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My Life and Hard Times
Alternate cover edition of ISBN-13: 9780060933081, ISBN-10/ASIN: 0060933089
“Thurber is... a landmark in American humor... he is the funniest artist who ever lived. ” — New Republic
Widely hailed as one of the finest humorist of the twentieth century, James Thurber looks back at his own life growing up in Columbus, Ohio, with the same humor and sharp wit that defined his famous sketches and writings. In My Life and Hard times, first published in 1933, he recounts the delightful chaos and frustrations of family, boyhood, youth, odd dogs, recalcitrant machinery, and the foibles of human nature.
“Thurber is... a landmark in American humor... he is the funniest artist who ever lived. ” — New Republic
Widely hailed as one of the finest humorist of the twentieth century, James Thurber looks back at his own life growing up in Columbus, Ohio, with the same humor and sharp wit that defined his famous sketches and writings. In My Life and Hard times, first published in 1933, he recounts the delightful chaos and frustrations of family, boyhood, youth, odd dogs, recalcitrant machinery, and the foibles of human nature.
106 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1933
151 people are currently reading
3967 people want to read
About the author
James Thurber
356 books606 followersThurber was born in Columbus, Ohio to Charles L. Thurber and Mary Agnes (Mame) Fisher Thurber. Both of his parents greatly influenced his work. His father, a sporadically employed clerk and minor politician who dreamed of being a lawyer or an actor, is said to have been the inspiration for the small, timid protagonist typical of many of his stories. Thurber described his mother as a "born comedienne" and "one of the finest comic talents I think I have ever known." She was a practical joker, on one occasion pretending to be crippled and attending a faith healer revival, only to jump up and proclaim herself healed.
Thurber had two brothers, William and Robert. Once, while playing a game of William Tell, his brother William shot James in the eye with an arrow. Because of the lack of medical technology, Thurber lost his eye. This injury would later cause him to be almost entirely blind. During his childhood he was unable to participate in sports and activities because of his injury, and instead developed a creative imagination, which he shared in his writings.
From 1913 to 1918, Thurber attended The Ohio State University, where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. He never graduated from the University because his poor eyesight prevented him from taking a mandatory ROTC course. In 1995 he was posthumously awarded a degree.
From 1918 to 1920, at the close of World War I, Thurber worked as a code clerk for the Department of State, first in Washington, D.C. and then at the American Embassy in Paris, France. After this Thurber returned to Columbus, where he began his writing career as a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch from 1921 to 1924. During part of this time, he reviewed current books, films, and plays in a weekly column called "Credos and Curios," a title that later would be given to a posthumous collection of his work. Thurber also returned to Paris in this period, where he wrote for the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers.
In 1925, he moved to Greenwich Village in New York City, getting a job as a reporter for the New York Evening Post. He joined the staff of The New Yorker in 1927 as an editor with the help of his friend and fellow New Yorker contributor, E.B. White. His career as a cartoonist began in 1930 when White found some of Thurber's drawings in a trash can and submitted them for publication. Thurber would contribute both his writings and his drawings to The New Yorker until the 1950s.
Thurber was married twice. In 1922, Thurber married Althea Adams. The marriage was troubled and ended in divorce in May 1935. Adams gave Thurber his only child, his daughter Rosemary. Thurber remarried in June, 1935 to Helen Wismer. His second marriage lasted until he died in 1961, at the age of 66, due to complications from pneumonia, which followed upon a stroke suffered at his home. His last words, aside from the repeated word "God," were "God bless... God damn," according to Helen Thurber.
Thurber had two brothers, William and Robert. Once, while playing a game of William Tell, his brother William shot James in the eye with an arrow. Because of the lack of medical technology, Thurber lost his eye. This injury would later cause him to be almost entirely blind. During his childhood he was unable to participate in sports and activities because of his injury, and instead developed a creative imagination, which he shared in his writings.
From 1913 to 1918, Thurber attended The Ohio State University, where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. He never graduated from the University because his poor eyesight prevented him from taking a mandatory ROTC course. In 1995 he was posthumously awarded a degree.
From 1918 to 1920, at the close of World War I, Thurber worked as a code clerk for the Department of State, first in Washington, D.C. and then at the American Embassy in Paris, France. After this Thurber returned to Columbus, where he began his writing career as a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch from 1921 to 1924. During part of this time, he reviewed current books, films, and plays in a weekly column called "Credos and Curios," a title that later would be given to a posthumous collection of his work. Thurber also returned to Paris in this period, where he wrote for the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers.
In 1925, he moved to Greenwich Village in New York City, getting a job as a reporter for the New York Evening Post. He joined the staff of The New Yorker in 1927 as an editor with the help of his friend and fellow New Yorker contributor, E.B. White. His career as a cartoonist began in 1930 when White found some of Thurber's drawings in a trash can and submitted them for publication. Thurber would contribute both his writings and his drawings to The New Yorker until the 1950s.
