“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Agon. The man who never reads lives only one.”
― George R.R. Martin
Welcome to my blog where I review and make reading logs for every short story/novel I read.
Here I will show you my first reading log and the plot summary of the story. I am still getting started and I am really excited to show you my opinions and reaction to the story. The purpose of this blog is to understand and to elicit deeper meanings through reading logs. And also to know the personal background of the author.
The Greatest Gift
by: Philip Van Doren Stern
(Plot Summary)
George Pratt, a man who is dissatisfied with his life, contemplates suicide. As he stands on a bridge on Christmas Eve 1943, he is approached by a strange, unpleasantly dressed but well-mannered man with a bag. The man strikes up a conversation, and George tells the man that he wishes he had never been born. The man tells him that his wish has been granted and that he was never born. The man tells George that he should take the bag with him and pretend to be a door-to-door brush salesman if anyone addresses him.
George returns to his town, and discovers that no one knows him. His friends have taken different and often worse paths through life due to his absence. His little brother, whom he had saved from death in a swimming accident, perished without George to rescue him. George finds the woman he knows as his wife married to someone else. He offers her a complimentary upholstery brush, but he is forced to leave the house by her husband. Their son pretends to shoot him with a toy cap gun, and shouts, “You’re dead. Why won’t you die?”
George returns to the bridge and questions the strange man. The man explains that George wanted more when he had already been given the greatest gift of all: the gift of life. George digests the lesson and begs the man to return his life. The man agrees. George returns home and finds everything restored to normal. He hugs his wife and tells her that he thought he had lost her. She is confused. As he is about to explain, his hand bumps a brush on the sofa behind him. Without turning around, George knows the brush was the one he had presented to her earlier.
My Reading Log
Last time Sir Joveth made us to make a reading log where you read a short story or novel and respond personally to and reflect to the story. I also made two activities which are related to the story. The first one is I made an explanation about my favorite quote then the second one…
About the Author
Philip Van Doren Stern (September 10, 1900 – July 31, 1984) was an American author, editor, and Civil War historian whose story The Greatest Gift, published in 1943, inspired the classic Christmas film Its a Wonderful Life(1946). Early Life Philip Van Doren Stern was born in Wyalusing, Pennsylvania into a family of humble means. His Pennsylvania-born father,…
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