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Lucia Berlin Books

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“The bus is late. Cars drive by. Rich people n cars never look at people on the street, at all. Poor ones always do ... in fact it sometimes seems they're just driving around, looking at people on the street. I've done that. Poor people wait a lot. Welfare, unemployment lines, laundromats, phone booths, emergency rooms, jails, etc.”

WaitingWealthPovertyObservationPoor PeopleRich PeopleWealthy People
Book:A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories
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“Angel is responsible for all the AA prayers and mottoes. DON’T THINK AND DON’T DRINK. Angel put a cold wet one-sock on Tony’s head and knelt beside him. “Brother, believe me … I’ve been there … right down there in the gutter where you are. I know just how you feel.” Tony didn’t open his eyes. Anybody says he knows just how someone else feels is a fool.”

FeelingsUnderstandingEmpathyAaAlcoholics Anoymous
Book:A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories
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“By late afternoon I'm ready to strangle Riva Chirenko's daughter. I don't know her name. Nobody calls her Mrs. Tomanovich. She's Mr. Tomanovich's wife. Riva's daughter. Irena Tomanovich's mother. She's what's wrong with all of us women, that schleppe from the steppe. But at other times it is this same woman, Riva Chirenko's daughter, that I respect, revere. If I could only accept as she has done, just accept. Acceptance is faith, Henry Miller said. I could strangle him too.”

FamilyAcceptanceWomanhoodHenry Miller
Book:Evening in Paradise: More Stories
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“Sally wasn't crying about their dead mother or her cancer. She was crying because her husband, Alfonso, had left her after twenty years for a young woman. It seemed a brutal thing to do, just after her mastectomy. She was devastated, but no, she wouldn't ever divorce him, even though the woman was pregnant and he wanted to marry her. "They can just wait until I die. I'll be dead soon, probably next year..." Sally wept but the ocean drowned out the sound.”

LovelessDivorce QuotesLover RevealedHijo De Puta Hay Que Decirlo Más
Book:A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories
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“Las de los gitanos son muertes buenas. O a mí me lo parecen, aunque las enfermeras no opinen lo mismo, ni tampoco los celadores. Siempre llegan en manada, y exigen estar con la persona moribunda, besarla y abrazarla, desenchufan y estropean los televisores y los monitores y los demás aparatos. Lo mejor de las muertes de los gitanos es que nunca hacen callar a sus niños. Los adultos aúllan y lloran y gimen, pero los niños siguen correteando por ahí, juegan y ríen sin que nadie les diga que deben estar tristes o ser respetuosos.”

MuerteHospitalGitanos
Author:Lucia Berlin
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“Useimmat mainarit olivat suomalaisia, ja töistä tultuaan he menivät suihkuun ja saunaan. Saunan edessä oli puinen karsina, ja talvella he juoksivat ulos ja kieriskelivät lumessa. Ensin me tirkistelimme aidanraosta ja hihittelimme miesten sinisiä kaluja ja palleja, mutta sitten me nauroimme ääneen niin kuin hekin, silkasta riemusta, kun oli lunta ja sininen, sininen taivas.”

SaunaLumiSuomalaisetYhdysvallatMainaritRiemuSaunominenTalvi
Book:Siivoojan käsikirja ja muita kertomuksia
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