Hell and Other Novels

Elizabeth S. Masih is the editor of Write On: The Newsletter for Young
Canadian Writers and Readers.

This collection of intriguing short stories explores how people deal
with the darker side of life (divorce, drug abuse, death), and, along
the way, reveals some interesting insights into the human condition.

Few of the stories actually have a beginning and an end. Instead, the
reader has a sense of reading poetry, of being introduced to shifting
scenes that somehow interconnect and complete a whole. This feeling is
reinforced by the colors, textures, and sounds that fill Daurio’s
imagery, and her precise way of capturing ideas and putting them
together in one compact sentence or phrase. For instance, in the title
story, the protagonist reveals great depths in a simple statement: “I
am walking with the sun in my face along a curving grey road that
separates one field of weeds from another, avoiding the facts and
myself.”

Daurio’s style will not appeal to those who look for in stories a
linear path and steady series of events; for instance, in lieu of
action, “Black Branch in Yellow Wind” is fueled by the abstract
quality of a dream sequence. But for readers who enjoy stories that
capture a small piece of life in a collage of scenes and emotions,
Daurio’s fiction is well worth exploring.