Life with Father

by Clarence Day Jr.

When the delicious comic tales that make up Life with Father first appeared in the early 1930s, they played a large hand in keeping afloat a fledgling magazine called The New Yorker. Clarence Day's reminiscences of growing up in a turn-of-the-century New York household which keeps wriggling out from under the thumb of a blustering Wall Street paterfamilias are classics of American humor, lively and nostalgic sketches that still manage to evoke the enduring comedy of family life. Father's explosive encounters with horse and cook, servants and shopkeepers, wife and children—to say nothing of his vigorous pursuit of ice!—retain their hilarious appeal in no small part because the younger Day never seems put out by the older man's actions, never describes him with less than affectionate amusement. As a result, Life with Father remains as a contemporary critic described it: "A delightful book alive with energy and collisions and the running water of happiness."

A bestseller when it was first published in 1935, Life with Father was the inspiration for one of the longest-running hits in Broadway history and was later adapted successfully for both film and television.

Clarence Day was born in 1874. After graduation from Yale, he followed his father to Wall Street, but his business career was cut short by illness. Turning to writing and drawing, he became an early contributor to The New Yorker and authored several books, the most famous of which was Life with Father. Day died in December 1935, just a few months after Life with Father was published. Life with Mother appeared posthumously.

"A delightful book alive with energy and collisions and the running water of happiness."
—The New Republic

"One of the most chuckling books of our time."
—The Atlantic

"The only reason for reading Life with Father is the fun of it."
—New York Times

"Such a rich and rounded character as Father has not appeared in literature for many a year. A novelist would be ranked as a genius for inventing him; Clarence Day didn't need to."
Books

"It won't be so much fun reading Life with Father unless you have someone at hand to whom you can read snatches whenever enjoyment becomes too great to be self-contained any longer."
—Boston Transcript

Genres: Humor, Classics, Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir, History, Biography Memoir

168 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1935

About the author

American humorist and essayist Clarence Shepard Day, Junior

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarenc...

Reviews

[Diane Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do not recommend this book to anyone who can't read with an open mind regarding acceptable prejudices and ideas of the past. Father was a bombastic tyrant, a snob, and a man who believed that only his way was the right way. However, he was put in his place more than once by his wife, Vinnie, who practiced manipulation as a fine art. That is where the gentle humor in this book arises. If you can read this as a view into a wealthy New York household around the turn of the last century, you will smile often. I will have to share one quote:

"The President, said Father, is a nincompoop, and I strongly suspect he's a scalawag, and I wish to God you wouldn't talk on matters you don't know a damned thing about".

Father was referring to Benjamin Harrison.

Some things never change.

Nincompoop is my new favorite word.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always read with sick fascination those [true] stories of eccentric, overbearing fathers (The Mitford's Farve, Cheaper by the Dozen's Mr. Gilbreth). Clarence Day Sr. fits very well on that list, no question. Reading those books with "those fathers" always makes me thankful that my father is not so overwhelmingly obsessed with things being just so.

The main reason I read this is because I like the movie. While the book was just as amusing, it did lack one thing: William Powell. (Does this complaint sound familiar? That's because it's the same one I used after reading The Thin Man! I guess you could say I have a thing for him, yes. Strange, really since I don't tend to like mustached men. And actually, Life With Father was the movie that introduced me to him!)

[Scott Head · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mister Clarence Day, who pinches pennies and loves his frustrating dear wife Vinnie, is the father of four red-headed sons, one of whom was sure they were going to put Father into Hell because he hadn’t been baptized. He’s a rollicking rowdy man of many colorful quirks, explosive fits and bull-headed convictions. He doesn't do well with horses. And he hasn’t got time for incompetence in housemaids or appliance salesmen who can't deliver the goods. He informs his son that those poor sods in the cheap high-rise apartments by the train tracks are miserable and lazy, though his Day Jr. secretly admires them. Mr. Day believes that the church hasn’t got any business meddling in a man’s spiritual life and that once he gets to heaven, with his wife’s assistance, he’ll set them straight on running a tight ship. And he’ll organize a baseball team. This outlandishly humorous character is based in Clarence Day Junior’s real life father, and he’s written a series of books that are so funny we can’t read them out loud on family car trips for fear of us all dying in a blazing wreck due to laughter. Day is a humorous character, though lost as a turned-around goose, spiritually speaking. And if you want a preview that is, actually, quite faithful to the books, get hold of the delightful film "Life with Father," its a good one, and family-friendly.