Thurber was married twice. In 1922, Thurber married Althea Adams. The marriage was troubled and ended in divorce in May 1935. Adams gave Thurber his only child, his daughter Rosemary. Thurber remarried in June, 1935 to Helen Wismer. His second marriage lasted until he died in 1961, at the age of 66, due to complications from pneumonia, which followed upon a stroke suffered at his home. His last words, aside from the repeated word "God," were "God bless... God damn," according to Helen Thurber.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 341 reviews
December 26, 2022
Before starting: I need something light, and I love memoirs, so this should be perfect.
And it was! A very short memoir that says it all. Some writers don't have to talk and talk and talk, just a few short episodes, all humorous, tell about the essential elements of James Thurber's boyhood growing up in Columbus, Ohio - the flatlands. Even though the chapters could be seen as short stories, they are not! They are true episodes in this humorist's life. The book was written in the 30s and it has lost none of its charm and humor. That is what I call a classic.So many classic's are dated in their writting style. This isn't. What is covered: his relationship with his mother, from whom he got at least part of his biting humor, eccentric relatives, dogs, of course dogs, school and military training, ghosts, burglars, the day the dam broke and yet didn't and of course his difficulties with his fading vision. So few words, but they say it all and they say it with humor.
And it was! A very short memoir that says it all. Some writers don't have to talk and talk and talk, just a few short episodes, all humorous, tell about the essential elements of James Thurber's boyhood growing up in Columbus, Ohio - the flatlands. Even though the chapters could be seen as short stories, they are not! They are true episodes in this humorist's life. The book was written in the 30s and it has lost none of its charm and humor. That is what I call a classic.So many classic's are dated in their writting style. This isn't. What is covered: his relationship with his mother, from whom he got at least part of his biting humor, eccentric relatives, dogs, of course dogs, school and military training, ghosts, burglars, the day the dam broke and yet didn't and of course his difficulties with his fading vision. So few words, but they say it all and they say it with humor.
February 2, 2010
I remember having to read "The Dog That Bit People" in class during my sophomore year of high school. Twenty five bowed heads in a room, each making no sound (save the occasional sigh), and one nerd giggling his bespectacled head off, which was me
These stories are absolutely superb. "The Night the Ghost Got In" and "The Dog That Bit People" are wonderful, and the episode in "More Alarms At Night" where his dad "threatened to get Buck" is laugh-out-loud hilarious. I love the characters, as well. Thurber's grandfather, a Civil War veteran, steals the book, and the Get-Ready Man is one of my favorites.
I don't know what else to say about this book, except that I love it.
These stories are absolutely superb. "The Night the Ghost Got In" and "The Dog That Bit People" are wonderful, and the episode in "More Alarms At Night" where his dad "threatened to get Buck" is laugh-out-loud hilarious. I love the characters, as well. Thurber's grandfather, a Civil War veteran, steals the book, and the Get-Ready Man is one of my favorites.
I don't know what else to say about this book, except that I love it.
December 20, 2023
جیمز تربر روایتگر خاطراتی از زندگیشه که واقعا عجیب و غریب و خندهداره که مشخصا داخلشون، تخیلاتاش دخیل بوده. متنی طنازانه که لحظاتی میتونه خندهدار بشه و همونطور که در نظرات هم گفته شده، برای کسی که قوه تخیل و تجسم قویای در زمینه کمدیِ مکتوب داره، لذتبخش و جذابه. خوندن این کتاب برای یکم فاصله گرفتن از ادبیات جدی و زندگی روزمرهی طاقت فرسا، بد نیست.
نکته جالبی که برای من وجود داشت مترجم این کتاب بود. مترجم دوتا ویژگی جالب داشت؛ اول اینکه به طرز عجیبی به زندگی و آثار تربر واقف بود و یه جورایی، obsessed شده نسبت بهشون! واقعا الکی نمیگمها، اگه کتاب رو بخونید و حجم مطالبی رو که از زندگی خصوصی تربر در کتاب آورده ببینید، متوجه میشید 😂
دوم اینکه مترجم کلمات قدیمی جالبی رو توی متن استفاده کرده بود که باید چندین بار سرچ میکردم تا معنیشو بفهمم. بیشتر از اینکه اذیت کننده باشه جالب بود.
نکته جالبی که برای من وجود داشت مترجم این کتاب بود. مترجم دوتا ویژگی جالب داشت؛ اول اینکه به طرز عجیبی به زندگی و آثار تربر واقف بود و یه جورایی، obsessed شده نسبت بهشون! واقعا الکی نمیگمها، اگه کتاب رو بخونید و حجم مطالبی رو که از زندگی خصوصی تربر در کتاب آورده ببینید، متوجه میشید 😂
دوم اینکه مترجم کلمات قدیمی جالبی رو توی متن استفاده کرده بود که باید چندین بار سرچ میکردم تا معنیشو بفهمم. بیشتر از اینکه اذیت کننده باشه جالب بود.
