Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson

I loved Shirley's telling of how she learned to drive, of how she walked into the house she would learn to love in Vermont with the great columns that no one else wanted because it was too old, of her adventures trying to take her imaginative children shopping, of her trying to deal with her hunting cats. There is no horror in it unless you are horrified when she robs her child's piggy bank to pay the furnace man in pennies. I say unexpected because the writer is Shirley Jackson - yes 'The Lottery' Shirley Jackson, 'We Have Always Lived In the Castle' Shirley Jackson - but this book is uproariously funny, with a preoccupied professor husband who chases bats through the living room with his rifle, a daughter who 'magics' the refrigerator door to unstick it, a son who comes home every day telling stories of a non-existant classmate, and a fairy child, Sally. It was originally published in multiple short story form by one of the great short story writers of America. This book has become a cult classic, in the Erma Bombeck mold, by one of the very greatest of writers.

I enjoyed it from the 'savage child' part, not the harried mother, but it was just as funny then as it is now. I am a Bombeck fan, and I think it's safe to say that if you are a Bombeck fan as well you can't go wrong with this book-although I don't know if Bombeck had read this book-it seems as if it was influential.īelieve it or not, I first read this in 5th grade from my Weekly Reader Book Selection. If you're looking for creepy, ironic stories, this isn't one of those-but this is excellent light reading fair for someone who wants to relax and listen to a good book. Although a series of anecdotes, the book reads likes a novel and is linear-unlike more contemporary writers like David Sedaris-and I liked that a great deal about it. I loved this book and highly recommend it for someone who wants something funny and yet touching. This is a humorous and yet compelling book about the ups and downs of being a housewife (while she was still working a s a writer) and the bitter-sweet transformation of children into adulthood.

I think it's safe to say that she pioneered the satirical housewife memoir genre of literature.

Known primarily for her chilling short story, 'The Lottery' and her novel The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson wrote a lot of other things. Before Erma Bombeck There Was Shirley Jackson

Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson