Metha Metharom explores the topic of Love once more in his book "Tales from the Shore", a new collection of short stories. However, much unlike "Love Stone", where the stories give us a discourse on HOW people fall in love, the stories cover three basic principles of WHERE love can be found.
For example, in "The Prospector and the Toucan Lady", we learn that love cannot be found in material possessions; it is found through personal sacrifice and selflessness. In "The Island and the Sea", we learn about not losing focus on the ones we care about in the search to find ourselves, and to be honest about our feelings. And in "The Crab and the Gull", we learn that love has no boundaries over racial, cultural, or gender difference.
Metha uses fairy-tale imagery to bring these themes to life. He presents these themes from a viewpoint we may never have even considered before, leaving with us a lasting impression on our minds, and gives us something to think about.
The only thing I found a little bit off-putting were the one-paragraph-pages, which made it very difficult to read, especially considering I had only access to an online copy and had to scroll down for AGES until I eventually got to the next line of text. Also, the thought of how many trees would have to die just so that this particular book could be printed made me cringe slightly.....
Overall though, this book definitely has my tick of approval, and is a great companion to read along with "Love Stone". I recommend it to anybody who is into a good romance novel, or even to those who are not into romance novels (such as myself), because there is a lot that you can get out of it.
