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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
One of my favorite books of all time. My dad read it to me as a child and it had a huge impact on the way I think about life. Also, it's so funny, I can hardly stand it.
If the authors are alive, or their kin, bravo. I finished the book and burst into tears. Wonderful uplifting loving tribute to a unique family. My admiration to Mother!!
HOLY LASAGNA OF TOXIC MASCULINITY RUN THROUGH WITH MELTY LAYERS OF NOT JUST THE USUAL SEXIST PATRIARCHAL BULLSHIT BUT ALSO HORRIFIC RACISM OF ALL TYPES. Yiiiiiiiiiiiii(infinity)kes.
Listen, a lot of these stories and details were very cute, but they’re hard to enjoy because the main character is a grade-A asshole from top to bottom. I felt pretty bad for his wife for most of the book, right up until SHE TOO PARTICIPATED IN A LITERAL MINSTREL SHOW FOR HER CHILDREN, and then it was over for her too. Send them all away!
I highlighted a lot of passages and turns of phrases specifically so I could be like, “Can you believe this?!” later, but I just don’t have the heart to repeat them. Gross gross gross, and the fault lies not just with the awful father (is he the most egocentric person ever? maybe!) but also the children who wrote this all down as just a quirky family tale radiating out from their rascally old dad without wondering whether they should leave out all the slurs and overt sexism and THE MINSTREL SHOW COMPLETE WITH THE EXACT KIND IF DIALOGUE YOU’D IMAGINE FOR A MINSTREL SHOW. Bring me my salts!
(Also, there weren’t even ever twelve kids in total (false advertising!), as one daughter DIED when there were only five or six kids, BUT DAD FORBADE ANYONE FROM TALKING ABOUT IT RIP POOR FORGOTTEN MARY.)
Listen, a lot of these stories and details were very cute, but they’re hard to enjoy because the main character is a grade-A asshole from top to bottom. I felt pretty bad for his wife for most of the book, right up until SHE TOO PARTICIPATED IN A LITERAL MINSTREL SHOW FOR HER CHILDREN, and then it was over for her too. Send them all away!
I highlighted a lot of passages and turns of phrases specifically so I could be like, “Can you believe this?!” later, but I just don’t have the heart to repeat them. Gross gross gross, and the fault lies not just with the awful father (is he the most egocentric person ever? maybe!) but also the children who wrote this all down as just a quirky family tale radiating out from their rascally old dad without wondering whether they should leave out all the slurs and overt sexism and THE MINSTREL SHOW COMPLETE WITH THE EXACT KIND IF DIALOGUE YOU’D IMAGINE FOR A MINSTREL SHOW. Bring me my salts!
(Also, there weren’t even ever twelve kids in total (false advertising!), as one daughter DIED when there were only five or six kids, BUT DAD FORBADE ANYONE FROM TALKING ABOUT IT RIP POOR FORGOTTEN MARY.)
I didn’t realize this was a true story! Cute little story about a real big family!
A perfectly fine palate cleansing book. Mostly a series of chronological semi-biographical anecdotes from two siblings who grew up in a family of fourteen at the dawn of the 20th century. Decently entertaining, but was originally published in 1948 and there are some elements that are a little problematic.
Loved it! All I know of the book was what I saw in the modern adaption movie that is nothing like the book. I really really enjoyed the book !
This book is going on my favorites list. A candid classic about life in a (very) big family in the early twentieth century, and a tribute to great (and colorful) parents.