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shae_purcell's review
2.0
I'd seen so many good reviews of this one seemingly all at once that I thought I must add it to my list. So I found myself listening to Shirley Jackson's account of her family's life in Vermont during the 1940s. This is the first of her books I've read, and I did love her conversational writing style. The content, however, was unrelatable to me. I have no children, no dogs, no incidental husband or house in Vermont. I do have cats. I enjoyed the bits about her cats. I can certainly see the appeal for others. I likely would have enjoyed it more if my life had perhaps gone a different way. Or if I'd been born several decades earlier. That said, thank the gods her tuna casserole parked itself in the '40s and stayed there. May the recipe be lost to us in perpetuity.
kingarooski's review against another edition
3.0
This was a lovely collection of recollections about the time Shirley Jackson, her husband and their two children moved to rural Vermont. Marvellous recollections of life in the 50s (when the author goes to the hospital, the receptionists refuses to put down her occupation as a writer and instead insists on writing "housewife") and life in the countryside. 3.5 stars.
lacyk_reads's review
Not a book for me. I liked Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle, but this is quite different. I didn't find it funny or lighthearted, as so many other have. I found it to be annoying, and I just didn't care enough to continue. I hate to give up. But there are other books out there that need to be read.
juliasilge's review
5.0
I just loved this memoir of a mother presiding over a chaotic household of (eventually) 4 children in Vermont in the 40s? or 50s? Somewhere around then. The mother in question is [a:Shirley Jackson|13388|Shirley Jackson|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1196262589p2/13388.jpg], otherwise known for writing psychological horror, which makes this wry, funny, sweet book even more interesting and puzzling, I think. She captures so much of what it is like to live life with children, these wild, strange, amazing creatures who are so unlike adults.
stevenyenzer's review
4.0
Shirley Jackson is such a brilliant writer. These light essays are so well crafted and funny.
cathyatratedreads's review
5.0
Hilarious! She writes with such aplomb about raising her kids. There are some absolutely perfect sections. One, called "Charles," I read in the form of a short story in a reading book in school, and it was just hilarious. And then she writes about one crazy night when the whole family was sick and ended up all switching sleeping places throughout the night, dragging along their blankets, drinks, etc. and then lost one blanket by the morning. It's just great.