Life Without George

by Irene Kampen

A feminine audit of a life without a man provides an intimate to degage rundown of its pleasures (neglecting the dishes; putting on blue nailpolish; reading old Kathleen Norris novels) as against the difficulties (the blown fuse; stalled car; and-obviously- the check book). It also provides some scattered vignettes of two not always gay divorcees and their householding in Connecticut (near Danbury) with a child apiece and two Siamese cats. There are the occasional men who prefer to settle in for a comfortable evening rather than take them out; the winters of snow shoveling and commuting; the coping with the encroachment of sumac on the lawn or water in the cellar. On the other hand, there's Harry, and his casual camaraderie; some hostessing at a horse show; and their dedicated participation in the little theatre group and a soggy production of Rain .....A flyaway and pleasantly pert entertainment.

Genres: Fiction

191 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1961

Reviews

[Nicolas]

I'm a fan of The Lucy Show so it was fun to see plots and characters that were derived from this book. On its own it is a fun and clever series of essays. I preferred the sequel, Europe Without George, but this is definitely worth the read.

[Sarah]

Piqued my interest after seeing it credited on The Lucy Show. Adventures of 2 divorcees and their children who live together in an old home in Connecticut. The author reminds me of Erma Bombeck. Much would be lost on younger generations (changing a fuse, etc.). I went back and forth trying to decide if I thought the book reminded me at all of the characters in The Lucy Show.

[Brigitte]

Laugh out loud funny, lively and witty! Easy to see how it could have been an inspiration for "The Lucy Show". I also felt it had some of Erma Bombeck's charm. It wasn't easy to find this out of print gem as a book but it's available online at archive.org. It's a fast, fun read!