To Live or Not to Live, To Die or Not to Die

Skimming through the pile of books received as an unexpected and precious gift, and coming across Colette’s books,  I didn’t fail to mention that I am not a fervent consumer of stories. It turns out I advanced a false statement. True to my habit of passing hastily through the pages of the books added to my reading list before I decide the order of the attack, I commenced and soon completed both collections of stories authored by Colette Ni Reamonn Ioannidou.

To Live or Not to Live is my favorite of the two. Hardly about death as one might be led to believe, the narrations explore the extraordinary gift of well-being and in some cases of closure. It is the lack of any of both the fuel of the intrigues, along with the obstacles some individuals will have to overcome in order to release oneself from the certain death of living a life not his own.

A web of similar, yet not necessarily interconnected background stories often sustains the main plot. Take for example The Boy in which Dena, child psychologist, is diving not only into her patient’s family background trying to unravel what might have caused his distress, but is also running in parallel a check of her own despondency, looking for the causes of the desolation engulfing her within the borders of  the father-daughter relationship. Two streams advancing at the same pace.

To Die or Not to Die is an equally delightful reading, although I’d add – a bit depressive. Death, even peaceful, when thoroughly anticipated and over analyzed is not the most digestible of the subjects for me.

Read a short introduction for each of the stories on Armida Publishing website:

To Live or Not to Live, here.

To Die or Not to Die, here.

Free extracts from the books on Armida’s blog here and here.

Author interview, here.