Characters struggle in stories of isolation

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This article was published 18/10/2025 (344 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Suddenly Light is a collection of 15 short stories by Scarborough, Ont.-based Nina Dunic.

This is the second book by Dunic, who was born in Belgrade but brought to Canada as a baby. Her debut novel, The Clarion, won Ontario’s Trillium Book Award and other honours.

Some of the stories here have been longlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize, while others have won other notable short story contests.

This collection of stories seems to be connected mainly by an overriding sadness and an epidemic of loneliness shared by the characters in each story. Many lead isolated lives, never quite connecting with anyone.

Rather than focus on plot, many of Dunic’s stories come across as character studies or wonderfully detailed snapshots, a few moments in time of her characters’ lives. Those looking for neat resolution or a clear or definite conclusion may find some of the stories frustrating.

Dunic’s writer’s language is simplistic and easy to read, succinct. Even the majority of the story titles consist of just a single word.

Her descriptions of characters and their surroundings, however, are amazingly detailed, powerfully drawing the reader in closer.

Cardinal is a story of two brothers who don’t seem to connect and are not close, but who visit each other occasionally and usually get drunk. The older brother is at one point suicidal. Unless one assumes or guesses that the cardinal at the end is symbolic and understands its meaning, the ending is inconclusive and feels mysterious, incomplete.

In Falls, the reader is privy to the protagonist’s private thoughts which dominate the story, with very little dialogue and action. Mike, a nighttime security guard in a huge, empty mall, leads a lonely, somewhat melancholy life — much like many of the characters in Suddenly Light. He is worried about not getting anywhere, but can’t seem to move forward.

“I was removing myself from the world, slowly collecting the parts of me that were exposed. Working at night, living alone, deciding how and when I wanted to come back,” he muses. Mike trains a new security guard and is empathetic and kind while he does so. They are both likable characters.

But when a troublemaking drunk turns up in the night, both Mike and his trainee uncharacteristically lose their tempers with negative conseqences and, again, a vague ending.

In The Apartment two male roommates, Adam and his depressed and bored roomie, spend too much time staring through binoculars at a woman in her apartment across the way who likes to walk around naked.

Why she does this is never revealed; the two roomates, meanwhile, are like ships passing in the night — we never really find out what happens to them in the end.

Divorce sees the two main characters fall in love, get married, have a child and, along with the crowd they hang out with, get divorced. A painting the couple bought in the early years of their marriage ends up becoming the central focus of this compelling story, featuring engaging writing and a complete surprise of an ending.

In I didn’t see any children with balloons, Timothy, a pet grooming business owner, tries to befriend the elderly and lonely Marta, who gives away balloons to children on the corner of the street where Timothy works. The story is wonderful and heartwarming, but also sadly unresolved and mysterious.

The stories and characters in Dunic’s collection offer great psychological depth and detail. These are stories of loneliness, isolation and despair, with characters who struggle to connect, to find meaning and to move forward.

Cheryl Girard is an Interlake writer.