June 20, 2021
این کتاب یک اتوبیوگرافی طنز با کاریکاتور های جالب نوشته جیمز تربر , طنز نویس و هجو نویس پرطرفدار آمریکایی هست که بسیاری از منتقدان به او لقب بزرگ ترین طنز نویس آمریکایی بعد از مارک تواین رو داده اند . در بین کتاب های خودزندگینامه و خاطرات , این کتاب از محبوبیت خیلی زیادی برخورداره و نویسندگان بزرگی مثل ارنست همینگوی و تی. اس. الیوت و دوروتی پارکر از طرفداران پروپاقرص این کتاب بودن . برای افرادی که قوه تخیل قوی دارند و می توانند به خوبی تصویر سازی ذهنی داشته باشند , کتاب واقعا خنده داری هست و این در حالی هست که نقد های ظریفی هم به جامعه آمریکایی زمانه خودش میکنه.
August 7, 2021
The “hard times” Thurber refers to is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the recollections of his youth in pre-World War I Columbus, Ohio. In 1890, four years before his birth, the population of the city was a mere 88,150. We should therefore take with a grain of salt his admonition that these stories reflect nothing of “his times”. It's true as he admits, “Your short-piece writer's time is not Walter Lippmann's time, or Stuart Chase's time, or Professor Einstein's time. It is his own personal time, circumscribed by the short boundaries of his pain and his embarrassment, in which what happens to his digestion, the rear axle of his car, and the confused flow of his relationships with six or eight persons and two or three buildings is of greater importance than what goes on in the nation or in the universe.” (p.11) Nevertheless, the narrow focus of his stories reflect an insular vibe of comfortable middle class American family life. His preface closes with an unintentionally somber contrast between the careless sense of normality he projects and our present condition. An epistolary preface signs off with this modest closing: “J.T., Sandy Hook, Connecticut, September 25, 1933.”
Thurber's humor relies on tropes of a bygone era. There is the grandpa in the attic who imagines he is still living in Civil War times. The family patiently indulges this delusion only to have their efforts punctured by occasional episodes of the old man's lucidity. Muggs the Airedale is the terror of the family, championed only by Mother. It is therefore a foregone conclusion that Muggs will live out his life as the family's less than welcome adjunct. A bureaucratic draft board continues to reject Thurber because of his eyesight, and then calls him up again for duty the following week. The cycle is repeated over the course of several months. Thurber does end up serving in a way – posing as one of the examining doctors, happily peppering scores of candidates with random acceptances and rejections.
His is clearly a voice from another time. Yet, he continues to charm with unassuming innocence and self-deprecating modesty. The low-key style with which he recounts the most absurd behaviors continues to elicit a smile. I read this book because the title was discussed in the podcast Marlon and Jake Read Dead People (Season 2, episode 5, https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/ar...)
Thurber's humor relies on tropes of a bygone era. There is the grandpa in the attic who imagines he is still living in Civil War times. The family patiently indulges this delusion only to have their efforts punctured by occasional episodes of the old man's lucidity. Muggs the Airedale is the terror of the family, championed only by Mother. It is therefore a foregone conclusion that Muggs will live out his life as the family's less than welcome adjunct. A bureaucratic draft board continues to reject Thurber because of his eyesight, and then calls him up again for duty the following week. The cycle is repeated over the course of several months. Thurber does end up serving in a way – posing as one of the examining doctors, happily peppering scores of candidates with random acceptances and rejections.
His is clearly a voice from another time. Yet, he continues to charm with unassuming innocence and self-deprecating modesty. The low-key style with which he recounts the most absurd behaviors continues to elicit a smile. I read this book because the title was discussed in the podcast Marlon and Jake Read Dead People (Season 2, episode 5, https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/ar...)
May 4, 2012
I find the disparaging comments from twenty-somethings about Thurber's "My Life and Hard Times" amusing. So would Thurber, because he could always use another philistine foil for his smart protagonist. If you find this material to be too dated you should get off Facebook long enough to have real interactions with real people, then you'd appreciate Thurber's wickedly understated and subtle wit. If you don't get it, it's not because the material isn't funny. It's because you don't get it. Get it?
January 4, 2015
Do not read this book if you share a bed with someone and they are asleep.
May 30, 2007
probably the funniest (in a wryly funny, self-depricating, midwestern sort of way) thing ever written in the english language, and the cartoon illustrations are even better.