Many readers struggle with Day's "overbearing fathering" or his patriarchal manners with his wife. Some strike down the book's value and humor because society isn't like that anymore. But this is short sighted and fails to read fiction in context. To get the most of any work, we must work to read with a consideration of its times, lest we become like those "arrogant moderns" so laughably myopic in their loftiness (Check out "Arrogance of the Modern" by David Hall). This is a rollicking good read, one sure to evoke belly laughs. And there are sequels!

[g026r · Rating 1 out of 5]

Humour, no matter how understated, often has a tendency to age poorly. Life with Father is a good case in point, in that the stubborn but lovable central character no longer seems quite so lovable 75 years later, and the humorous anecdotes now seem more like living under the tyrannical decrees of a spoiled and petulant man-child.

There were still flashes of humour and it remains an (albeit exaggerated) window into a bygone age, no doubt, but even the normally sublime and sedated New Yorker style can not stop the march of time and changing mores.

[Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed all the stories from early 1900's. It gave me a different point of view about new devices such as the telephone. Life was so much different back then. Even something as simple as ice was a big deal back then. We are so spoiled now. I took my time reading this book and spent some time just thinking if I lived back then. The book really opened my eyes.

[Whistler's Mom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Putting a happy face on life in an uneasy family.

I read this book several years ago and reread it today with the same mixed emotions. In many ways, it's a charming, enjoyable look at a middle-class family in the 1890's. I was fascinated to read about "Father's" prosperous stock-brokerage where the typewriter is the latest technology and viewed with same suspicion I have for anything new that comes along. Most letters were written by hand and there was a machine to make copies of them. No carbon paper for these men.

The home life of the Day family is equally interesting. Clarence Day, Sr. was a successful man from a family of successful men. His father, uncles, and brothers were stalwarts in the fields of publishing (books and newspaper) but Clarence became a stock-broker. There was a large house on Madison Avenue and the family spent summers at rented houses in the country. There were cooks, maids, nannies, and chauffeurs. Sounds luxurious, doesn't it? Keep reading.

In a house big enough for master and mistress to have separate bedrooms (the norm at that time) and to house four sons and a number of servants and a guestroom, there was ONE bathroom. There were chamber pots, I'm sure, and servants to empty them, but it would still be a shock to a modern American who was whisked back to New York City in 1890. Electricity was still new and viewed with trepidation and it was years after the telephone was invented that the Days were finally persuaded to have one installed. Times were different.

So were marriages and the despotic nature of the author's father (presented in a humorous light in this book) was not uncommon at the time, although it seems barbarous to us today. Day, Jr. says it was a noisy house with plenty of fights and yelling. He was so used to it that quieter houses seemed boring to him and he wasn't impressed with his friends' parents who treated each other with respectful courtesy. He just wondered what they did for entertainment.

He insists that his mother was a spirited woman who gave as good as she got, but (as a woman) I shudder to think of the burden she carried and can understand her frequent retreats to her bed with "sick headaches." Housekeeping then (even with servants) was primitive and very much a full-time job. Hard enough without constantly dealing with her husband's temper tantrums and sulky fits.

In reality, it's not a book about a father, but about a marriage. Those familiar with the author's early stories and essays say that he was "fascinated by the changing role of men and women" in the early 20th century. He certainly sympathized with his mother's financial dependence on her unreasonable husband and how unfair it was for her to have to beg and argue for even small sums of money.

