# 261: BOOK OF THE WEEK — “The Roads We Take. Seven Short Stories”
Story behind the Book Choice
This week I felt like reading prose. But there was no novel that caught my attention when I looked at my shelf with the “to be read” books. What did catch my attention was this collection of short stories by O. Henry, particularly because of the title. I end up taking “detours” quite often when choosing my roads. And last week I had another realization about this too. So, the book “chose me” twice — the first time when I found it in the book donation box. And the second time now. When looking back at what it has taught me now, I am really content this happened, especially since I have not read short stories in ages.
O. Henry, as the back cover states, is one of the grandfathers of the American short story. I have to admit, even though I am an Americanist, I never read any of his writing before (as far as I can remember). Now that I quickly skimmed his CV, it is fascinating to learn that he wrote close to 400 short stories — but only those. I cannot imagine what it must be like because I am such a long story writer. But now when I think of it, hey, I am writing close to 400 blog posts this year! Maybe these count as digital short stories?
In any case, his life story also tells me how much any writing is autobiographical — no matter how much theorists argue about this. Since I always try to avoid learning about the respective author before reading his/her stories, I approach the texts like a blank sheet of paper. But now that I see how prevalent aspects such as crime and New York City are in Henry’s life, I am not surprised about their prominence in the short collection. This time, I am not going to list the excerpts that impressed me most by topic but I will list them under the title of the respective short story they appear in.
Overall, this was a weird reading because some of the stories I simply did not like and did not finish while others immediately caught my interest and I followed through. This is nothing new but I want to encourage every reader to thus give authors a second try. Just because you do not like one text or one book by a particular author, it does not mean that another one might not be really appealing and exciting and educative. So, just give it a try. Sometimes, it might just not be the right time for you to read a particular book. But that is an entirely different story of reading which I cannot go into now — the question of how your life changes and how your view of different books changes in the course of life if you decide to read a book again and maybe again…
- “A Retrieved Reformation”
This first story is one that turns out to be very characteristic of Henry’s writing and his life story. It is about the bank robber Valentine who gets released from prison and soon after picks up his “business” again before actually becoming a real business man in a village without any criminal intention anymore. The story has it all: crime, fleeing to a different place and making life decisions that somehow backire — in many of the stories at least. In this case, the story turns out well, because Valentine, funnily enough, gets to rescue a young girl from a locked vault; based on his burglary skills. But the reason why this passge on one of the first pages of the story is so interesting is exactly because the robber has such a unique “autograph.”
Yes, I am obsessed with this question of authorship and authoring because I am such an advocate of empowering people to actually pursue their own path, to author their own life story, to leave their mark. All this is what agency and freedom are all about for me but it was funny to come across the terms in this criminal context now. Henry writes this story in a somewhat distanced way. It is not overly humorous or sad or anything of that kind. The tempo is fast and like the other stories, this one is hardly ten pages long. Still, there are twists and turns and unexpected changes in all the stories. In this case, it is the unique autograph of the robber that is his strength and his potential weakness at the same time because he can easily get caught for prior crimes (which is more or less left open at the end).
I just wish that we all develop such a unique signature without however enforcing it. This is what I have learned. You cannot be unique if you try hard to be unique. Instead, you have to let things happen, unfold your potential, and follow your inner joy and passion. If you do that, the unique profile or authorship will naturally flow and be seen and respected by others. It does not take any enforcement. It just takes passion and skill, just like Valentine gets better and better at his robberies, and he even designs his own tools. All this comes out of the doing. And I encourage everyone to take that road — just without the criminal application field, of course.
2. “After Twenty Years”
This story is simple and we all know it in a different way. We leave school or graduate from university and even unconsciously, we have that plan that in 20 years, we will be well off and happy — ideally both. The two men in the story turn this quest into a promise. They part one day in a restaurant and promise each other to meet again after 20 years in exactly the same place. As the story has it, one of the men seeks his fortune out West and is presented as the one who seriously wants to make it. Then they finally meet each other again, or try to. The one from the West keeps waiting, is interrogated by a policeman, then meets another man who is not his old friend, and then gets tols that his actual friend identified him as a wanted criminal. He therefore sends someone else to arrest him.
Hence, what is the morale, at least for me? The expectations your set yourself, the drive to make it, for whatever reason (for ego purposes or otherwise), can make you choose the wrong roads. If you want to show others so resolutely that you made money, you force yourself to do so, no matter how, even if it takes criminal energy to do so. This metaphor “20 years” is a fine reminder for ourselves that we can indeed look back and see and appreciate what we have achieved. But competition to others is not the point, not rewarding. We should celebrate whatever we have achieved and be willing to let go of old “commitments” to others and to ourselves. If we let this happen, monetary wealth might follow as well. But we should use it for us and our personal joy, not for showing off.
3. “The Gift of the Magi”
This story is beautiful and I am not going to tell you how it ends because, in the course of the story, you get a pretty clear idea how things might turn out. What is key to me in this story is not the plot and not the ending, it is this very passage. There is so much wisdom in it. The chain the woman buys as a Christmas present for her husband is pure and simple and valuable. And this is what I would like to share as my personal wisdom to pass on with this beautiful sentence which I would like to quote at the very end. All solutions, thoughts, life styles, and answers are just like that: It does not take complexity or playfulness. Usually, all this beautiful simplicity can be summarized in one word, explained in one concept. If you are not there yet, continue the journey and take as many roads as it takes to get to the purity described in these lines:
“It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation — as all good things should do.” — Henry 96
Reflection Questions
1) Do/did you ever read short stories? By which author(s)?
2) Did you ever attend a high school or university reunion? What do you remember about it?
3) What is the most valuable gift you ever made to someone?