Ever After and Other Short Stories, also known as The Palace of Illusions is a collection of short stories by Kim Addonizio. By implementing her poetic prowess and experience as a novelist, she uses her gift to tell a diverse range of stories that reflect beyond the mundane world. In Ever After, fairy tales are brought to life in this tale about dwarves. The Palace of Illusions dives into the contemplation of spent youth and the regrets and consequences of following unworthy purposes.
In Beautiful Lady of the Snow, Annabelle feels lonely, and she remedies that banding pets together to keep her from feeling alienated. Night Owls is a lust for love that’s foreshadowed by vampire urges that keep the main character from acting on her feelings. Cancer poems is a terminal tale of a dying woman trying to find meaning in her life through poetry. Addonizio personally relates to these experiences as a writer as she once had to partake in creative writing classes. Intuition is about a young girl’s sexual escapades which lead her to an encounter that will change her life.
The characters in this collection are affected by similar situations such as love, isolation, and pain. They must navigate through this tumultuous world that defies reality and seeks to find otherworldly solutions to mundane problems. They mostly resort to hard stimulants to find peace in their chaotic world. Most of these characters are self-destructing individuals who have no respect or love for life. Their depressive disorders are however quelled by the fairy tales and ambitious imaginations of the author.
The collection fits perfectly with the title. Every story has its level of Illusion that facilitates in the unknown aspect of the narratives. It is full of melancholy as these characters forever remain stuck in circumstances of their own making. While some stories have hopeful endings, the recurring endings are filled with great disappointment and total despair. The best moments in these characters lives are stuck in the fairy tales of brief moments of happiness, but never lasting long enough to be happy forever after.
