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Reviews
Manual Para Mulheres de Limpeza by Stephen Emerson, Lucia Berlin, Rita Canas Mendes, Lydia Davis
pokie's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
waynediane's review against another edition
5.0
Great short stories, well written with quite a bit about real people, actually some of it Berlin herself. Her life in Oakland etc. Very engaging, not just about Cleaning Women. Sometimes people would leave change in an ashtray to see if the cleaning women were stealing money. The cleaning women would put in a few each cents to confuse their employers- HAHA.
erin_jones's review against another edition
dark
funny
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
elbowgrip_and_emdash's review against another edition
4.0
There is a lot to love about this collection of short stories while at the same time plenty to criticize. I think when Berlin is good, she's especially good, and she's bad, she's especially bad (there were definitely stories in this collection that I questioned the wisdom and purpose of). I think she flourishes with her longer stories and flops with her shorter stories. One of my least favorite stories was a three-pager called "Electric Car, El Paso," which seemed to be about nothing but the convenient, too-neat ending (which I'm almost certain the writer would have thought was genius). Although, I do think it's harder to appreciate shorter short stories when they're in a collection rather than standing alone (I read this under a classroom deadline), and maybe that's why I don't like and fail to appreciate the supposed brilliance of "My Jockey," as just one example.
Some of my favorites were "Todo Luna, Todo Aña," "Grief," Let Me See You Smile," and "Mijito"—the longer stories, the stories (generally speaking) with multiple points of view. When I got into these stories, I didn't want them to end. She's surprisingly novelistic in scope; of course, her stories aren't exactly the traditional short story shape anyway (and I really like the two that call attention to themselves as short stories, "Point of View" and "Here It Is Saturday). She's blunt in an appreciable way about her character's struggles with alcohol and sexual abuse—that is, the secret of the story is never that the character is an alcoholic or was sexually abused as a child, but rather a fact of life, an additional complication that the characters are aware of to lesser and greater extents. I was surprised by how ugly some of her characters are, yet how I deeply I felt for them. I don't know if I've ever read a work of fiction that has felt so consistently real, right down to the tiniest, most ridiculous details (I do know that some of her stories are autofiction, but they can't all possibly be, can they?). She's not a flowery writer. Her prose isn't "beautiful," but there's certainly something beautiful about it, when the story comes together in the end.
Some of my favorites were "Todo Luna, Todo Aña," "Grief," Let Me See You Smile," and "Mijito"—the longer stories, the stories (generally speaking) with multiple points of view. When I got into these stories, I didn't want them to end. She's surprisingly novelistic in scope; of course, her stories aren't exactly the traditional short story shape anyway (and I really like the two that call attention to themselves as short stories, "Point of View" and "Here It Is Saturday). She's blunt in an appreciable way about her character's struggles with alcohol and sexual abuse—that is, the secret of the story is never that the character is an alcoholic or was sexually abused as a child, but rather a fact of life, an additional complication that the characters are aware of to lesser and greater extents. I was surprised by how ugly some of her characters are, yet how I deeply I felt for them. I don't know if I've ever read a work of fiction that has felt so consistently real, right down to the tiniest, most ridiculous details (I do know that some of her stories are autofiction, but they can't all possibly be, can they?). She's not a flowery writer. Her prose isn't "beautiful," but there's certainly something beautiful about it, when the story comes together in the end.
sarahlreadseverything's review against another edition
1.0
I purchased A Manual for Cleaning Women in November 2017 after it was mentioned on a couple of podcasts I listened to, and started reading it almost immediately. . . . it's telling that I've finished it in August 2022 . . . and only then because one of my reading goals for this year was to read all the books languishing on my kindle that I'd paid money for. Even with my reading goal in mind, it was the last book on a list of 17 that I got to, and I would have DNF if it wasn't for the fact that my various attempts at it over the years had already got me past 50% and it seemed a shame not to finish it out.
I admit it improved slightly in the last third as the interlinks between the stories that draw them into a more cohesive narrative became more obvious, but on the whole I'd sum up this collection as 'plotless ramblings'.
I admit it improved slightly in the last third as the interlinks between the stories that draw them into a more cohesive narrative became more obvious, but on the whole I'd sum up this collection as 'plotless ramblings'.
nderiley's review against another edition
2.0
Admittedly, I did not make it through this book before my library loan expired but given my usually pace of read, that's telling. I just wasn't griped by any of these short stories
camillejov's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
geoffwood's review against another edition
5.0
There's an old joke. Uh, two elderly women are at a Catskills mountain resort, and one of 'em says: "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know, and such ... small portions." Well, that's essentially how I feel about [this book]. Full of loneliness and misery and suffering and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly.