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A review by rachyreads
Evening in Paradise by Lucia Berlin
4.0
It’s important for me to start this review by saying that pretty much anything Lucia Berlin ever wrote down is gold. She has such an enviable, clear voice as a writer that it’s easy to pick her stories out of a line up as they feel so distinctly her. Berlin’s stories have both a wit and grit about them, as much informed by what she tells you as what she choses to leave out. Her stories remind me of Flannery O’Connor, set in her own brand of Americana and capturing a similar dark vibe.
The stories in ‘Evening In Paradise’ for me don’t always approach the heights of some in the previous collection of her short stories ‘A Manual For Cleaning Women’. It definitely feels like the majority of her very best stories were collected into this earlier book, and ‘Evening In Paradise’ was a subsequent volume to catch any other gems that didn’t quite make the cut before. Sometimes this can make ‘Evening In Paradise’ feel a little like an afterthought, but in general the stories are still of an exceedingly high quality. The first few stories (‘The Musical Vanity Boxes’ and ‘Sometimes in Summer’) feel very quintessentially Berlin. You could easily show someone these two stories to try and sum up Berlin’s style and they really shine for that reason. However I do feel as you get further into the book, the stories in the middle do feel a little like filler. There are plenty that aren’t bad at all, but there are also plenty that just failed to grab me. By much later in the volume, the collection definitely comes back around again and finishes on a high note. Stories such as ‘The Wives’ and ‘Our Brother’s Keeper’ are unforgettable and are truly Berlin at her shining best.
This is definitely not the book I would give someone to start with having never read anything by Lucia Berlin, but if you’ve already read ‘A Manual For Cleaning Women’ and you’re sane and therefore you crave more of her work, there is definitely a lot to be said for this collection. It is more flawless prose, more gritty characters in beautiful settings and more complex emotions expertly intuited into the mundane. It is perfect for those who can’t get enough of Berlin’s genuinely special brand of literature.
The stories in ‘Evening In Paradise’ for me don’t always approach the heights of some in the previous collection of her short stories ‘A Manual For Cleaning Women’. It definitely feels like the majority of her very best stories were collected into this earlier book, and ‘Evening In Paradise’ was a subsequent volume to catch any other gems that didn’t quite make the cut before. Sometimes this can make ‘Evening In Paradise’ feel a little like an afterthought, but in general the stories are still of an exceedingly high quality. The first few stories (‘The Musical Vanity Boxes’ and ‘Sometimes in Summer’) feel very quintessentially Berlin. You could easily show someone these two stories to try and sum up Berlin’s style and they really shine for that reason. However I do feel as you get further into the book, the stories in the middle do feel a little like filler. There are plenty that aren’t bad at all, but there are also plenty that just failed to grab me. By much later in the volume, the collection definitely comes back around again and finishes on a high note. Stories such as ‘The Wives’ and ‘Our Brother’s Keeper’ are unforgettable and are truly Berlin at her shining best.
This is definitely not the book I would give someone to start with having never read anything by Lucia Berlin, but if you’ve already read ‘A Manual For Cleaning Women’ and you’re sane and therefore you crave more of her work, there is definitely a lot to be said for this collection. It is more flawless prose, more gritty characters in beautiful settings and more complex emotions expertly intuited into the mundane. It is perfect for those who can’t get enough of Berlin’s genuinely special brand of literature.