Short Story Review: The Gift of The Magi by O. Henry

Quick Review (read on for full review)

Poignant and heart-warming, this story is hard to forget. 4 / 5

Summary (from Goodreads)

One dollar and eight-seven cents is all the money Della has in the world to buy her beloved husband a Christmas present. She has nothing to sell except her only treasure — her long, beautiful brown hair. Set in New York at the turn of the twentieth century, this classic piece of American literature tells the story of a young couple and the sacrifices each must make to buy the other a gift.

Favourite Quote

“…life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.”

(From The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry)

Review

I read this story for Festive Reads Fortnight 2019 but never got around to posting the review, so I waited a whole year so that I could as I thought it would seem quite out of season to do anything but.

The Gift of The Magi is a sweet and sentimental read. It’s also very short, so short I happily read it online at my PC. Poignant and heart-warming, it tells of the unselfish love between Della and Jim. Money is tight but they go to extraordinary lengths to buy each other a present for Christmas.

It’s a lovely tale for Christmas, which reminds us that when it comes to gift-giving, it’s not the quantity of gifts which is important. This story is hard to forget…

Rating