Shrewdly, he realized that his mother's demand to hold onto a sum of money instead of turning it over to her husband (as HE demanded) marked a change in the balance of power in the marriage. While Mrs. Day seems submissive by our standards, she raised at least one son who didn't follow his father's pattern. Day, Jr. was an early, vocal proponent for the rights of women to vote, own property, etc. What his father said to THAT was probably not printable!

While some of the stories are amusing, I don't admire "Father" and I'm astonished when his son describes him as "thoroughly good-natured." Nothing in the book supports that claim. The author quotes a psychiatrist to show that his father's intense dislike of everyone who wasn't exactly like himself was mentally healthy (in contrast to his own more tolerant personality.) In 1935, Freudian theories ruled and Sigmund himself probably would have approved of Day, Sr's self-absorbed, bombastic personality. Not to mention his cigars.

You can say that it's unfair to criticize him because he was a creature of his time, but was he? When he became ill, his older brother (a successful publisher) ran the brokerage until Clarence, Sr. was back on his feet. It's obvious that the older brother disliked his obnoxious younger sibling and only helped out of affection and respect for his sister-in-law and nephews. Maybe not ALL men in the 1890's were arrogant bullies. Maybe some disliked those who were.

While I find "Father" appalling, the author himself is a wonderfully likable man. I can see why he was such a popular figure at the "New Yorker Magazine", even charming the frequently irascible and unreasonable founder/editor Harold Ross. Ross is said to have considered the publication of the stories that later became this book to have been one of the highlights of his publishing career. His own father was a shadowy figure and his mother the dominant parent. Did Ross feel he'd missed out by not having a strong father or did he see himself in the belligerent, demanding, and frequently self-pitying personality of Clarence Day, Sr.? I wonder.

It's a well-written and sometimes very funny book. Not sure what younger folks would make of it, but if you love old books, it's one you shouldn't miss.

[Rob Slaven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having long been a fan of the 1947 movie of the same name, reading this book was long, long overdue for me. While reading along I couldn’t help but imagine the cherished William Powell and Irene Dunne having at each other. It does make me wonder how the story would have struck me without the pretext of the movie to look back on with such strong visuals.

The Clarence Sr. of the movie is tempestuous and cantankerous of nature but fundamentally one is left with a positive impression. The viewer never really doubts that he is a good man at heart but one cannot avoid the conclusion that he would be a royal pain to live with. Perhaps in part this is Powell shining through in the role but no matter how many times Father storms about the house at the end of it all you do still rather like him.

Father of the book is just as blustery and just as much of a tempest in a teacup but it costs one quite a bit more effort to like him. The author himself (Clarence Jr) goes to small and periodic effort to endear the reader to his father but the attempts ring rather hollow like a man whose protagonist is watching over his shoulder as he writes. There seems just an edge of boyhood resentment that is very carefully scraped off in the movie’s portrayal of Father.

It is also of note that while the cinematic version is relatively connected and sequential the book takes no such formalities. It seems to jump rather randomly from episode to episode and one is left asking periodically in what decade the particular tidbit is taking place. As such it makes for a very light read but one that requires the reader to throw away any notion of cause and effect.

The thread that I came away with most solidly from this bit of literature was less about the book and more about the movie which came after. Powell’s Clarence is eerily like the Clarence of the text almost as if the role was made for him specifically. The romantic and nostalgic side of me wants to believe that this is because movies in the 40s were a craft and that viewers would notice and object strongly if their beloved characters of fiction are tinkered with even in the slightest. The fact that the plot itself, if you call a disconnected episodic assortment of remembrances a plot, was only remotely similar seems of little import. In these not-entirely-to-be-believed halcyon days of yore it was character that was important to the viewing public. Today all we want is more and bloodier gun battles between larger and more foul-mouthed devotees of thuggery.

