A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories by Lucia Berlin

Lucia Berlin's “A Manual for Cleaning Women” is a collection of 43 short stories written over a period of 30 years. In it, she captures the ordinary life of ordinary people with a gentle grace and touches on themes of family, class, love, and loss. Her style is described as "jagged, sensual, and evocative," and is often compared to that of Raymond Carver, Ernest Hemingway, and other prominent American short story writers.

At the heart of Berlin's stories are the female characters. Throughout the book, the reader will see these women struggling with poverty and addiction, challenging social norms, and finding the strength to continue despite everything that life throws at them. From cleaning women to homeless women, from single mothers to prisoners, the stories in “A Manual for Cleaning Women” are full of complex and complexly drawn characters.

Berlin's eye for detail and her ability to convey the universal by exploring the specific gives the collection an air of nostalgia and reflected wisdom. The stories range from five dozen words to a dozen pages, yet each one transports the reader to another world. Berlin's characters often blur the lines between tragedy and comedy, giving her stories a darkly comic edge.

Many of the stories follow similar arcs, but in each, Berlin weaves in her own special touch. In the first story, "A Manual for Cleaning Women," Berlin paints a vivid picture of poverty and despair by following three cleaning women as they struggle to make ends meet. In the second story, "The Old Coot," an old man's ramblings to his wife become emblematic of a relationship over the years. While in other stories, like "Two Weightlifters from Santa Teresa," Berlin uses surprising turns of phrase to give a unique insight into the inner workings of a seemingly ordinary couple.

The stories in “A Manual for Cleaning Women” follow characters who often don't have much in the way of material possessions or formal education, but are nonetheless full of inner strength and resilience. Berlin approaches her characters with empathy, allowing them to inhabit their lives with profound humanness throughout. In the collection's final story, "Mute Swan," Berlin reaches one of the book's most poignant moments when she writes, “Sometimes your luck holds, and life is extraordinary.”

Lucia Berlin's “A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories” is an essential addition to the library of any reader of short fiction. The collection is a heartfelt tribute to the invisible souls that make up everyday life, to the extraordinary beauty of ordinary things. With her intimate knowledge of the human condition and unfailing ability to capture the nuances of life, Berlin has crafted a work of literature that is both touching and unforgettable.