Skip to main content

Long Train Passing



At times, my fascination to stories associated to the literal warfare is quite trifling. But with my career as a writer, I have not enough choices other than read and decipher hundreds of war-inspired biographic accounts and excruciating memoirs that would connect me to the world wars and other notable battles in history. These accounts depict unnerving bloodshed, miserable broken homes, desolate nations, and heart-rending visages of people in anguish until peace is secured.
When I began reading Long Train Passing by Steven W. Wise, I thought it was lackluster and monotonous. However, when the storyline unraveled progressively, I found something worthy of note. It is not the typical narrative set against the backdrop of World War II and the Korean War; it is something more intense, with flashbacks sporadically taking me to the past where touching scenes happened—poignant and deeper than the images of war. Here, I was caught unguarded by the painful reality that a father is capable of proscribing his son’s freedom and desire to discover himself, his gifts, his true spirit, and embrace what the world can offer to develop his very young life—and let him live for his dreams. But then I was inspired to uncover the boy’s heroes in the characters of Annabelle Allen and Emmett.
In this moving and thought-provoking tale, you will be drawn to its brimming emotions from when you meet with Annabelle, the teacher who explicitly empathizes what loneliness and exclusion can make of a fragile heart, to the twists and turns of events. Being physically misshapen by a childhood accident, she knows how grueling and tormenting it is to be different. Despite her ordeals, she outshone her eccentricity to become an inspiration to others. Little did she know that her life is yet to face more challenges and drastic changes when Jewell Cole—an intelligent pupil—enters her classroom. He is the boy who hurdles the emotional torture by his cruel and vicious father, Jubal Cole.
It wasn’t a good start for Annabelle and Jewell. But together with Emmett, the grave digger, they do their best to give Jewell the love and care that his father deprived him, and with that, he begins to open his life, learns about love and forgiveness, and believes that he is capable of dreaming as big as the sky. Where this story will take you is a challenge.
Unraveling the metaphors of life, telling a sensible story of love affair between two handicapped beings, and a young boy’s struggles, the book concludes in a powerfully inspiring, passionate and a little nostalgic way.





Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The King of Attolia

They celebrated, with wine and music and dancing, a day they thought would never come. The queen’s wedding day. She sat at the window, watching the lights, listening for the music, waiting for her husband. Who could have thought that a thief who lost a hand can still steal some things more valuable than a ring or a medallion? Eugenides may have compensated his thievery with his right hand to the Queen of Attolia, but he will still prove to himself and to the kingdoms that he is a true thief. This time he is not stealing a relic—but a queen’s heart and a kingdom. The queen will yield the sovereignty of her country to Eugenides, who has given up everything he has ever hoped for, to be her king. It is quite unbelievable that he would marry the woman who cut his right hand, yet perhaps such is the work of fate—and love. As he begins to embrace his new life as husband to the queen and the new King of Attolia, Eugenides will make friends and enemies—and receives nothing more honorabl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Froi of the Exiles

I loved  Finnikin of the Rock  for his resilience and willpower, but I loved  Froi of the Exiles  even more! I was enamored by Froi’s transformation from a preposterous, spiteful street boy to a young man of strength, intelligence and loyalty. Finding a home in Lumatere with the people who embrace him like their own, training with the guards and learning the respectable ways of life turned him into a fine man. His life since the curse on Lumatere was lifted has been absolutely different and all those years he spent in his new home had prepared him to a greater challenge—a journey that would change his life forever for he would unravel the truth of who he is, where and to who he truly belongs and what he can become.  It’s the song that’s sleeping on his blood that would lead him to discover his true destiny. Author Melina Marchetta is a real literary genius and I was so impressed at how she deftly developed Froi as an adorable and impressive character. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Torch Against the Night

“Your emotions make you human, Elias said to me weeks ago in the Serran Range. Even the unpleasant ones have a purpose. If you ignore them, they just get louder and angrier.” Although this book is a best-seller, I cannot say that this is a can’t-put-it-down read because it took me several weeks to finish flipping on its pages. To be honest, it was a tedious start. But as the story built up, it brought me to different places and introduced me to other interesting characters. I found it a good read. At times, it was a breathtaking feat following Elias and Laia on their journey as they run for their lives. I was thrilled while racing with them away from the Martial soldiers who hunt them and consider them fugitives of the Empire. The long and menacing expedition required me some deep breaths, but I was enamored by Laia’s bravery to defy and fight the enemies in order to save her brother—who is believed to be the key to the Scholars’ survival—from the treacherous prison. And Elias, ...
Post a Comment
Read more