A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories

Empecé a leerlo por la curiosidad que me produjo el podcast "Grandes Infelices" de Javier Peña sobre su autora y que se puede escuchar aquí: www.ivoox.com/en/19-lucia-berlin-grandes-infelices-luces-y-audios-mp3_rf_125699645_1.html El libro no me dejó indiferente. En el relata alguna historia muy dura sobre alcoholismo y drogadicción, pero también historias felices como la de la inmersión de submarinismo en la aguas de México. El libro se publicó después de la muerte de su autora, y creo que es bastante autobiográfico. Supongo que su autora no se hubiera atrevido a desnudarse --como lo hace en este libro-- en vida. Me gustó mucho. Es un libro muy duro pero muy bueno.

 The truth? I was worried that this collection of [a:Lucia Berlin|157697|Lucia Berlin|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1463323021p2/157697.jpg]'s short stories was going to be a rant about the well-to-do by an oppressed minority—a biography of a housekeeper from the Philippines who works in Beverly Hills, say. That kind of writing has its place and value, but in my case reading it is a been there, done that proposition.
 These stories have great depth and variety and are so brilliant that I'm ashamed never to have heard of Berlin (1936–2004) before reading them. They are deep and at times disturbing, but only in a way that makes you want to read more of them. Some critics compare her to Raymond Carver, but I agree more with those who emphasize that Berlin was entirely her own.
 If you are the kind of reader who prefers novels to short stories, this would be a good book for you. The order they're presented in make them nearly a memoir.

My favorite author is Raymond Carver, so I was probably predisposed to love this collection of short stories that were written over the course of Lucia Berlin's life. Read it just for the last story, "Homing."