lmrajt 's review for:

A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin

4.0

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Addiction. Child abuse. Poverty. More addiction. Crushed dreams and hopeless. Did I mention addiction? Every story in this collection except the very last one was the most depressing thing I have ever read. Yet I could not put it down. The narrative voice was totally consistent and brutally raw, the imagery poignant, the pacing suspenseful but somehow also subtle. Lucia Berlin is posthumously receiving the accolades she deserves - I suspect these stories will stay with me for a long time.