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puistaja's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
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
4.0
imogenreads's review against another edition
3.0
The problem with starting with a collection of someone's best work is that the other works aren't gonna be as good...
a_copp's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Manual for cleaning women by Berlin is definitely a finer collection overall, from start to finish. However, this book still had some gems in it that I really enjoyed.
mostrengo's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
reneoro's review against another edition
5.0
Manual para mujeres de la limpieza fue una de mis lecturas favoritas del 2016. Ahora, con Una noche en el paraíso, uno vuelve a disfrutar de Lucia Berlin. Sus historias cuasi autobiográficas son hilarantes, llenas de alcohol, drogas y playa (revelando los más íntimos secretos de la grabación de La Noche de la Iguana en Puerto Vallarta) y, por supuesto, matrimonios fallidos.
bellwetherdays's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
5.0
johndiconsiglio's review against another edition
3.0
The rediscovery of the late short story-master Lucia Berlin continues with 22 deeply felt tales of people on the edge. While her brilliant collection A Manual for Cleaning Women portrayed life’s losers stumbling through bars and ERs, this is a chronological tour of the places that formed Berlin’s world—her childhood in El Paso; a whirlwind adolescence among Chilean mining barons; marriages to heroin-hooked jazz musicians in New York & New Mexico; hard drinking in the California desert. It’s a mixed joy to see her find a posthumous audience, even if these stories don’t all pack Cleaning Women’s spare thrills.
holly_ed_'s review against another edition
3.0
I love the idea of Lucia Berlin almost more than her stories: she was married 3 times and had her kids all before the age of 30 and was a cleaner, a professor and lots more besides. Her stories are unsettling, macabre, detached yet incredibly intense. I enjoyed some of the stories in this collection hugely, though not all of them - some dragged and lacked to punch of, for example Dust to Dust, in which the narrator's friend is killed in an accident and it's the most exciting thing to have happened to either of them.
soy_sputnik's review against another edition
2.0
Siento que este libro se salvó por sus últimos relatos. Sin embargo, pudieron haber no existido y estaba bien. Por algo Lucia Berlin no los publicó.