December 18, 2017
Δεύτερο βιβλίο του Τζέιμς Θέρμπερ που διαβάζω, μετά το παραμύθι φαντασίας για παιδιά "Το άσπρο ελάφι" που διάβασα πέρυσι. Εδώ έχουμε να κάνουμε με κάποιες αναμνήσεις του συγγραφέα από τα παιδικά, εφηβικά και φοιτητικά του χρόνια, όλες τους δοσμένες με ευχάριστο χιούμορ και γεμάτες υπερβολές και διάφορες τραγελαφικές καταστάσεις. Μπορεί να μην ξεράθηκα στο γέλιο -εκτός από δυο-τρεις στιγμές-, όμως καθ'όλη την διάρκεια της ανάγνωσης του μικρού αυτού βιβλίου ήμουν κατά κάποιο τρόπο με το χαμόγελο στα χείλη. Πέρασα πολύ ευχάριστα την ώρα μου, έστω και αν δεν κράτησε πολύ. Συμπάθησα τον συγγραφέα και την, κατά τα φαινόμενα, παράξενη οικογένειά του. Επίσης μου άρεσε ιδιαίτερα ο τρόπος γραφής του Θέρμπερ, καθώς και το όλο στιλ αφήγησης των αναμνήσεών του. Μακάρι να ήταν (τουλάχιστον) διπλάσιο σε μέγεθος το βιβλίο, για διπλάσια αναγνωστική απόλαυση. Τέλος, πλάκα είχαν τα διάφορα σκιτσάκια που συνοδεύουν το κείμενο.
January 23, 2023
Almost suffered an asthma attack from laughing so hard. Supposedly Thurber's autobiography, it is really a collection of reminiscences about growing up in Columbus, Ohio up to the end of WWI. This is not your stock memoir which would describe the author's childhood, etc. There are nine chapters with titles such as "The Night the Bed Fell," "The Day the Dam Broke," "The Night the Ghost Got In," "The Dog That Bit People," etc. His irascible (and senile) grandfather makes regular, hilarious appearances in the stories. A perfect book for a snow-bound Sunday afternoon. I loved it.
A day later and I am still trying not to get hysterics when I think of young James waking his father up at 3am, demanding that he name him cities in New Jersey because he couldn't remember the name "Perth Amboy." Oh that is so funny.
A day later and I am still trying not to get hysterics when I think of young James waking his father up at 3am, demanding that he name him cities in New Jersey because he couldn't remember the name "Perth Amboy." Oh that is so funny.
December 26, 2024
What a witty man. I liked this short book on his youth. There are some laugh-out-loud moments in what is a lens into Columbus, Ohio and his family in the early 20th century.
4 stars
4 stars
June 3, 2015
A humourous book, but only mildly so. I expected much more from the author of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. However, these quirky reminiscences are enjoyable, if only for Thurber's inimitable style.
Aristotle said: "The world is a tragedy to those who feel, and a comedy to those who think." Seeing the past through the wrong side of the telescope, Thurber is is able to invest apparently distressing events with the patina of humour which brings out his delightfully eccentric family (including himself) into focus. Read it, and remember similar "hard times" from your childhood...
Aristotle said: "The world is a tragedy to those who feel, and a comedy to those who think." Seeing the past through the wrong side of the telescope, Thurber is is able to invest apparently distressing events with the patina of humour which brings out his delightfully eccentric family (including himself) into focus. Read it, and remember similar "hard times" from your childhood...
May 24, 2019
3.5 stars for three hilarious stories in the collection - "The night the bed fell", "The night the ghost got in" and "More alarms at night" - rest is a bit dated for my taste. Yeh, its a bit hard to comment on a collection thats considered a classic by now but I found rest of the stories a bit dry.
March 4, 2012
Sadly, this wonderful book is hardly ever referred to. While the world knows that Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway, and the Bronte sisters wrote Literature, hardly anyone who hasn't read Thurber recognizes the name. And he's got to be very near the best humor writer out there. I can drive my family crazy by giggling out loud while I'm reading him. They complain, and ask me to stop, but I just can't. I am incapable of reading this collection (his best, in my opinion) out loud, because I burst out laughing at inopportune moments. Bill Bryson has nothing on James Thurber. P. G. Wodehouse has nothing on Thurber. And this collection in particular, containing, as it does, such classics as "The Night the Bed Fell" and "The Day the Dam Broke," is just spectacular. It's clear, concise writing at its best, and is responsible for haunting me with the story of his grandfather, horse-breaker extraordinaire, trying to break the car to his will, and escaping with it to the park one day, where they came across him, driving it in tight circles and trying to bend it to his will.
January 28, 2023
Nobody could draw like James Thurber.
Likewise his writing -- the work of a true original. Not only whimsical but pretty much out of this world.
Thanks for sharing your wacky, out-of-the-box "hard times, Mr. Thurber." Thank you for daring to write "largely about small matters and smally about great affairs."
Likewise his writing -- the work of a true original. Not only whimsical but pretty much out of this world.
Thanks for sharing your wacky, out-of-the-box "hard times, Mr. Thurber." Thank you for daring to write "largely about small matters and smally about great affairs."
Read
January 18, 2021This short collection is a pleasant set of youthful memories, mostly from Mr. Thurber’s Columbus, Ohio childhood. I particularly liked the story of the flood that never was. This is an excellent diversion from the disturbing national news of late.
