Life with Father / Life with Mother

by Clarence Day Jr.

Four hundred eighty Madison Avenue, New York, was the home of the Clarence Day family in the 1880s. The times were prosperous and the nation strong, in Clarence Day, Sr.'s view largely because he willed it thus. His prayers reflected this: they turned to shooting matches if God failed to act on schedule.

Father Day's presence dominates each scene just as it has since his son began telling tales about him in the magazines of the 1930s.

Genres: Memoir

Audio Cassette

First published January 1, 1935

About the author

American humorist and essayist Clarence Shepard Day, Junior

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

Reviews

[Dr.J.G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life With Father:-

A neat, methodical man married to a woman who plays from heart, so that she is always hassled by his need of keeping accounts and he is always puzzled why she would not keep accounts, she welcomes unannounced relatives with open heart and joy while he is stressed about the disturbance they are certain to create in his routine, she wants to be left alone when ill and he wants to be petted an patted and massaged when he is ill and neither understands the need of the other in this respect, and on top of everything when she is given money to buy something she spends it on something else the house needs while charging for the first item she had taken money for so he is driven crazy and she is in tears telling him she won't stand being accused of mismanagement while she is trying to manage in so small a sum (he is not accusing her, merely attempting to comprehend the tangled accounts).

And then there are the four redheaded boys who are mixed in albeit most of the trouble seems to be either between the first son, the author, and the father (if any left over from the trouble between the parents, church, relatives et al) what with the delicate watch and the violin the son has to struggle with.

One of the most relaxing books, brings joy and smile and a melting of heart with the stories and the characters that one feels entirely close to.
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Life With Mother:-


One of the most delightful books one can ever find.

A very neat, organised, methodical young man sets himself up in work and personal life before marrying someone he liked - only, she is neither organised nor methodical, not enough for him anyway.

On the other hand she is caring and wishes to keep up relationships, which goes towards disturbing his plans and life further what with relatives arriving and staying on for visits, and joining them for outings. And then there is the engagement ring he never gave her, and the question of church which he thinks he is too grown up now for, except as a benevolent head of the family looking on at others joining - very proper.

And above all, the accounts! The sicknesses and the preferences of each about how to deal with them .....

Really full of love it generates while reading, because it is chronicled by the son.

The good stories continue, this time with more focus on the mother and how she suddenly achieved a taste for some independence after going on a tour of Egypt with a friend and thereafter refused to give back the remaining money and declared she ought to have money of her own, and so forth - the endearing saga of impulsive mother and methodical defeated father continues.
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[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a hard book to get through. I know that the times were different, but the way his mother was portaayed and how the father acted was very disturbing. I really do not think even in that time this was normal. Maybe I am wrong, but I think this was a very nuaual family.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this when I was very young, and it was pleasant enough.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 1947 movie Life With Father has a special place in our family's heart, so I was thrilled to get this book for my birthday. Actually a collection of the stories originally written for various periodicals by Clarence Day, Jr., about daily life with his parents in the late 1800s in New York City. I'd had no idea that the events and idiosyncrasies portrayed in the film were based on real people. A very enjoyable read. I only wish the real Clarence Day, Sr., had toned down his strong vocabulary a bit, as William Powell did in his portrayal. Egad! Bah!

[Jennifer]

Unfinished, will return to later.

[Jerstyn Morehay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had meant to read this for years, having enjoyed the 1947 film starring William Powell and Irene Dunne, itself an adaptation of a 1939 play by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse. I think its considerable popularity then lay in its nostalgic evocation of upper-crust life in New York of the 1880s, which if anything gives the younger Clarence Day's reminiscences about his parents and the life they led with his three younger brothers a certain wistful appeal in reading. An earlier work of Day's from 1932 titled God and my Father seems to have inspired the eventful third act of the play and movie, with the elder Clarence Day's refusal to be baptized as an adult despite Mother Lavinia's firm belief that he will otherwise be damned to hell offering a great comic conflict between the equally firm-willed characters; that episode's absence here makes me want to read that book next.