Death Cleaning and Other Units of Measure - Nancy Burke - ★★★.½

AUTHOR: Nancy Burke

GENRE: Short Story Collection.

PUBLICATION DATE: May 7, 2024

RATING: 3.4 stars.

In a Nutshell: A short story collection set around various “units of measure” that we use in our life. Loved the concept. Liked the stories. But something felt missing. Still recommended, as the variety of the stories in terms of plot and genre is great.

The author’s note at the start of this short story collection clearly explains the intriguing theme underlying the seventeen stories herein. (Well, sixteen stories and a novella.) Her definition of “units of measure”, as mentioned in the title, does not refer to the mathematical or scientific standards of measurement but to the way we measure everything in our lives. Whether generic choices or professional decisions or personal commitments or long-term goals, whether our behaviour with others or our treatment of ourselves, there is always some evaluation involved, consciously or subconsciously. And these are the “units” explored in this collection.

The theme is very compelling. I’ve never looked at life choices as having units of measure, but it makes so much sense! These units might be taught or instinctive, but they are still applicable to every human on the planet. What we get in the collection is thus a set of characters battling very real issues, many of which might also be what we have faced in our lives or know someone who has gone through the same. We get an interesting peek into human behaviour, but not necessarily of the kind typically seen in fiction. The decisions in these stories are often complex, involving greater contemplation and riskier outcomes.

The execution of the above intent though was a slightly mixed bag to me, though I am not exactly sure why. I love short stories, I enjoy character-oriented fiction, and I relish thought-provoking content. All of these are applicable to this collection. But somehow, there was nothing that gripped me. I could easily keep the book aside and never felt tempted to read “just one more”, which often happens when I read a good anthology/collection. The stories weren’t bad; they just didn’t reach the ‘fabulous’ mark for me.

That said, I loved the variety of the genres and characters, Some of the narrators are just kids while others are senior women. But they are captured equally well. Many characters go through a life-changing experience, and their responses – based on their personal units of measurement – lead to a range of emotions being captured in these pages. The writing is quite descriptive, so the stories are slightly longer.

The initial three stories feature the same set of characters at different stages in their lives, and these were quite good, lending an episodic sort of feel to the start of the book. The same characters then popped up in one story towards the end of the book. As I usually read only 1-2 stories a day when I read such books, I forgot all the “who was who” and hence the final story about these characters didn’t work for me at all. I wish these four stories had been positioned together.

The endings of the stories are suitable to the plots. Many of these stories are slice of life in style, so the endings are not typical HEA finales, but they also don’t leave us hanging.

One of the stories has horrifying animal cruelty. I had to zoom over those parts because I simply didn’t expect such disturbing content. Animal lovers, beware.

As always, I rated the stories individually. Most of the stories were good but stopped just short of being great for me. About half of the stories thus earned exactly 3.5 stars from me. These were the exceptions that surpassed that score:

✤ The Fissure: How a scraped knee leads to a life-changing realisation and decision. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

✤ Charade: The only novella in this collection, focussing on three characters who've played various charades with each other, and how all comes tumbling out one day. A good reflection on the human psyche here. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

✤ Muffled Voices: Two muffled voices, but not exactly in the way you would expect. Loved the way this story went from the typical to the atypical to the right ending. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

✤ Mother of the Bride: Looking at the title, I thought this would be a warm and fuzzy story. Well, it is so, but not the way I imagined. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

All in all, I did like the stories, and I do appreciate the writing and the characters. But the collection as a whole won’t create a long-lasting impact on my mind.

Recommended to readers who like character-oriented introspective stories about humans and their oddities.

3.4 stars, based on the average of my ratings for the stories.

My thanks to Apprentice House and NetGalley for the DRC of “Death Cleaning and Other Units of Measure: Short Stories”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.