May 1, 2010
My Life and Hard Times. James Thurber. 1933. Perennial Classics. 106 pages. ISBN 0060933089.
Okay, okay, so I know James Thurber is a celebrated author and artist who spent the majority of his career writing for The New Yorker, but that was over 50 years ago. I really need to start washing my hands of classics such as these because they're just too old. I can appreciate his talent, but from an enjoyment standpoint I just need to stick to later, humorous biographies written by people that are still alive and dwelling in current times. Even reading Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon Days is pushing it.
My Life and Hard Times is a very short, little book telling funny little stories from James Thurber's childhood, teenage, and college years. I have heard these types of "when I was young we walked 20 miles up the hill to school in snow" stories BILLIONS of times, so although this book may have been original at some point in time, it definitely isn't for me. My Life and Hard Times is not terrible or poorly written, but is however fairly boring and made me sleepy.
My favorite chapter is "University Days". Thurber tells of his frustration in science class trying to get the microscope to work without any luck. His rant about seeing dust particles or seeing his own eyeball is hilarious because I can totally relate!
Although the book is only 106 pages long, I would definitely recommend picking up a more modern humorous biography if you're just looking for light and funny entertainment. David Sedaris is quite prolific in the humorous memoir world, and many successful comedians such as Sarah Silverman and Wanda Sykes have their own books as well.
Read more book reviews by DreamSE22 at http://DreamworldBooks.com!
Okay, okay, so I know James Thurber is a celebrated author and artist who spent the majority of his career writing for The New Yorker, but that was over 50 years ago. I really need to start washing my hands of classics such as these because they're just too old. I can appreciate his talent, but from an enjoyment standpoint I just need to stick to later, humorous biographies written by people that are still alive and dwelling in current times. Even reading Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon Days is pushing it.
My Life and Hard Times is a very short, little book telling funny little stories from James Thurber's childhood, teenage, and college years. I have heard these types of "when I was young we walked 20 miles up the hill to school in snow" stories BILLIONS of times, so although this book may have been original at some point in time, it definitely isn't for me. My Life and Hard Times is not terrible or poorly written, but is however fairly boring and made me sleepy.
My favorite chapter is "University Days". Thurber tells of his frustration in science class trying to get the microscope to work without any luck. His rant about seeing dust particles or seeing his own eyeball is hilarious because I can totally relate!
Although the book is only 106 pages long, I would definitely recommend picking up a more modern humorous biography if you're just looking for light and funny entertainment. David Sedaris is quite prolific in the humorous memoir world, and many successful comedians such as Sarah Silverman and Wanda Sykes have their own books as well.
Read more book reviews by DreamSE22 at http://DreamworldBooks.com!
July 18, 2018
short and sweet, I read it all in one sitting! the humor still felt fresh and the stories didn't show their age at all aside from a few references to now unknown celebrities of the time. illustrations were great aside from a few more 'dated' ones incidental of the time period i suppose.
January 29, 2014
Here's Muggs, a choleric airedale that lived with the Thurbers:
His expression captures well how I feel about the other reviews on here, people raving about Thurber's golden comedic genius, amazing humor. These vignettes drew some chuckles out of me here and there. That's it.
The prologue, preface, afterword, "about the author", and everything else under the sun that sandwich this light 80+pp autobiography (covering the author's first 24 year) does present an endearing personality.
I googled some of Thurber's New Yorker cartoons, love 'em.
His expression captures well how I feel about the other reviews on here, people raving about Thurber's golden comedic genius, amazing humor. These vignettes drew some chuckles out of me here and there. That's it.
The prologue, preface, afterword, "about the author", and everything else under the sun that sandwich this light 80+pp autobiography (covering the author's first 24 year) does present an endearing personality.
I googled some of Thurber's New Yorker cartoons, love 'em.
January 14, 2009
Is this book funnier than Steven Colbert? Yes, it is. Is it funnier than your mom? Yes, it is. Is it funnier than Samuel Beckett? Believe it or not, YES IT IS! Is it funnier than Spiro Agnew? Trick question! Spiro Agnew is not funny. This is actually the funniest book ever. You won't believe that it was first published in 1933. 1933 was not generally considered a funny year, but this book is absolutely hilarious. It's a must read! Check it out!
May 28, 2021
Short comic scenes from Thurber’s life as a young man in an eccentric household in the early 20th century. Dry, quirky, politically incorrect, and hilarious, punctuated by Thurber’s own simple but entertaining illustrations. Literary cotton candy.
October 9, 2021
I can imagine a time when people would have found this uproarious. It is charming and quaint but is better as a time capsule than a source of laughs at this point.
July 5, 2019
When I was in ninth grade, I read a book called Themes of Literature as my literature program for the year. (Of course, I read gobs of other books, too.) There were many stories in that book that I’ve already forgotten – that I forgot within weeks of reading them. But then there were others that stuck with me…
I’ve mentioned the chapter from Call It Courage which I found in that book and which made me long to read the rest of the story. And I’ve mentioned reading A. A. Milne’s play The Ugly Duckling in it. There were only two other pieces which stuck with me – a short story about a soldier’s homecoming and The Night the Bed Fell which happens to have come from this collection of short stories by James Thurber.