If I allow myself to wax realistic for a moment I admit that doubtless my palate has been so repeatedly whitewashed by the movie version of Clarence that I’m not longer intellectually capable of seeing a Clarence Day Sr without seeing William Powell. Psychology of repetition and ordinality aside, Day’s 1920 novel is high on my recommended reading list.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written as a series of magazine articles during the 1920s that were later collected into this book and published in 1935. The author, Clarence Day, writes about his father, who was a unique character. Each chapter focuses on a quirky event related to or characteristic of his father. The chapter headings are a good reflection of the humorous nature of this book -- "Father Has Trouble with the Land of Egypt"; "Father Interferes with the Twenty-third Psalm"; "Father and the Crusader's Third Wife."

In the chapter about the twenty-third psalm, the author explains how he found himself suddenly speculating about what his father's opinion would be of the twenty-third psalm. He states, "I couldn't imagine Father being comforted by the Lord's rod and staff, or allowing anybody whatever to lead him to a pasture and get him to lie down somewhere in it. I could see him in my mind's eye, in his tailed coat and top hat, refusing point-blank even to enter a pasture."

Readers will have to pardon father's liberal use of the word "damn" and at least one openly racial slur. By today's standards, the racial slur is shocking, but the swearing is quite comic.

Overall, I found the book entertaining. The picture it paints of upper-class New York culture at the turn of the century is fascinating. I've even managed to snag a first edition of this book, so reading it is doubly an experience in time travel.

[Shiloah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a thoroughly enjoyable read. Comedic sketches of life with a temperamental father and mother who knew how to quietly get her way during an age pre-women’s lib. I loved being transported back to the turn-of-the-century before houses all had electricity. Such simpler times. They sure enjoyed their parties and small luxuries.

[Anjanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

2025 Read Your Shelves Challenge #3

Cute. ☺️

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this old yellowing book from a "free book" shelf, because I remember my dad liking the movie of it. The book is similar to Cheaper by the Dozen (which I love), but I don't like how domineering Mr. Day is. I enjoyed reading about daily life over a hundred years ago, including what the children played, what it was like for the family when telephones were first invented, and what it was like to ride the train to the Chicago World's Fair.

[Maleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think if I had been reading this one story at a time weekly, I wouldn't have fallen asleep so much. That said, I didn't dislike the book. The stories were humorous and I laughed out loud a few times. I am sure that I could never have lived with such a husband, but I saw traits in him that remind me of Tyler in odd ways. Certainly he was interesting enough to write a book about.

[Bethany Schultz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quaint and humorous at times, although the kids and I did lose interest partway through. A fun look into real-life wealthy 19th century New York family. I remember seeing the movie when I was a kid, so the book was very nostalgic for me!

[Tirzah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

*I read a 1943 New York Alfred Knopf edition which contained Life with Father, Life with Mother, and God and My Father. I couldn't find that particular edition on Goodreads, so I decided to use this edition and write a review on all 3 books.*

Besides being an entertaining, comical read about a fiery, red-headed family, this book is a great historical piece on late 19th century New York. From how people dressed to the occupations that are all but gone today, I was kept fascinated by the way of living in those days. I encourage modern readers who are predisposed to deem books that don't fit today's standards as "dated," to read it as a historical and accept it as a reflection of the times. But for readers like me who enjoy a travel back to what was - in some ways - saner times and do not offend easily over past ideologies will enjoy several hours of escapism as they live through some of the Day family's hilarious adventures.

I'm not sure what I would have thought of Father's intense character had I not first viewed the 1947 movie, Life with Father. William Powell plays Father while Irene Dunn plays Mother. As another reviewer remarked, it was hard for me not to envision Powell and Dunn as Father and Mother as I read. I also kept seeing Jimmy Lydon as Clarence, Jr. The real Father is more exasperating than the movie version and while the movie has a linear plot, the book's format is short stories (The reason for this is probably because the movie was based on the Broadway play). I liked the real Mother equally as well as the movie version - at first glance, she may seem flustered and acquiescent to boisterous Father, yet in her own subtle way, she's the one who runs the house, unbeknowst to Father, while still maintaining the loving role as wife and mother.

