The Palace of Illusions

The short stories here are so tight and polished that it's hard to believe that this is only Addonizio's second collection; she is mainly known as a poet (Tell Me was a National Book Award finalist). The characters, from the woman with terminal cancer who takes a poetry workshop to the second grader who hates dancing on her grandpa's lap to the college student who happens to be half vampire, all exhibit "true grit." The stories are all strikingly honest depictions of characters trying their best at something, even if that something is not particularly good for them. The latter is true in the case of the title story, in which a man looks back on his youth working as a magician in a traveling carnival and lusting after the carnival owner's wife. There are also shorter pieces that give us more of a keyhole glimpse into a situation or character, such as "The Other Woman," "Blown," and new takes on classic fairy tales, such as "The Hag's Journey."