Peter Kim’s short story The Double is a fantastic tale about our thoughts and how powerful they can really be. The Double may be a short story but it packs a huge punch. Santiago Cervantez is an old man who is in the middle of wondering where things went wrong in his life, when did things change so much? After returning from work one day, Santiago receives a phone call that his wife is at the local police station, yet his wife is in the kitchen. Intrigued by what has unfolded, Santiago finds himself at the police station face to face with a woman who looks and sounds exactly like his wife but from twenty years earlier. Santiago is taken down memory lane to learn where things went wrong in his life and why he is unhappy in the present moment.
Kim manages to capture the sadness and general emotion of an average man who has realised that life is no longer what he thought it was going to be. Kim even portrays the redundancy of everyday life while making it something fresh and new. What is so lovely about this tale is that while the reader only gets a snippet of Santiago’s life, the reader can assume what has went on in Santiago’s life up until this point in time. An easy to read short story, Kim has created a piece of art that can be devoured quickly and ends up leaving the reader both satisfied with this piece of Santiago’s life while also needing to learn how things turn out for him. The Double will leave the reader pondering their own life and questioning if they are truly happy today.
The Double is available from Amazon.
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Synopsis
“The Double” is about an old man who spends his days reminiscing about his lost youth. Until a mysterious woman appears in his life – a woman who looks exactly like the beautiful wife he once had.
“The Double” is a short story about regretting our lost youth, and learning that no matter how hard we try, we cannot ever get it back.
