You will laugh, weep and roll your eyes at these unreliable characters, among them a man in love with the voice of his GPS, a teenage couple hiding flaws as they discover love, and a young wife inspired by a dead seagull to do what she needs to do. These stories deal with the vulnerability of well-intentioned people and the ephemeral ‘units of measure’ that are part of how we see the world. The personal touches on the universal with Burke’s seemingly ordinary characters; they have much to show us about our own foibles and about how we live every day in that space between the ideal and the real.
We’ve heard of Swedish Death Cleaning. With a bit of fatalistic humor, we purchase books on how to do this, and discover why it is so freeing. In the title story of this new collection, “Death Cleaning,” a recently retired man is cleaning out, but not his closets. Instead he faces memories, mistakes, regrets, and selfish ways in a spiritual cleaning after he finds himself locked out of his house in his bathrobe one snowy January morning.
In the “Other Units of Measure” a man is in love with the voice of his GPS, a teenage couple hides their flaws as they discover love, and a young wife is inspired by a dead seagull to do what she needs to do. All contend with the virtual yardsticks inside that drive their judgment of others and themselves, creating hierarchies of value that can be randomly and unjustly applied in life’s circumstances. These stories suggest we reconsider some of our own.
Nancy Burke is the author of Only the Women are Burning (2020), If I Could Paint the Moon Black (2014), From the Abuelas’ Window (2005) and a new short story collection, Death Cleaning and Other Units of Measure (2024). She holds an MFA in Fiction (Dramatic Writing concentration) from Rutgers’ University, Newark and a BA in Anthropology from Montclair State University. Her short stories have appeared in Pilgrim: A Journal of Catholic Experience, Meat for Tea: The Valley Review. At the Pool was a finalist for the J.F. Powers Award for Short Fiction at Dappled Things Literary Journal.
She teaches writing at Montclair State University and New Jersey Institute of Technology and lives in Little Falls, NJ.
Interview/ Review: with Nancy Burke in Women in Wisdom
Prompt: Start by describing a new technology that excites you but you don’t quite understand. Imagine this technology in 10 year’s time.
Now write a list of 5 frustrations in your week. Imagine this technology solving one of these. Allow yourself to play and free write for 7 minutes.