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A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected…
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A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories (original 2015; edition 2016)

by Lucia Berlin (Author)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
1,760609,739 (4.17)209
"Stories from a lost American classic "in the same arena as Alice Munro" (Lydia Davis) "In the field of short fiction, Lucia Berlin is one of America's best kept secrets. That's it. Flat out. No mitigating conditions." --Paul Metcalf A Manual for Cleaning Women compiles the best work of the legendary short-story writer Lucia Berlin. With her trademark blend of humor and melancholy, Berlin crafts miracles from the everyday--uncovering moments of grace in the cafeterias and Laundromats of the American Southwest, in the homes of the Northern California upper classes, and from the perspective of a cleaning woman alone in a hotel dining room in Mexico City. The women of Berlin's stories are lost, but they are also strong, clever, and extraordinarily real. They are hitchhikers, hard workers, bad Christians. With the wit of Lorrie Moore and the grit of Raymond Carver, they navigate a world of jockeys, doctors, and switchboard operators. They laugh, they mourn, they drink. Berlin, a highly influential writer despite having published little in her lifetime, conjures these women from California, Mexico, and beyond. Lovers of the short story will not want to miss this remarkable collection from a master of the form"--… (more)
Member:featherbooks
Title:A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories
Authors:Lucia Berlin (Author)
Info:Picador (2016), Edition: Reprint, 432 pages
Collections:Your library, Howard's End is On the Landing
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A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories by Lucia Berlin (2015)

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» See also 209 mentions

English (53)  Spanish (4)  Finnish (1)  Italian (1)  Norwegian (1)  All languages (60)
Showing 1-5 of 53 (next | show all)
Manual para mujeres de la limpieza
Lucia Berlin
Publicado: 2016 | 408 páginas
Relato Realista

Con su inigualable toque de humor y melancolía, Berlin se hace eco de su vida, asombrosa y convulsa, para crear verdaderos milagros literarios con episodios del día a día. Las mujeres de sus relatos están desorientadas, pero al mismo tiempo son fuertes, inteligentes y, sobre todo, extraordinariamente reales. Ríen, lloran, aman, beben: sobreviven.
  libreriarofer | Feb 20, 2024 |
I can't remember having read a book of stories where the author experienced such a breadth of life, of its humour and pain, of its ugliness and wonder since, well, maybe the greatest book of them all, Don Quixote. I even recognize in the book -- perhaps I am imagining it -- one of the doctors who opined on her scoliosis, a Canadian doctor who set my own broken collarbone when as a child I wandered into the street and was rammed by an oncoming car. Lucia Berlin just saw so much. I am in awe. ( )
  MylesKesten | Jan 23, 2024 |
Engrossing interconnected semi-autobiographical stories about hard living. It is easy to feel empathy for these people. ( )
  jemisonreads | Jan 22, 2024 |
Crisp and present and unexpected and immersive. ( )
  Kiramke | Jun 27, 2023 |
«I'm sorry. I'm a poet. I deal with the specific».
Cominciamo col dire che per fortuna il libro l'ho letto in inglese, col titolo giusto e con in copertina una bella foto della stessa Berlin. E continuiamo col dire che Munro, Carver e perfino Cechov (citati in quarta di copertina) non sono tanto autori in cui trovare somiglianze con lo stille di Berlin ma piuttosto compagni di squadra nel gruppo dei grandi scrittori di racconti, in cui Lucia entra di diritto. Ho letto questo libro - come sempre mi viene di fare con le raccolte di racconti - con grande lentezza, in quasi nove mesi in cui ovviamente ho letto altro. In questo periodo Berlin è stata una compagna fidata e ora quasi mi dispiace aver terminato i racconti. Se c'è un tratto che riconosco a questa autrice e che definisce la sua unicità anche rispetto a quelli citati sopra, è il suo essere sempre così se stessa. In questi racconti ci sono l'America del Sud e il Messico, ci sono i luoghi, i lavori e soprattutto le persone che Berlin ha frequentato. E c'è la sua voce, unica nel delineare un punto di vista inconfondibilmente femminile. ( )
  d.v. | May 16, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 53 (next | show all)
In “A Manual for Cleaning Women” we witness the emergence of an important American writer, one who was mostly overlooked in her time. Ms. Berlin’s stories make you marvel at the contingencies of our existence. She is the real deal. Her stories swoop low over towns and moods and minds.
 

» Add other authors (39 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Lucia Berlinprimary authorall editionscalculated
ベルリン, ルシアAuthormain authorall editionsconfirmed
Aceto, FedericaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Anweiler, JustineCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Davis, LydiaForewordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Emerson, StephenEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Rávic Strubel, AntjeTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Simpson, JonathanCover photographsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Torrescasana, AlbertTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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This is the collection of stories. Please do not combine it with the work that is just the title story.
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"Stories from a lost American classic "in the same arena as Alice Munro" (Lydia Davis) "In the field of short fiction, Lucia Berlin is one of America's best kept secrets. That's it. Flat out. No mitigating conditions." --Paul Metcalf A Manual for Cleaning Women compiles the best work of the legendary short-story writer Lucia Berlin. With her trademark blend of humor and melancholy, Berlin crafts miracles from the everyday--uncovering moments of grace in the cafeterias and Laundromats of the American Southwest, in the homes of the Northern California upper classes, and from the perspective of a cleaning woman alone in a hotel dining room in Mexico City. The women of Berlin's stories are lost, but they are also strong, clever, and extraordinarily real. They are hitchhikers, hard workers, bad Christians. With the wit of Lorrie Moore and the grit of Raymond Carver, they navigate a world of jockeys, doctors, and switchboard operators. They laugh, they mourn, they drink. Berlin, a highly influential writer despite having published little in her lifetime, conjures these women from California, Mexico, and beyond. Lovers of the short story will not want to miss this remarkable collection from a master of the form"--

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