An autobiography that makes mundane farming fascinating.
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I picked up this book thinking it was a novel, but not being too disturbed to find it was an autobiography (hey, I'm adaptable). Then I discovered it was a remarkably ordinary life being documented in a remarkable interesting manner. Betty MacDonald writes in a very amusing and also vivid style - I could see in my mind's eye the chicken ranch she ran with her husband, and also her crazy neighbours. Her eccentric family get an airing too - I particularly like the grandmother who always wrote letters to her addressed "Child Bride". But then it struck me - she was indeed married and working and raising a baby before she was 20, which does seem a great responsibility to me!
She also was responsible for the creation of Ma and Pa Kettle. (Well, they existed anyway, without her help, but she brought them to national attention and into popular speech!)
This is also an excellent book simply because it documents a way of life that really isn't so different from a lot of small farms now - lots of back breaking work for fairly small rewards, and a lot of the farm animals seem to have a life's ambition to just drop dead for no obvious reason (her conclusion of "suicide" for chickens on the official farm records did not please her husband!). Their methods would be described now as free-range, which was later replaced by intensive ("battery") farming, now being replaced yet again by free-range. Also, she talks about the birth of her daughter and raising a baby in fairly isolated conditions - and her "progressive" method in (what I assume) was 1930s America became the norm by the 1950s, replacing the ways of her neighbours (who constantly had their babies with them, breast fed them on demand, and so on, much like the most common methods now). I just found it interesting to see how things don't really change, just go in cycles!
Inanimate objects become personalities in their own right, such as Stove. And living with a wood burning stove myself, I can truly appreciate her arguments with him.
Sections of this book are politically incorrect by today's standards - she writes extensively about the local Native American population - but it is still fascinating to see how they lived and also HER OWN opinions on them, rather than a cleaned up view.
This is an author who deserves to be read - not just for being a great read, but also for historical and social interest.
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Hilarious Chicken Farm Saga
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This book was a hilarious page turner and every chapter was a delight to read. Betty MacDonald's descriptive talents are superlative and had me feeling as if I were there with her, rather than just reading about her adventures. I particularly enjoyed the episode in which she tells of her difficulties in getting hold of books to read, and of how her neighbours were of the opinion that 'reading was a sign of laziness, boastfulness and general degradation'! This was a fascinating read of farm life in the early 1900s, and Betty would certainly give Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall pause for thought.
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Highly recommended
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I laughed out loud in every chapter - what a life! I marvelled at Betty's resourcefulness and was amazed at her courage in the face of general adversity and particularly chickens. This book is a fascinating social snapshot of a time and location that seems totally foreign to the here-and-now.
She is completely frank about her own incompetence without it becoming a liability, her account is a hilarious romp through her own trials and tribulations - courage, fortitude and good humour - a great mix!
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very funny book on unfunny topic
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thankfully tb clinics no longer exist - but this book is still fascinating set before and during ww2 it is a very droll account of the author's stay in a tb clinic. Love for Lydia this isn't it Betty is v funny and is not shy about sharing the extremely dry humour of her Japanese room mate.
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One of my all time favourite books
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I love Betty Macdonald's style of writing. I love her colourful language and vivid descriptions. I feel like I know Ma and Pa Kettle as well as my own neighbours. Read this book. I guarantee you an hilarious time.
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