My only warning is to be prepared for lots of "damn," "damanation," and occasional outcries of "God" (I'm not quite sure if the latter was used in vain or actually speaking out to Him). Father is ruffled quite often throughout and utters the above-mentioned words.

If you like old-fashioned books and want to learn about olden times, then chances are you will enjoy all three books.

Now I have to go watch the movie again, which by the way is available to watch on YouTube and Amazon Prime!

[Hal Issen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up with a copy of Life With Father on my nightstand, along with The Thurber Carnival, and these two books gave me a schema to process my own strong-willed father and eccentric family through a context of humor, compassion, devotion and acceptance. Day used the same lens of wry amusement to observe and process his family as Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. Certainly Clarence Day Sr could be regarded as an insensitive autocrat, and if written today he could very well have been similar to anything Pat Conroy could have written about fathers. But here Clarence Day Jr provides a straight-forward narrative of his father and all his biases, as well as the author's own inabilities to be that son the father expects him to be, and there is mutual love and acceptance. I find this uplifting.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humor just the way I like it. It's a shame that some of these great old books fall out of favor due to modern sensibilities. Yes, there is innate racism, classism, sexism, and other unfair biases, but I know that these were, sadly, accurate depictions of different times. I don't like having to throw the baby out with the bathwater though. I feel I can read and gain the humor and family insights without becoming tainted. All that said, if you can't abide domineering autocrats, don't read this book.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since the main character of this book lived in the late 1800-early 1900s, it's easier to forgive him for what we would see as his glaring faults.
Today he would be called a chauvinistic narcissist - someone unable to see life from anyone else's point of view besides his own, and quite willing to force his views on everyone around him. I would have hated to be his wife, or even his child, but that's the way they lived then, and he was not really different from a lot of wealthy city men of his generation.

That said, there was chuckle-worthy humor throughout.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing read, I loved every moment of this wonderful read. I came across this book while watching an old William Powell movie on TCM by the same name. The father in the movie played by William Powell, was hilarious. I knew, I had to find a copy of this book. I loved the language and writing style Clarence Day Jr used while writing about his parents during the late 1800's and early 1900's. This is definitely, going on my favorites shelf.

[Christine Sinclair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Go back to New York City at the turn of the century (hmm, the previous century) and get to know Clarence Day, Sr. He's one of a kind, and his son's vignettes about his quirks and peculiarities are hilarious. Vinnie, Clare's long-suffering wife, is equally amusing. The movie is a gem and that rare exception, even better than the book. Both are highly recommended.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an intimate study of the dynamics of a late 19th century New York City family. Clarence Day, Jr., the eldest of three boys, writes descriptively and honestly about his parents, especially the control of his father over the family-his word is law and that is it. However, Vinnie is not a meek and retiring wife; she simply knows how things must be done in the house. She is not cowed or intimidated by Clarence’s insistence on things done his way or his verbal explosions when an unforeseen event threatens the sanctity of his well-oiled machine…I mean home!

The tensions, the joys, the mishaps and the victories of each family member reflects the professional class of which the Days are firmly a part. One of the fascinating aspects of this memoir is the detail of daily life in New York City as well as special events undertaken by the family such as, dining in the restaurant of the newly opened Waldorf Astoria, the special feeling a lunch at Delmonico's brought to young Day when out with his father, an excursion to Washington Irving’s house and Sleepy Hollow, a trip to Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and a discussion of Henry Ward Beecher.

While it is easy for eyebrows to raise while reading of one more negative outburst from Clarence senior when something doesn’t go his way, the author makes an astute observation when, as an older boy, he has visited the homes of many of his friends. He describes his shock and discomfort at the sullen or silent reaction fathers give to their wives and children when things go awry in their house or the constant criticism of a husband toward his wife. He understands that though he grew up with a loud, emotive, stern father he was never cruel and never sadistic as he found in the homes of his friends. He may have thought he ruled with an iron fist, but it was only in his mind. He was genuinely loved by his family who saw through the big bully to see the vulnerability and the comedy in everyday life.

