Portraits in the Dark: A Collection of Short Stories

Nancy O. Greene
iUniverse (2006)
ISBN 0595392806
Reviewed by Tara Hammack (teen) for Reader Views (01/07)

“Portraits in the Dark” is a varied assortment of nine short stories. One will make you want to run and hide under the sheets on your bed, and others would make you feel pity for the person. It’s one big emotional ride to “The End.”

I liked all of the stories, but the one that stuck out to me was “Down the Rabbit Whole” because the person who was telling the story was this girl who was a pathological liar. She was telling the story of how her mom died; she claims it was her “uncle” but no one believes her, they all say it was her. I like stories where the person who is telling the story is crazy because you do not know if what they say is true or not, even if you want to believe you can’t because they're crazy.

There was another one that caught my attention; it was “Darkened Sky” because it’s about a girl wanting to be more than what she is expected to be. She does not want to become her mother, depressed doing drugs and not doing anything with her life, but she has no idea how she is going to do that. I think this story caught my attention because most of the stories I read and write are about a girl whose life can’t get any worse and wants to leave and not look back.

Wait, there was one more that I absolutely loved; it was “Fine Print” because it’s about this guy who was looked down upon in his family because he “…wasn’t leaving behind any legacy….” He goes to Bangkok for business trips often and on this trip he is going to be there for three weeks and also needs to pay off some bets he had made. Before he did anything he went to a bar and met this mysterious woman who would give him anything he wants but he has to give one thing to her. This story was good to me because I love when I read about people that get what they want but have something that hold them back from complete happiness.

I would say that “Portraits in the Dark” is for people of the age of thirteen and higher. I look forward to reading more books by Nancy O. Greene.

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