*This review is for an ARC of The Allegory of Dusk

Reading this collection of stories by Amber Jerome-Norrgard was a must for me. Previous to this I had only read her erotic short stories (all of which I enjoyed) and bits of her two poetry collections. But how could this author hold up to writing a collection of literary fiction compared to what I was used to her doing?

The answer to that is: yes! It's short. It's hard-hitting. And while it wasn't the happiest material to read (and I'm sure not the happiest to write about) it was a welcomed collection of stories to my library. The subjects brought up in The Allegory of Dusk deal largely with troubled relationships, from brand new to breaking or already passed fixing. There are also many other real life, yet unpleasant, situations,as well.

Stories like The Loss of Beautiful Naivety and Empty & Shattered really hit hard. What these two stories have in common can spring up in anyone's life. I'd rather not get into specifics for fear of spoilers of any kind, but let me just say that sometimes life is tough. As the author states in the introduction the book "focuses on what happens when the worst occurs in our life." No one's immune to hardship and heart-break. And the reality these stories bring to light aren't only in the fictional world. This is real life being lived out by fictional characters. I'm not saying they specifically were real people, but they could be you or me, or a neighbor or relative. I think that's made this collection so haunting and beautiful at the same time.

Norrgard doesn't hold back. She doesn't shield her readers from the ugly aspects of life. There's no sugar-coating. But I think after reading The Allegory of Dusk I have a better appreciation for my life and my relationships with others. ( )