Highly recommend for history buffs and classic literature lovers for its realism of 1880s/90s #NYC First published as stories in the NewYorker then published in book form in 1936.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book got me so plugged in that I could barely finish it. Clarence Day's father was such an imperious, self-righteous horse's ass that I could hardly imagine how his son could be so equanimous in his description of him and actually consider him a funny character that deserved to be written about. The senior Day was a misogynist, a patriarchalist (he considered himself the apex of reasonable humanity, even though he was always shouting at and despising people lesser than he, which included just about the entire population). I couldn't have lived with him as my father for longer than a week. The author is funny and understated and gives his father far more than his due. A well-written and perceptive book about a fairly horrendous man. I had always thought that my late father-in-law was the most self-righteous and dominating person that I had ever met, but Clarence Day's father makes him look like Mohandas Gandhi.

Still, it's a fun book and a glimpse into 1890s New York and the culture of the time.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

While some of the stories were a bit humorous, mostly they saddened me. Clarene Day Seinor, obviously admired by his son, was a selfish man who cared only for himself. He didn't seem to care at all for the feelings or the needs of others. Perhaps there would be some humor in the stories for me if I didn't know the incredible damage such a person does in real life.
I found the amount of language (though mild) a bit surprising for a book of this era. If I had found the stories more enjoyable, I could probably have excused it somewhat, because it was a true account of a real person.
I also found it bothersome that Mr. Day seemed to have no reverence or respect for anything or anyone other than himself. The few times religious things were mentioned in this book, Mr. Day was dismissive and often harsh. It's how he was with everything and everyone, though that wasn't to his liking.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is written as a memoir by the oldest son, who recalls growing up with an autocratic serious father in New York City in the 1880s. At first, I couldn’t stand Clare, as the dad was called. He was strict, grouchy, authoritarian and humorless. But as I got into the book, I began to pick up on the humor of a man who despite knowing exactly how the world ought to be run, finds that people around him never quite go along with his plans. The humor of the situation began to grow on me and I wound up enjoying the book.

One of the best parts of the book was the setting. I loved reading about the ice delivery, about dining at Delmonico’s, about installing the newfangled telephone. Eventually I decided that dads haven’t changed much in the last 120 years after all.

[Terris · Rating 5 out of 5]

As humorous and entertaining as this book is, I was so surprised that it is nonfiction! Clarence Day, Jr. tells such a wonderful set of stories about his father. And it is amazing that he can write these stories (some completely absurd!) in such a respectful way. The reader can tell that even though "Father" is quite an eccentric character, Clarence, Jr. really does respect and care for him. I thought the son of this fantastic, farcical man, who cares about his family so deeply, did a wonderful job of writing his remembrances of his father in a way that makes us laugh, but also see the good in him.

If you haven't read this one -- you need to!! :)

[Ian Baaske · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read most of this anecdote by anecdote as I brushed my teeth each night. Then I enjoyed it. I assume the original publication was syndicated as well. Too much all at once and your risk terminal nostalgia.

[Wayne Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clarence Shepard Day Jr. (November 18, 1874–December 28, 1935) grew up in New York City, NY in the 1890s and early 1900's. His father, Clarence S. “Clare” Day Sr., was a Wall Street broker. The son attended St. Paul's School and graduated from Yale University in 1896, where he edited campus humor magazine The Yale Record. The following year, he joined the New York Stock Exchange, and became a partner in his father's Wall Street brokerage firm. Day enlisted in the Navy in 1898, but developed crippling arthritis and spent the remainder of his life as a semi-invalid, making his living as a writer and long-time contributor to The New Yorker magazine. His first book, This Simian World (1920), was a collection of humorous essays and illustrations. He is best known for his 1935 autobiographical work Life With Father which detailed humorous episodes in his family's life, centering on his rather domineering but still lovable father.