Seriously, everyone needs to read The Night the Bed Fell at least three times. It’s just that good. It follows a path of escalating incidents in which everyone concerned is convinced that either they or someone else is dying, and arrives at a hilarious denoument. Now, having read the entire book, I know that his The Dog That Bit People and More Alarms at Night follow similarly and equally hilarious lines.
James Thurber’s stories are based upon his own experiences and so reflect not merely the funny, but also the sad and regrettable. His stories have comedic elements to them, but they are not comedy. They are wholly humorous, but humor is not their goal. They are primarily satire – gentle satire, certainly, but satire none the less. They poke fun at everything and everyone and with good reason. His childhood was filled with numerous eccentric and unforgettable characters, such as his grandfather, who was convinced that the Civil War was still being fought, his aunt, who believed that her home had been burglarized every night for forty years, and the hordes of housemaids which circulated throughout his home (especially the one who shot, not only the gas lamps over the fireplace, but also a man).
I’ll give you an example of the writing style just by including a few of the story openers for you. :)
“I suppose that the high-water mark of my youth in Columbus, Ohio, was the night the bed fell on my father. It makes a better recitation (unless, as some friends of mine have said, one has heard it five or six times) than it does a piece of writing, for it is almost necessary to throw furniture around, shake doors, and bark like a dog, to lend the proper atmosphere and verisimilitude to what is admittedly a somewhat incredible tale. Still, it did take place.” [pg. 3]
Even without the throwing of furniture, the story is wizard. :D
“The ghost that got into our house on the night of November 17, 1915, raised such a hullabloo of misunderstanding that I am sorry I didn’t just let it keep on walking, and go to bed. Its adventure caused my mother to throw a shoe through a window of the house next door and ended up with my grandfather shooting a patrolman. I am sorry, therefore, as I have said, that I ever paid any attention to the footsteps." [pg. 32]
After James notices the ‘ghost’, his mother decides to call the police.
“Since the phone was downstairs, I didn’t see how we were going to call the police – nor did I want the police – but mother made one of her quick, incomparable decisions. She flung up a window of her bedroom which faced the bedroom windows of the house of a neighbor, picked up a shoe, and whammed it through a pane of glass across the narrow space that separated the two houses. Glass tinkled into the bedroom occupied by a retired engraver named Bodwell and his wife. Bodwell had been for some years in rather a bad way and was subject to mild “attacks.” Most everybody we knew or lived near had some kind of attacks.
It was now about two o’clock of a moonless night; clouds hung black and low. Bodwell was at the window in a minute, shouting, frothing a little, shaking his fist. “We’ll sell the house and go back to Peoria,” we could hear Mrs. Bodwell saying. It was some time before mother “got through” to Bodwell. “Burglars!” she shouted. “Burglars in the house!” Herman and I hadn’t dared to tell her that it was not burglars but ghosts, for she was even more afraid of ghosts than of burglars. Bodwell at first thought that she meant there were burglars in his house, but finally he quieted down and called the police for us over an extension phone by his bed. After he had disappeared from the window, mother suddenly made as if to throw another shoe, not because there was further need of it but, as she later explained, because the thrill of heaving a shoe through a window glass had enormously taken her fancy. I prevented her.” [pg. 35]
:) :) :)
I honestly felt that I would have enjoyed the stories more had they not been decorated with the author’s own illustrations. The stories themselves had an incisive wit about them, but the lumpy-looking drawings really took away from their sharpness.
Conclusion. James Thurber was a wildly talented and wildly unknown author from the twentieth century. Keep an eye out for his stuff.
www.blitheringbookster.com
I’ve mentioned the chapter from Call It Courage which I found in that book and which made me long to read the rest of the story. And I’ve mentioned reading A. A. Milne’s play The Ugly Duckling in it. There were only two other pieces which stuck with me – a short story about a soldier’s homecoming and The Night the Bed Fell which happens to have come from this collection of short stories by James Thurber.
Seriously, everyone needs to read The Night the Bed Fell at least three times. It’s just that good. It follows a path of escalating incidents in which everyone concerned is convinced that either they or someone else is dying, and arrives at a hilarious denoument. Now, having read the entire book, I know that his The Dog That Bit People and More Alarms at Night follow similarly and equally hilarious lines.
James Thurber’s stories are based upon his own experiences and so reflect not merely the funny, but also the sad and regrettable. His stories have comedic elements to them, but they are not comedy. They are wholly humorous, but humor is not their goal. They are primarily satire – gentle satire, certainly, but satire none the less. They poke fun at everything and everyone and with good reason. His childhood was filled with numerous eccentric and unforgettable characters, such as his grandfather, who was convinced that the Civil War was still being fought, his aunt, who believed that her home had been burglarized every night for forty years, and the hordes of housemaids which circulated throughout his home (especially the one who shot, not only the gas lamps over the fireplace, but also a man).
