Short Story Standout: The Other Side of the Hedge

Okay, even though Short Story Month officially ended yesterday, since I took an extended blogging absence I didn’t actually get a chance to post about any of the short stories I read. For shame! Well just because it’s June now doesn’t mean I can’t talk to you about one short story I found particularly awesome.

It was The Other Side of the Hedge by E.M. Forster. Now, it’s really a very short read but I found it truly remarkable. The gist is that there is a man walking down a road, he decides to go through the hedge and ponders his journey. Oh but it’s so much more!

I’m not religious at all so I could tell I was definitely not getting a lot of the intended symbolism, but even to me I got the feeling that this story was about the journey of life and the passage into death. And I guess some could see this as a passage into heaven, though since I’m not religious I saw it as much more grim. There was an eerie chill while reading it.

After reading the story (which had a great little twist at the end which I won’t spoil), I wanted more information. I started googling and found this great little synopsis: http://westwood.fortunecity.com/agnes/340/forster.html (there are many others on the web but I really liked what this person wrote). Reading this made me want to go back and read the story again because I feel it would have even more meaning the second time, especially with some more knowledge in my belly.

If any of you come across this wonderful short story, please read it, you won’t regret it. I had never read anything by E.M. Forster before but now I’m eager for more!