Professional terms are hardly suitable for short story reviews, which is why our samples avoid using them. The review will not do without filigree work with language. Our reviews are not rude, vulgar, or deliberately messy with mistakes. As you can see in our samples, we do not mix different styles within the boundaries of one text.
The smaller the volume of the review, the more concise and simpler the sentences should be. We avoid superfluous epithets and complex structures. We try to put one thought into one small paragraph. You can see in our short story review examples that we carefully and accurately build reasoning.
If the style of review does not involve the clearly expressed subjective position of the reviewer, we sacrifice our feelings and thoughts in favor of pure information. We share our position and objective criteria. The story can be objectively good, but boring for a writer personally, but nevertheless our professional writers are able to write high-quality samples on any story.
Even the most successful students may need help with writing a review and our samples can offer Payforwriting help. It is possible to write a high-quality review; simply use our examples to get your own ideas.