Day's comic stories of his father are taken from his serialized articles in the The New Yorker magazine. Drawn from his own family experiences, these were pleasant and gently satirical portraits of a late Victorian household dominated by a gruff, opinionated father who demands that everything from his family should be just so, and a warm, charming mother. Some people don’t like them because they feel that Mr. Day was vulgar, disrespectful, and obnoxious. I tend to agree with others who point out that, yes, the father is somewhat rude, maybe even intolerant and tyrannical, but following his antics is still very humorous. Remember, the author is describing real events and real people. The book does paint an accurate picture of life in that time for a middle class family. And it is evident that “Clare” loved his wife and family, and while he blustered and yelled at times, they loved him. There are references to smoking tobacco, drinking alcoholic beverages, and dancing.

My biggest complaint is the sheer amount of profanity and cursing Mr. Day used. Thus, I would suggest that the best use of this book would be as a family read aloud so that the bad language could be eliminated. Aside from this problem, I found the book very amusing. Scenes from the book, along with its 1932 predecessor, God and My Father, and its 1937 sequel, Life with Mother, published posthumously, were the basis for the 1939 play by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, which became one of Broadway's longest-running non-musical hits. In 1947, the year the play ended on Broadway, William Powell and Irene Dunne portrayed Day's parents in the film of the same name. Life with Father also became a popular 1953–1955 television sitcom.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was this ever a fun book! It was a re-read from years ago. I like the father -- very opinionated, intolerant of problems, and just a huge personality. The amazing thing was that his son, who wrote the book, loved and understood his father. For that I should have given the book a 5-star rating.

"Father got annoyed at us when we didn't stay well. He usually stayed well himself and he expected us to be like him, and not faint and slump on his hands and thus add to his burdens."

(His shirt) was beginning to tear. That disgusted him. He hated any evidence of weakness, either in people or things."

"Our home life was stormy but spirited. It always had tang. When Father was unhappy, he said so. He poured out his grief with such vigor that it soon cleared the air...If he had any meanness in him he might have tried to repress them. But he was a thoroughly good-hearted and warm-bloodied man, and he saw no reason for hiding his feelings. They were too strong to hide anyway."

[Priscilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Life With Father" by Clarence Day Jr. is a true story about the daily life of a red-headed, New York family in the late 1800's. Each chapter reveals a different incident or characteristic in "Father's" life, making it easy to read either "on-the-go" or all at once. The Author remembers "Father" from a child's perspective, adding hilarity to every chapter as Father continuously loses his temper or forces his views and ego on everyone around him. "Father" rules the house and the money, but "Mother" is continually outwitting and scheming to get what she needs. Though often humourous at "Father's" expense, the book comes across as a wonderful and respectful memoire. Written in early 20th Century style, some people may find this book hard to relate to. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who likes a good chuckle.

[Lorena P · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun and delightful, little summertime read. An immensely enjoyable romp into another time and place .....

I was particularly struck by the opening paragraphs of the chapter, "Father Lets In The Telephone." "Up to the late eighteen-nineties, when Father walked in the front door of his home and closed it behind him, he shut out the world."

I guess given all the changes with the work world, specifically within the past year, with so many (including myself) making the transition to almost exclusively working from home, the realization that there was a time when work and home life was - and could absolutely be - so distinct, exclusive and separate from each other was striking - if not instructive.

I have never seen the play, but want to be on the look-out for a chance to see it - it would be as delightful as the book, I am sure!

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the William Powell/Irene Dunne movie "Life with Father" so darn much that it is hard to gauge how much I liked this book, without it's relationship to the classic movie. Maybe I wouldn't have liked Father's bluster as much? Maybe it would have seemed borderline abusive/narcissistic? Who knows, because my pleasure in the book is intertwined with the movie. It's more 3 1/2 stars than 3.

If you haven't seen the movie, I think you should watch it before reading the book. Then, if you like the movie, you can pick up this book of lightly related essays in order to extend your enjoyment of the story. The chapters are fun reads but can be a bit redundant if you read too many at once. Best to read one or two a night.