4 out of 4 stars
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Euphoria - and other things by Melissa Bentley is a collection of short stories and poems. The book is ninety-eight pages long and is segmented so that a poem always follows a short story. The book highlights personal and emotional growth.
Euphoria is where Wing met Splendor. They had sought each others embrace until one day, Wing felt Newness. On that day, he met Evilness and assumed that love would conquer Evilness. He was proven wrong and withdrew more into himself. Shortly after, Splendor left and he had to continue on his own. Euphoria then met Sunshine but their embrace could not withstand the hardships of life. He looked within himself and prayed to a higher power to give him strength. This is the first story in this book and it highlighted how love does not always conquer. It also highlighted how hardships are a way of life and not all relationships outlast hardships. This book has many other stories and poems that are wonderful.
The author uses themes like love, betrayal, forgiveness and growth to share her message. In the first story I encountered betrayal when Evilness said that it was Splendor who gave Evilness Wing's name. Wing goes on to forgive Splendor for this betrayal. I think love is a major theme in each story and each poem. The author used it to show how wrong choices are made in youth and how love can be dangerous to one's own sense of self.
The characters in the first stories were developed masterfully and it even became hard for me to distinguish between an emotion and a character. The great swamp serpent is named Evilness. A positive character that Wing encounters after Splendor departs is named Sunshine. These characters, including others the author uses in her stories, spread the author's message.
I rated the book 4 out of 4 stars. This is because the book flowed effortlessly and I could not put the book down until I finished it. I could not find any spelling or grammatical errors and that led me to believe that the book was professionally edited. The only bad thing about the book, is how short it was. The author could have added a few more pages, but the book was written masterfully.
I would recommend this book to all non-fiction fans and fans of poetry. The book helped me understand how to find personal strength instead of looking for strength in relationships. I enjoyed reading the stories and the poetry.
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Euphoria - and other things
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