The Palace of Illusions: Stories Paperback – September 15, 2015

There isn't a form that Addonizio doesn't master! This collection is mesmerizing! Her characters are authentic and recognizable, flawed and hilarious. I am a fan!

These stories are arresting, invigorating, and thoroughly enjoyable. Kim Addonizio is easily one of my favorites. Her talent is truly astounding.

Great book, riveting, hard to put down

Excellent! Thank you!

Kim Addonizio is a brave and bold writer. Anyone who has read her poetry knows that. Her short story collection, The Palace of Illusions, doesn’t hold back. Addonizio writes about people, mostly women, who are lost, but not losers. They’re just not winners—and aren’t likely to be. They’re small people, and on good days, which don’t come very often, they settle for less. On less good days, they search on and on and on for the more they want and will never get. They are hopelessly sentimental, wanting the pretty house and pretty mate and life-long love, and hope and believe those things are real and out there and possible, as they commit self-destructive act after self-destructive act and fail. These are people who can’t change—are stuck, in a rut, lost, lonely, bored, scared, scarred—who follow their hearts, or intuition, as one story is titled. They keep trying and failing over and over, seeking the Good Housekeeping day that will never come. Addonizio is a poet. Her language, imagery, and command and control of the story are exquisite. Most of the stories are mesmerizing; a few of the shorter ones fall short. The characters might be disasters waiting to happen. The stories and writing are a gift to behold. Enjoy. Five stars.

It was like reading someone's very private thoughts and looking into a keyhole while they had sex or did other personal things. This author isn't afraid to let the reader in on it. It being 'life' as perceived by the author, with all its beauty and its flaws. The language is spare yet precise. I loved the stories, read them in one sitting. The story that struck me hardest was the one where the protagonist knows from the get-go that the guy is wrong, and it will turn out wrong, yet she wastes a good amount of time on this 'relationship' that's draped in futility.

This is the second collection from Kim Addonizio. It's just as solid -- raw, edgy, daring -- as the first. I got hooked by an early appearance of "In the Byzantine Empire" in the webzine Ducts (www.ducts.org), and couldn't wait for the book to follow. While some of the stories follow in the spirit of the first collection, In the Box Called Pleasure, many of the new stories explore new technique, new concerns. Lovers of Addonizio's poetry and earlier fiction will not be disappointed. Lovers of literary fiction in general will find an ace writer with multiple talents mastering another genre.

Kim Addonizio’s The Palace of Illusions is a funhouse of characters looking into a curved mirror for a clearer view and finding the unexpected. Each story in this collection delivers hilarity and heartbreak. Addonizio is a poet, and every sentence hums with surprise and grace. This is a fabulous book to wander through, savor, and read again. My favorite stories are “In the Time of the Byzantine Empire,” “Ever After,” Cancer Poems,” “Beautiful Lady of the Snow,” and the collection’s title story, but I love them all, feel for all the characters in their beauty and bewilderment.

Best short story collection I have ever read. "Cancer Poems" was as good as it gets.