The village's turmoil in "The Stone Tomb"

In literary and artistic creation, although the purpose may be the same, if we consider the artistic effect, each person's starting point is different, some are early, some are late. Compared to those who discovered it early, Nguyen Thanh Hai was a bit late. Due to many objective reasons, Thanh Hai was not confident enough to commit, although literature was always in her mind in daily life, and since high school she loved literature very much.

Encouraged by her friends, she boldly turned to literature and poetry. She has had 5 poetry collections published by the Writers Association Publishing House and many self-composed songs, with the concept that writers must earn a living to write, not write to earn a living. With the will to strive to improve, she has become a member of the Literature and Arts Association of Hai Duong province.

Homeland is an aesthetic area for literary and artistic creation. With contemplation of current life happening in the countryside exposed to the elements. Countless sad and happy stories every day. Colliding with images that come and go, appearing and disappearing in the real world, the dream world. Collecting gains and losses, losses and gains, and tangled events. To express the abyss of the human heart, is the reason for Thanh Hai to launch the short story collection "Stone Tomb" consisting of 15 stories, published by the Writers' Association Publishing House, October 2023.

The collection of stories is the voice of a person living in the present without forgetting the past, showing gratitude to his hometown and giving it as a gift to friends. The 15 stories are separate works without being boring, without being scattered, without diluting the main thread of the whole collection. Thanh Hai has patiently and silently read other people's stories to shape and improve his own writing style. Time for contemplation, deep contemplation becomes philosophy. Philosophy blends emotions to understand life, to share with life through pain.

The story "The Stone Tomb" has revealed the identity of a "crazy girl" who has suffered too much loss, and at the same time, it speaks of the delusion of old man Hon. Through that, it awakens people not to follow in the footsteps of ambition, illusion, and fantasy. Time, the destruction of humans, is told with bitter words, behind which is so much sorrow. People who do not have the courage, often drag their lives downhill without stopping. In the face of the chaos of life, it reminds people to stand up to save themselves, to start over from where they fell, to overcome fate, not to be like Phuong in the story "The Prostitute".

What is love, that everyone is vague and cannot clearly define. So many troubles, difficulties that no one can explain. The author shows us the depths of human love. The sacrifices to come together, but many reasons prevent, they still exist in the heart like the love of Trong and Truc in the story "Step to". The story "Women without children", builds the image of a woman who endures, carrying the virtues of Vietnamese women that we often see. Thao's sacrifice has shown everyone the ironic contradictions in life. Kindness is rewarded with a very humane ending, warming up human love, love of life with the belief that life is still good.

Just like "Women without children" in "The street singer" there are many difficult situations, but kindness still exists in this world. The story "The road ahead" raises the issue of comparison, to see the past and the present. Somewhere there is still a scene like Mrs. Bac, reminding us to pay more attention to those who have fallen for the country today. "Gain and loss" is a good story, concise and full of events. The injustice of old Net is difficult to explain, the upright tree still dies standing. Then, that loss gives him a gain. Life is like that, as long as there is life, there is something to live and die with. Now, in the era of land rule, so many heartbreaking things happen. Brothers stab each other, fathers and sons turn their backs on each other. In the story "The Wall", kindness and nobility are expressed, awakening the potential for perseverance and tolerance, expressed through the self-transformation of old Vong.

Another passionate and complicated love story in the story "Wild Sunflower", perhaps love is multifaceted. True love overcomes all material temptations and deception. The village love is expressed by the author through the story "The Villager". The story shows us that the countryside is also extremely complicated, good and bad people are vague. In the period of innovation, many inadequacies also arise, but the character is still maintained, the wrong things are clearly distinguished, the village love remains forever...

The short story collection "The Stone Tomb" has the advantage of being close to life, rich in discovery, and having seamless emotions... but the presentation method is still old. The number of pages is long but the conveyance of events is sometimes limited. The details and language in the story are not really impressive. But anyway, the author's first step into the prose world certainly cannot avoid shortcomings and confusion. However, this is a new step, a remarkable professional awareness of author Nguyen Thanh Hai.