Thursday, April 24, 2014

Inter-Galactica, An Otherworldly Brief Romance / Ida Tornovski


Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Genre: Contemporary Fiction/ Short Story

Approximate word count: 5-6,000 words

Availability    
Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: YES  Paper: NO
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

“Ida Tornovski was born into a politically divided Europe. Writing only in English now, she spends her time between the 'Old Country' and the United States.”

Description:

“In her short fantasy Inter-Galactica, An Otherworldly Brief Romance, Ida Tornovski shares one woman's encounter with an interstellar man, who may or may not be the man of her dreams.”

Appraisal:

This is a strange little story set in present-day Boston. It is told through first person point-of-view by the main character who is self described as “a spinster lady.” During lunch one day in the park a man sits on the bench beside her and introduces himself as Heaven. He is a chameleon of sorts, somehow able to change his appearance at will, and they become friends. The story is told with a dry wit. I had a problem suspending my disbelief with the ease our main character did about him being from another planet. It is unclear whether she is daydreaming about their time together and shaping him into who and what she desires. To play Devil’s advocate, perhaps he is a predator filling her full of lies to get what he desires and then leaves her to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. Or perhaps Heaven is an alien and our world is doomed and he will return to her for their happily ever after. She seemed resolved and content with this end.

Some may call this a romance, while others may call this a personal descent into madness. It is a thought-provoking story that takes on its own chameleon-like qualities and may be seen through different perspectives to have a different meaning altogether. Personally, I chose to interpret this as a character study because love can drive people crazy. I wouldn't be surprised to see this short story with a wide range of ratings. We all bring our own experiences into any story and I may have revealed more about myself in this review than I did about the story itself. ~sigh~

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues


Rating: **** Four stars

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Out of (wishful) habit, I perused what "The Pals" were up to. Imagine my surprise when I ran into "Heaven." Not one to trifle with, I am glad he challenged you.

Thanks for an interesting review - always fun to see what readers find in these stories.

By the way, Al had reviewed my "Intermezzo" and was equally left to scratch his head (albeit giving it 5 stars); he meant to review my Box Set of all 3 stories, but never got around to it...pity. I would have loved to hear more what he thought.

Your own reviews are always fascinating. I love reading them.

?wazithinkin said...

Thank you for dropping in and commenting, Ms. Tornovski. You have a unique thought-provoking style of storytelling. I found myself thinking about this tale for a long time before writing my review.

I was unaware that BigAl had reviewed one of your books until I had turned this one in. I was a little relieved that he was left scratching his head in the end, it wasn't just me then. :D

Thank you also for the compliment, I do appreciate it.