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The Red Grouse Tales: The Little Dog and other stories
![The Red Grouse Tales: The Little Dog and other stories. by [Leslie Garland]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41c-nXMg3fL.jpg)
The Red Grouse Tales consists of four thought-provoking short stories written by author Leslie Garland. The setting takes place in a local bar among several patrons who all take turns telling their intriguing metaphysical tales. Although this is somewhat of a philosophical collection of stories I felt that the opinions and ideas expressed came about organically and this makes the reader question how they would feel or act rather than forcing ideas on the reader. Spiritual concepts are also explored, which allows for a lot of reader interpretation.
Each story is told at the bar on a Thursday night and each story feels like they are part of a casual conversation, like a friend is telling you a story, regardless of ‘who’ is telling their story, it always feels authentic, even with the supernatural elements. Each patron tells a story that is relatable to the reader, in one way or another- such as conveying life lessons or depicting circumstances that are commonly faced.
I started reading the book without any prior knowledge of author Leslie Garland or their writing, but I was impressed with the authors literary skill and ability to convey some abstract ideas in a fascinating and easy to understand way.
The reoccurring theme in The Red Grouse Tales is evil, whether it is a person that is evil or perceived as evil or the world as a whole containing evil. These stories are written from the first person perspective which provides an interesting and unique lens through which evil is interpreted in the story. While I enjoyed the book overall, I felt that book started off slowly and I was worried I was not going to be pulled in, but thankfully this is more of a slow-burn style of storytelling that lures you in with the subtle but compelling storytelling and thick atmosphere, so that by the end I was completely engrossed.
I enjoyed how bits of true crime were incorporated into the stories, and made them sound eerily familiar to real life and some cases you may know or have followed. In the end the reader is left to wonder what they think is right and wrong in this compelling collection of short stories.
Pages: 370 | ASIN: B018VWOVIU
The Red Grouse Tales
![The Red Grouse Tales: The Little Dog and other stories. by [Garland, Leslie W P]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51HWtRNQKAL.jpg)
The Red Grouse Tales by Leslie W. P. Garland is a book comprised of four short stories. Each story starts off with a quote followed by someone telling that particular tale. Each story revolves around the theme of religion. However, the theme is not heavy or overtaking the tale. Each short story starts off slow complete with building suspense and a twist ending. Each story has its own unique lesson one can learn and think about, making them slightly philosophical. While each telling is different, the main theme is good and evil, which gives the reader a lot to ponder.
I enjoyed this collection of stories and would recommend them. One of my favorite parts of these short stories were the fable-like feeling. They each told a story with a surprising lesson attached to each. I also greatly enjoyed the way the stories were written. Each had a way of telling a story through another person, which made the reading interesting and fun for me. I think it was a nice, added detail that gave it a more authentic feeling of sitting around and hearing a tale as well as making it seem more like a fable.
This book consists of four short stories. The Little Dog is the first one, which I felt, was a great story to start off with. It hooked me in the book itself to see what the rest of them have to offer. I think this short story in particular really set up the rest of the book as it was suspenseful and thought-provoking. It contained one of the more interesting ideas I have come across in a book: What is evil? According to this tale, evil does not have a conscious. I had to pause and think about this for a bit afterward because it was such an interesting concept to propose.
The second was The Crow, which I also greatly enjoyed. The contrast between the teenager and the older man in the story was stark, and I liked to see those differences between the two of them. I think this one was my favorite out of the four as it showed you how unique perspectives can be.
I also found The Golden Tup to be particularly interesting. I think it was my second favorite out of the collection. It was told in a suspenseful and fun way. The White Hart was not of any particular interest to me, personally, when compared to the others, but it fits in with the other tales and tied them together nicely.
All together, I found this collection to be immensely entertaining.
Pages: 347 | ASIN: B018VWOVIU
LITERARY TITAN 