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The Egg and I | 
 enlarge | Author: Betty Macdonald
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $13.67
You Save: $0.28 (2%)
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Rating:  68 reviews
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 0060914289
Dewey Decimal Number: 979.7
EAN: 9780060914288
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Product Description
When Betty MacDonald married a marine and moved to a small chicken farm on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, she was largely unprepared for the rigors of life in the wild. With no running water, no electricity, a house in need of constant repair, and days that ran from four in the morning to nine at night, the MacDonalds had barely a moment to put their feet up and relax. And then came the children. Yet through every trial and pitfall—through chaos and catastrophe—this indomitable family somehow, mercifully, never lost its sense of humor. A beloved literary treasure for more than half a century, Betty MacDonald's The Egg and I is a heartwarming and uproarious account of adventure and survival on an American frontier.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 63 more reviews...
 Starts funny, but quickly becomes uncomfortable. September 27, 2008
I don't know if people reading the book when it was first published knew the full story, but having read the introduction by Betty's daughter gave the book a different feel. Betty's first husband was an alcoholic and abusive. She left the marraige after 4 years. She never directly discusses these issues, but her unhappiness comes through in her observation about those around her. When her idealized view of what she imagined country life to be doesn't materialize she becomes bitter. I wondered if the people she knew read the book and were surprised at what Betty really thought of them. She obviously feels herself superior to all the local women since she is interested in reading more than doing handwork such as quilting and embroidery. Her descriptions of the people she meets are humerous until you realize that she is critical of every person she comes in contact with and she generalizes her low opinions to all members of the group. Mrs Kettle is fat and lazy and sloppy and Mrs Hicks is too prim and clean and efficient, so all of the local women are either stupid and lazy or obsessed with housework and drudgery. She meets a few Native Americans who drink too much, so all Native Americans are dirty alcoholics. No one ever meets with her approval and as the book goes on you feel that her humerous observations have become relentless mockery. Even when people are showing her kindness and generosity she can only find fault and mock them. I keep waiting for her to find the good in these people and find some kind of joy in her situation, but it doesn't happen. It may be the result of being isolated and coming to the realization that she had married too young to a man she really didn't know, apparently out of fear that no one would ever marry her which was a great concern for a teenager in the 1930's. She was out on a ranch in the mountains of Washington State with no electricity, no running water, no other comforts and expected to do the manual labor that women were expected to do. She hates chickens, which is not good for an egg rancher, hates canning, hates Nature, hates everything. The descriptions of the local scenery is vivid and stunning, but even then she feels intimidated and threatened by the mountains that surround her. Fortunately she had the courage to leave and find a life more suitable for her and her children and happiness in another marriage, but this book is the work of an unhappy woman who cannot take joy in anything around her.
 Wake the house up howling with laughter August 1, 2008
When I stumbled across this one on vacation, I didn't know a thing about the book. I didn't know this author wrote Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle -- I needed a book one night and I had a very early edition. I would have been even more interested, if I had known.
So, going in blind, I was blown away by how funny this book is. She's just funny. Her life for those first two years of marriage must have been dismal, but she tells them funny. Most women aren't such good sports about unmet expectations. Like Erma Bombeck did later, she throws in a lot of grumping dialog, which adds to the joy of her style.
If you are horrified -- horrified! -- by reading fiction that makes no allowances for your racial sensibilities, then bypass this one, because she had some odd encounters with Indians and she's *not* a fan of Pacific Northwest Native American culture. (putting it mildly) Personally, I would recommend you read those sections, give her a quick raspberry, and move on -- sort of like watching old "I Love Lucy" episodes.
I found the book authentic, interesting, and funny. I kept rooting for the baby in the book, who seemed to be left alone for long stretches while wood-gathering, water-carrying, hen-tending, and other ranch chores went on. Of course, I just got back from vacation with someone whose mother *tied him to the porch* while she did chores -- it wasn't easy being a baby in the bad old days.
Crack this "Egg"--politically correct tight-asses be damned... July 20, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Egg and I is a funny, well-written, and entertaining memoir by a very intelligent, perceptive, and candid woman. "Ma and Pa Kettle" are names which still float around the pop culture ether, and this is the book that introduced them to the world...and the reason why I initially decided to read it.
MacDonald is a very talented writer, with an uncommon gift for description and evocation, but not a genius. The book is a bit choppy, anachronistic, and abrupt in places, and the segues between vignettes could have been handled more organically. And while she has a definite facility with words, some of her sentences are oddly and conspicuously dissonant.
Technically, however, you'll have no trouble digesting this morsel. But you MAY have some difficulty with MacDonald's strong and uncensored opinions, which she gives freely and does not shy away from.
WAIT! Doesn't the zeitgeist CHAMPION strong, articulate, self-assured female authors with their own points of view?
Evidently not, when what they say goes against the grain of modern "enlightened" values. Not when they are politically incorrect. MacDonald, for example, does not care for Indians. FOR SHAME! My God, how DARE she write that she does not like Indians! She mustn't say THAT...even if that is exactly what she thinks, and she thinks that based on the fact that she was CONSTANTLY exposed to them, and saw first-hand their habits, culture, and way of life.
I appreciate her honesty, myself. If tight-asses today have a problem with her, and will, consequently, not read her book, their loss. There's always a bagatelle by Kate Chopin (or Dave Eggers) available for those people.
I would not hesitate for a SECOND to recommend this book, and think it would be great for young girls to read, as they could perhaps identify strongly with MacDonald herself, whereas I just enjoyed the quality of the writing, the depiction of the Kettles, and the one huge laugh that occurs about midway through the book. (You'll know it when you come across it.)
 I Was Shocked! May 22, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
I was so disappointed after reading the first page of this book on
the amazon website. I couldn't believe my eyes. This is the same author who wrote all those Mrs. Pigglewiggle books I loved while I was growing up? Did I ever actually read "The Egg and I"? I'm thinking not. I don't think I could have then and I don't think I could now. MacDonald's bigotry toward Native Americans right from page one made me catch my breath! I stopped reading immediately. What an unpleasant jolt!
 Wonderful March 16, 2008
What can you say about a book like this that hasn't already been said! I just love it - having read it firstly many years ago. This is life at its hardest, a struggle to make ends meet in difficult circumstances and a story of bravery and optimism that inspires and reassures us even today when we have things so much better. You can never quite look at an egg again without thinking of Betty MacDonnald.
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