Reflection - Aakanksha Jain

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AUTHOR: Aakanksha Jain

GENRE: Microfiction anthology
RATING: 2 stars.

In a Nutshell: A decent micro-fiction anthology. Not too memorable for me.

This is a collection of forty micro-fiction stories. The word ‘stories’ is to be applied carefully when it comes to micro-fiction as the writing style is very different from the traditional story format. The stories in this anthology, for instance, are each written in fifty words or less. As such, the reading experience is highly dependent on the talent of the author to create magic within word-count boundaries. Sadly, this collection didn’t create much magic for me.

Very few of the forty tales herein can actually be called stories; most are reflections, as indicated by the title. So this is more like a collection of thoughts than a collection of plots. A couple of the tales are like traditional stories, but most were just introspective scenes. Now you might wonder why I expect a proper story in such a tiny fictional format, but having read Chasing Nirvana and One Hundred, I know it can be done with great impact.

As I am a regular reader of stories of all lengths (drabble, micro fiction, flash fiction, short fiction, novels, epic tomes…), a book has to work that much harder to surprise me. While I didn't dislike any of the stories, I also wasn't wowed by any of them. None of the stories in this collection took me by surprise. All generated a feeling of ‘I’ve read this somewhere before.’ Of course, this might not be the case for every reader. Those who aren’t familiar with flash fiction might be more surprised by this book.

On the pro side, this is a very quick read. It will take you hardly fifteen minutes to complete.

There are some typos, especially in the second half. A round of proofreading will help.

Basically, a decent book. After I turned the last page, I didn't remember more than a couple of the tales, so definitely no long term impact for me. Recommended if you are a newbie to flash fiction and want to try out a new indie author.

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