There is a star of childhood

In the early 1960s, on the occasion of the Soviet Union launching a spaceship, the Russians launched a large poll asking: Do people still need literature and art in modern times? In the end, everyone agreed that "even if people fly on a spaceship, that spaceship still needs a lily flower". It seems that literature and art always have an immortal power against all the vicissitudes of time. Because it is a form of expressing the most perfect beauty in the world, on the other hand, literature as well as a lily flower is the beginning of an emotion called "love", or more broadly, "compassion". A Star Never Cries (Kim Dong Publishing House, 2024) by writer Vu Ngoc Giao is a literary work for children with the colorful beauty called "love" and "compassion".

Cover of the book A Star Never Cries by Vu Ngoc Giao (Kim Dong Publishing House, 2024)

"Why" is none other than children. They are children who have not yet grown up but have to grow up, children with their own worries in the journey to complete the colors of life. However, those innocent hearts are still gentle, pure, filled with love and the light of faith. That makes the stars of sadness shine next to the bright stars of joy, creating a beautiful and memorable childhood sky. A sky that is always by our side, reminding us of the beautiful things in life.

The work A Star Never Cries is the crystallization of many small stories, in which children are the main characters. A special thing is that most of the children in the story are young hearts that have to grow up because of the difficult reality of life. That is the little girl Cam with the loneliness of losing "her sky" - her mother. Or that is a little girl with no last name, no name, not knowing her father, not knowing her mother, her grandmother passed away, struggling to earn every meal in town. Or that is the little boy Co who witnessed his father passing away right before his eyes, having to live on the care of everyone in the neighborhood. Those are the children in Trung hamlet - the hamlet where the saying "no one is poor for three generations" cannot be applied because they are "poor from grandfather to father, through children, grandchildren are still poor". The reality in each page of literature is not painted rosy but is described in a naked, clear, and profound way. However, the more vividly the reality of life is described, the more we love and admire the innocent and beautiful souls of children. Therefore, although the reality is dark and difficult, it does not bring a feeling of boredom, fatigue, or despair to the readers. On the contrary, each story also lights up in them the warm fire of faith, of love for people and this life.

THE WORLD OF REALITY IN THE EYES OF CHILDREN

In A Star Never Cries , the stories are told in multiple narratives and perspectives. It is a third-person narrative from the perspective of an adult who receives and feels the thoughts and feelings of children. Or it is a first-person narrative through the lens of the children themselves, drawing their own picture of the world.

Choosing to stand on the position of loving, respecting, and cherishing children and the fragments of memories, the writer recreated the story with a very rustic, simple, and familiar language, imbued with the Central region and a sad, soaring, and poetic writing style. All of this has created a colorful world of faith, of love, of goodness that sometimes makes the dark gray tones of reality not as heavy as before. It is still the little girl Cam who lost her sky, but now she is ready to overcome all the difficulties of the situation, continuing the journey to fulfill the unfinished dream of her late mother. With all her heart, she moves each baby step on the rehearsal stage just to see her father's smile, to see the "light" in her life. It is still the little girl without a father, without a mother, without a family, without a place to rely on, but she does not live just to survive. She spreads love with a bleeding heart, calloused by injuries. It is still Co - a boy who witnessed and experienced so much pain in the past, but he chose to work hard and study, living this life to the fullest. It is still the children in the poor Trung hamlet, but they dare to take care of Mr. Thon - a strange man, who was ostracized because his body was "covered with large and small tumors like giant warts", making us feel moved by the bright and innocent world of children.

THE WORLD WITHIN US...

In the midst of this hurried world with so many things that make us worry, each piece of memory of a beautiful, innocent childhood just keeps flooding back to us as we turn each page of A Star Never Cries . Those pieces fill our souls from emptiness, dryness, and withering. Those pieces are the source of life for us to continue to grow, to continue to mature, and the motivation for us to continue to move forward.

Sometimes, when we are in a state of desolation, uncertainty, and doubt in the swirling flow of life, memories of a bright childhood suddenly make us realize: What was our original purpose? What is the final destination we once longed for? They pull us out of the spiral of doubt, mistakes, and sins, helping us to live "to live", not just "to exist".

Indeed, "childhood will always stay with us, like the sea of ​​stars that appear every night in the deep sky".

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/co-mot-vi-sao-cua-ngay-tho-be-185241201101507341.htm