Closing Ceremonies and Dying Times

Closing Ceremonies is a collection of linked love stories that explores the aftermath of love. Who among us has not suffered the after-shocks? The sorrowing souls that inhabit these tales struggle at various stages of the grief cycle: from denial and paralysis to anger and desire for revenge; to bargaining and, ultimately, for some characters and for others incompletely, acceptance and reconciliation. Some of the stories handle the love quandary comedically—for example, the triptych of stories about Francesca and Concetta, who embrace a sisterly friendship born of betrayal. Others are more elegiac, such as the story of Thor and Lovise: unsanctioned lovers who get to orbit about each other, however briefly. “Appropriation” is a coming-of-age story where the longed-for first kiss is obtained, but not in the way the kiss was desired. What links these stories? Human yearning to move out of love away from an obsessive attachment, to a selfless state where genuine love becomes possible again.

“Dying Times is really all about celebrating life and its quirks—even while under the shadow of mortality. Madott’s writing is sharp and taut, intense and uncompromising; her scenes, set within a background of the inevitable, are matter-of-fact and down to earth; her truths small and digestible but always building towards something larger and perhaps more difficult to pin down. Darkly humorous and in some instances farcical, it would be hilarious if it weren’t so sad. Dying Times punches well above its weight.”

—Michael Mirolla is the author of a clutch of novels, plays, film scripts, and short story and poetry collections, which include three Bressani Prize winners and the 2020 Hamilton Literary Award for fiction.