I’ll give you an example of the writing style just by including a few of the story openers for you. :)
“I suppose that the high-water mark of my youth in Columbus, Ohio, was the night the bed fell on my father. It makes a better recitation (unless, as some friends of mine have said, one has heard it five or six times) than it does a piece of writing, for it is almost necessary to throw furniture around, shake doors, and bark like a dog, to lend the proper atmosphere and verisimilitude to what is admittedly a somewhat incredible tale. Still, it did take place.” [pg. 3]
Even without the throwing of furniture, the story is wizard. :D
“The ghost that got into our house on the night of November 17, 1915, raised such a hullabloo of misunderstanding that I am sorry I didn’t just let it keep on walking, and go to bed. Its adventure caused my mother to throw a shoe through a window of the house next door and ended up with my grandfather shooting a patrolman. I am sorry, therefore, as I have said, that I ever paid any attention to the footsteps." [pg. 32]
After James notices the ‘ghost’, his mother decides to call the police.
“Since the phone was downstairs, I didn’t see how we were going to call the police – nor did I want the police – but mother made one of her quick, incomparable decisions. She flung up a window of her bedroom which faced the bedroom windows of the house of a neighbor, picked up a shoe, and whammed it through a pane of glass across the narrow space that separated the two houses. Glass tinkled into the bedroom occupied by a retired engraver named Bodwell and his wife. Bodwell had been for some years in rather a bad way and was subject to mild “attacks.” Most everybody we knew or lived near had some kind of attacks.
It was now about two o’clock of a moonless night; clouds hung black and low. Bodwell was at the window in a minute, shouting, frothing a little, shaking his fist. “We’ll sell the house and go back to Peoria,” we could hear Mrs. Bodwell saying. It was some time before mother “got through” to Bodwell. “Burglars!” she shouted. “Burglars in the house!” Herman and I hadn’t dared to tell her that it was not burglars but ghosts, for she was even more afraid of ghosts than of burglars. Bodwell at first thought that she meant there were burglars in his house, but finally he quieted down and called the police for us over an extension phone by his bed. After he had disappeared from the window, mother suddenly made as if to throw another shoe, not because there was further need of it but, as she later explained, because the thrill of heaving a shoe through a window glass had enormously taken her fancy. I prevented her.” [pg. 35]
:) :) :)
I honestly felt that I would have enjoyed the stories more had they not been decorated with the author’s own illustrations. The stories themselves had an incisive wit about them, but the lumpy-looking drawings really took away from their sharpness.
Conclusion. James Thurber was a wildly talented and wildly unknown author from the twentieth century. Keep an eye out for his stuff.
www.blitheringbookster.com
November 28, 2018
Yes, it is somewhat dated; Thurber's fluid prose isn't what some young people are used to reading today. Worse, I can see modern readers being offended by the sketch of Vashti and her boyfriend. Since Thurber skewers the white maids, and, indeed, many of his family members just as thoroughly, I can accept Vashti. As exaggerated as hers or many of the other situations can seem, somehow it's all absolutely believable. We've seen situations and people like this.
And--I've read this book more than three times, and I still smile or laugh every time. What still gets me: Briggs and the camphor. The get-ready man. Thurber's aunt's graceful narration of her experience in the flood. The cars! And, especially, Thurber's experiences in college and the dog who saw ghosts.
I think this book would not remain half so funny if Thurber were not, deep down, so serious: so clear-eyed and compassionate about his crazy family and his own foibles. I love the drawings, too. Somehow, they convey the tone and character of the stories perfectly, simple though they are. Not, perhaps, a perfect book, but it's still a gem. If you like Mark Twain and other classic American humor, you will like this.
And--I've read this book more than three times, and I still smile or laugh every time. What still gets me: Briggs and the camphor. The get-ready man. Thurber's aunt's graceful narration of her experience in the flood. The cars! And, especially, Thurber's experiences in college and the dog who saw ghosts.
I think this book would not remain half so funny if Thurber were not, deep down, so serious: so clear-eyed and compassionate about his crazy family and his own foibles. I love the drawings, too. Somehow, they convey the tone and character of the stories perfectly, simple though they are. Not, perhaps, a perfect book, but it's still a gem. If you like Mark Twain and other classic American humor, you will like this.
February 20, 2015
When I was in my teens, my father decided I needed a little more culture in my life. So he bought me a subscription to The New Yorker.
If I didn't dislike the old man so much, I’d feel bad about wasting his money. Because me and The New Yorker…we didn't get each other. I tried, I really tried to read and understand the articles. (Even then, I knew ENJOYING them would be beyond my meager abilities.) But it was a hopeless case. My idea of culture was the next Christian Slater movie, or the newest Babysitter’s Club book.
