Dim Days and Diamonds
Summary

Little pieces of life where one gets to know Ember and how she reacts and feels.

This collection of short stories portrays pieces of Ember’s life, and through occasional and specific incidences, conveys how she sees the world and how she thinks about her world. This book is akin to a poetic story of a woman who shares life and feelings through incidences.

We get to know how Ember perceives circumstances and the reader becomes a part of that personalization. We get to enjoy knowing and understanding Ember—how she reacts and tries to progress in life. In some instances, her reaction to other’s reactions to situations is not only significant and deep, but also lighthearted and funny.

We get to know how she lives and struggles to do it right. Even when she messes a few things up, she is steadfast about sorting and searching it out. Although we all perceive things differently, we come to realize that each of us is also an Ember and that we are all fundamentally the same.

Debra Irby’s second book “Dim Days and Diamonds” comes in the form of a series of short stories richly describing people, places and circumstances created from her experiences in life. Her keen eye for detail enables her to people her stories with characters keenly observed both in her native United States and also from travels overseas, in particular to Japan.

“Dim Days and Diamonds” follows her first book written in 2004 and she shows that she is building on the success of the style and composition of that book.

Andrew E. Fyfe