In The Gloaming -- Take 2

I like reading short stories for the reasons I already said.  One of the difficulties with short stories, I find, is that you have to remember that (most of the time, anyway) the characters don't carry over from story to story.  They read like chapters in a book, but unlike chapters, you have to completely reset your brain vis a vis setting, plot, and characters with each new beginning.

The exception where, at least in this particular collection, one's brain does not have to be reset is theme.  The jacket notes describe the stories in In the Gloaming as ones that "reveal the ache of adoration and devotion that so poignantly [mark] our inner lives."

And for perhaps the fourth time ever, I don't think the jacket notes are a bunch of hooey.

These really are stories about devotion - between parents and children, between actual or would-be lovers, between siblings, between friends - and all the different ways a person can be wrecked by it.  They are not entirely melancholy; many of the stories have at least moments of joy and levity, and often leave a mixed taste at their conclusion, both bitter and sweet.  Regardless, the theme can get tiring; if you're looking for unmitigated joy, you won't find it here.

As with any collection of stories, some are better than others.  But overall, it was a good collection about love, loss, and the choices we make, even if we don't think about or aren't yet capable of knowing the consequences of those choices.