emma's Reviews > So Long: Stories 1987-1992

In August, I read my first Lucia Berlin story, after picking up her posthumous and by far bestselling collection in an airport bookstore in an act of desperation.

(Typically a trip to a bookstore, even a terminal kiosk-sized one, is an hours-long affair for me, and anything shorter than that is a frantic, panicky spur of the moment decision in comparison.)

When I started it on the plane, I immediately pulled out a notebook and a pen, because I knew I'd want to take notes on every story. It was that good.

I made myself go as slowly as possible, which turned out to be less than a week, even though I was doing a project at the time that should've required it to take a day for every story. (Which would have been a month and a half.)

It was just too good.

After finishing, I bought a copy of every single Lucia Berlin collection I could find, which are varying levels of hard to track down, and had read all of them by the end of the year.

It's so sad to be done.

Coincidentally, this one, with its adieu-bidding title, was my last. By the time I got to it, there were just 4 stories I hadn't read yet, but all of them were good.

Is there any goodbye more painful than one to a favorite author?

Bottom line: So long, Lucia. Thanks for all of it.

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pre-review

there were only four stories in this whole book i hadn't read yet, but they were good ones.

review to come / 4 stars

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currently-reading updates

apt title for my last lucia berlin book :(

clear ur sh*t book 59
no quest, just seeing how many more i can finish