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The Old Demon

Post category:Short Stories

The Old Demon: Short story by Pearl S. Buck In this story by Pearl S. Buck, the widowed matriarch of a small Chinese village is too old to flee when it is bombed during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Left alone, she tends to a dying Japanese pilot and refuses to allow his body to be defiled by Chinese soldiers fleeing an advancing Japanese army. With help from her “Old Demon” (the Yellow River), she single-handedly stops the advance, saving her family and thousands of other villagers. Themes include family, change, the unpredictability and power of nature, the brutality of war, humanity, sacrifice.

Christmas Day in the Morning

Post category:Quick Reads

Christmas Day in the Morning: Children's story by Pearl S. Buck This coming of age story by Pearl S. Buck tells how doing something special to show how much you love someone can be the greatest gift of all. An old man wakes early one Christmas morning and remembers another Christmas when, as a boy, he first understood how much his father loved him. He decided that the cheap tie he had bought was not good enough, and came up with another gift they both remember for the rest of their lives. He realizes that love alone awakens love and decides to give the gift again. Themes: nostalgia, love, family, giving.

The Enemy

Post category:Novelettes

The Enemy: Short story by Pearl S. Buck In this story by Pearl S. Buck, a Japanese surgeon finds a badly wounded man washed up on the beach in front of his house. Set during World War 2, the man is an escaped American prisoner of war and sworn enemy of his people. The doctor faces a dilemma. Does he hand the man in, in which case he will certainly die, or treat him first and risk execution for treason? The forgetfulness of a well-connected existing patient saves both the doctor and the American. Themes include choices and consequences (medical ethics vs. patriotic duty), indoctrination, racism, humanity.

The Good Deed

Post category:Novelettes

The Good Deed: Short story by Pearl S. Buck In this story by Pearl S. Buck, an elderly Chinese woman brought to America by her son has difficulty adjusting to her new environment. With no English and a distaste for American ways she feels isolated, with no purpose in life. Things change when she meets a kind-hearted but “ugly” friend of her daughter-in-law who is worried about becoming Sheng nü (a left-over woman). Despite the language barrier and her inability to get around, she sets out to find her a husband. Themes include identity, tradition, cultural adaption, alienation and isolation, loneliness, respect, the nature of beauty, compassion, kindness.

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Approximate Reading Times

Quick Read: under 5 minutes
Short Story: 5 to 30 minutes
Novelette: 30 to 90 minutes
Novella: 1.5 to 2.5 hours

Other stories you may like:

Thus Were Their Faces
Short Story by Silvina Ocampo. Teachers at a boarding school are puzzled when students begin to act “as if they want to become equal” and increasingly lose their individuality. Seemingly directed by a single voice, they strive to look and act the same, and develop a strange fascination with wings.
Railroad Standard Time
Short Story by Frank Chin. A semi-autobiographical story about a Chinese-American man who, as he drives to and from his mother’s funeral, reflects on the clash between traditional Chinese and ‘modern’ American culture, and the need to move away from long-held stereotypes of Chinese-American men and women.
Outside
Quick Read by Etgar Keret. When a man is released from an extended home lock-down during the Covid-19 epidemic, he struggles to remember where to go and what to do. Fortunately, a chance encounter on the way to an ATM triggers a conditioned response that brings him back to normal.
The Way Up to Heaven
Short Story by Roald Dahl. A wealthy, dominating husband likes to play cruel jokes on his devoted wife who has a pathological fear about being late for an appointment or event. In the end, the poor woman has the last laugh as her husband finds his way UP to Heaven.
The Looking-Glass
Short Story by Anton Chekhov. A young woman dreams about getting married and settling down happily with the perfect man. One night, she has a vision of the reality of living and raising a family in rural Russia and asks herself: “Why is it, what is it for?”

Another Pioneer
Novelette by David Foster Wallace. A three-year-old boy in a paleolithic jungle tribe has the seemingly magical ability to correctly answer any question. The tribe prospers until the boy reaches puberty, when his answers begin to challenge questioners and the tribe’s ancient beliefs. Fear on both sides leads to tragedy.
My Lord, the Baby / The Child’s Return
Short Story by Rabindranath Tagore. A young magistrate places the faithful servant who raised him in charge of his own son. After the boy disappears in a flood, the servant is discharged. Miraculously, he has a son of his own who he comes to believe is the lost boy reincarnate.
I Could See the Smallest Things
Quick Read by Raymond Carver. A woman’s encounter with a neighbour tending his garden in the middle of the night highlights the differences in their lives. He has moved on from problems in his life, while she and her husband live alienated, unsatisfying lives, too afraid to embrace change.
Crossing the Zbrucz / My First Goose / Salt
Quick Reads by Isaac Babel. Three stories from the author’s time as a journalist covering the Polish-Soviet War of 1920. They provide a graphic insight into the human impact of the war on those fighting it, as well as the casualties and brutalities inflicted by both sides on innocent civilians.
The Toll-House
Short Story by W. W. Jacobs. Four young travelers learn of a nearby haunted house that takes a “toll” of at least one life from every family or group that lives there—however short the time. Foolishly, they decide to put the story to the test.