Book Review: Dari Tepi Sungai Vistula

Halo book worm...

Some time ago, I came across a biography of a veteran editor in Indonesia who had participated in a residency. I was so intrigued by his work that he was selected for the residency. Then I searched for some of the works he had edited until I finally found this short story collection.

From The Vistula Riverside—written by several European authors. It was truly a pleasure to read works by European authors.

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From The Vistula Riverside

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This collection of short stories, "From the Banks of the Vistula River," contains 15 stories by European authors. This book doesn't just feature short stories from various genres. It also includes romances, thrillers, mysteries, and even inspirational tales. I initially thought the short stories in this book would have a common theme, but they don't. I don't know how the editor managed to combine these 15 short stories into one book.

But I have one story that is most memorable. It is not an ordinary short story, because it has the longest page length compared to short stories from other authors. The story is entitled Pilgrimage—which tells the story of Eliyah and Efim's journey when traveling to Jerusalem. The two friends have different stories but are very touching. Eliyah is a servant of God who really wants to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, he then invites his friend, Efim. Efim who was initially hesitant, with a little sacrifice, finally gave in to Eliyah's wishes. However, in the middle of their journey they were separated. Eliyah stopped at a village where all the people were almost starving due to the crisis. He ended up doing small things for the people in the village until almost all his money was gone. Eliyah ultimately did not continue his journey to Jerusalem, because he prioritized the villagers and left his friend Efim to go to Jerusalem alone.

I consciously bought this book because I wanted to read stories by European authors. I didn't expect the stories they wrote to have such a unique beauty. I enjoyed every word each author used. The stories revealed a different side of that beautiful Europe. At first, I somewhat regretted buying this book, but ultimately, I'm glad I was able to read these European authors' stories.

I rated this book with 3 star from 5 star.

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Thanks in advance guys, to read my blog and hope you like my post!
See you on the next post...

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