So all these years later, it shouldn't be a surprise that I didn't enjoy Thurber’s little autobiography. While my culture quotient has gone up, and I can appreciate a smart joke, I simply fail to see what was amusing about the various anecdotes about Thurber’s childhood. Most of the stories revolved around some misunderstanding or comedy of errors, and while the situations themselves may have been amusing, his recounting of them was not.
Plus, he makes everyone in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio—and by association, Midwesterners in general—seem like a bunch of foolish yokels. To me, that’s pretty close to an unforgivable sin, and not something I enjoy in a book.
I get that he was a writer and artist for The New Yorker, which probably explains why I didn't dig it. I’m certain most of my dislike for this book is simply a matter of my own taste (or lack thereof), so read and enjoy. And if you don’t like it, don’t worry too much. It’s a fast read. I think it took me longer to write the book review than it did for me to read the book!
If I didn't dislike the old man so much, I’d feel bad about wasting his money. Because me and The New Yorker…we didn't get each other. I tried, I really tried to read and understand the articles. (Even then, I knew ENJOYING them would be beyond my meager abilities.) But it was a hopeless case. My idea of culture was the next Christian Slater movie, or the newest Babysitter’s Club book.
So all these years later, it shouldn't be a surprise that I didn't enjoy Thurber’s little autobiography. While my culture quotient has gone up, and I can appreciate a smart joke, I simply fail to see what was amusing about the various anecdotes about Thurber’s childhood. Most of the stories revolved around some misunderstanding or comedy of errors, and while the situations themselves may have been amusing, his recounting of them was not.
Plus, he makes everyone in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio—and by association, Midwesterners in general—seem like a bunch of foolish yokels. To me, that’s pretty close to an unforgivable sin, and not something I enjoy in a book.
I get that he was a writer and artist for The New Yorker, which probably explains why I didn't dig it. I’m certain most of my dislike for this book is simply a matter of my own taste (or lack thereof), so read and enjoy. And if you don’t like it, don’t worry too much. It’s a fast read. I think it took me longer to write the book review than it did for me to read the book!
June 12, 2013
What a fun and fast read this one is! Of course, it's really dated, but if you don't mind that Thurber's sense of humor just keeps you moving on through these very funny stories of his family life. You can just see the characters in action - the father having the bed fall on him, the little brother acting up, the mother being a crazy woman, and more. Very funny!
I'd recommend this one to anyone who likes humor, and who enjoys James Thurber. I'm moving on to the next one of his books that I found at a wonderful used book store in Galena, Illinois. This one is about Thurber's time on the staff of the New York, with the editor being the main focus of attention.
I'd recommend this one to anyone who likes humor, and who enjoys James Thurber. I'm moving on to the next one of his books that I found at a wonderful used book store in Galena, Illinois. This one is about Thurber's time on the staff of the New York, with the editor being the main focus of attention.
December 21, 2008
Yes, yes, yes! This book was great! Everyone needs to read it right now. I laughed like crazy.
This is James Thurber's memoir - it's a collection of 10 stories from his childhood/youth. It's only about a hundred pages long, so I was hoping I'd be able to read the whole thing whil waiting in line at the bookstore where I was doing my Christmas shopping. But the lines were actually moving pretty fast, so I had to buy it.
This is a book that would be fun to read aloud.
This is James Thurber's memoir - it's a collection of 10 stories from his childhood/youth. It's only about a hundred pages long, so I was hoping I'd be able to read the whole thing whil waiting in line at the bookstore where I was doing my Christmas shopping. But the lines were actually moving pretty fast, so I had to buy it.
This is a book that would be fun to read aloud.
June 9, 2009
I actually have the fifth printing of the 1961 Bantam Classic edition, but I don't know how to get that information into the system if it's not already there.
James Thurber has a gift with words. He always knows when to add a particular detail and when to add a comment on the events he's narrating. This collection of stories leads me to believe that the author grew up in a uproariously crazy household; in fact, he could have lived a commonplace life, but his telling of it is exquisite.
James Thurber has a gift with words. He always knows when to add a particular detail and when to add a comment on the events he's narrating. This collection of stories leads me to believe that the author grew up in a uproariously crazy household; in fact, he could have lived a commonplace life, but his telling of it is exquisite.
March 25, 2018
Let's be clear - this is a book from another age. You can smell the horses in the street and hear the tobacco juice hitting the spittoons, when peoples' height was compared to standing corn. It has dialect humor with African-American servants in one brief passage. But it is an entertaining exhibition of style with great sentences on every page. "He gazed at me a long time as if I were a slot machine into which he had, without results, dropped a nickel." Wonderful, and very funny.
December 14, 2018
His aunt threw shoes down the stairs every night to scare potential burglars. His mother told her sons they better not “drive all over town with no gasoline.” His father had nightmares that he was being chased by President Cleveland. The best humor comes from real life. James Thurber’s memoir about young adulthood in the early 1900s Ohio made me laugh out loud several times.
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