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Family Man
A nationally acclaimed author turns his wit and charm to the subject of children, which, having several of his own, has absorbed him while changing diapers, directing family movie musicals, marching in local Halloween parades, and helping his daughters move out. 75,000 first printing. Tour.
184 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
10 people are currently reading
356 people want to read
About the author
Calvin Trillin
87 books278 followersCalvin (Bud) Marshall Trillin is an American journalist, humorist, and novelist. He is best known for his humorous writings about food and eating, but he has also written much serious journalism, comic verse, and several books of fiction.
Trillin attended public schools in Kansas City and went on to Yale University, where he served as chairman of the Yale Daily News and became a member of Scroll and Key before graduating in 1957; he later served as a trustee of the university. After a stint in the U.S. Army, he worked as a reporter for Time magazine before joining the staff of The New Yorker in 1963. His reporting for The New Yorker on the racial integration of the University of Georgia was published in his first book, An Education in Georgia. He wrote the magazine's "U.S. Journal" series from 1967 to 1982, covering local events both serious and quirky throughout the United States.
Trillin attended public schools in Kansas City and went on to Yale University, where he served as chairman of the Yale Daily News and became a member of Scroll and Key before graduating in 1957; he later served as a trustee of the university. After a stint in the U.S. Army, he worked as a reporter for Time magazine before joining the staff of The New Yorker in 1963. His reporting for The New Yorker on the racial integration of the University of Georgia was published in his first book, An Education in Georgia. He wrote the magazine's "U.S. Journal" series from 1967 to 1982, covering local events both serious and quirky throughout the United States.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews
March 23, 2012
Over the years, I had read Calvin Trillin "here and there", but never read a book of his essays. Then my friend loaned me a copy of Uncivil Liberties & I decided I wanted to read more, but it became a fun game to search for Trillin at library book sales & such, rather than just ordering copies of his books or going to the regular bookstore. So Family Man is the next one I found - at a Dollar Book Store in Tigard, Oregon! (Uh, sorry, Calvin.) You have to love a man who can write so wonderfully about his wife & family without being sickeningly sweet! You also have to love a man who can write about living in New York City, & traveling to Nova Scotia, London, France, & Mexico among other places, without making you just feel grouchy!
This book of essays ends up feeling more like a short memoir about Trillin & his family, & some of the things that happen in families in general - weddings, diaper changing, school plays, family vacations, the fact that all families have their own private words & phrases that they share.
His essay about Thanksgiving - in this book - was fabulous! I'm so glad I'm not the only person in the world with ambivalent feelings toward Thanksgiving!
Trillin. He's funny. Read him.
This book of essays ends up feeling more like a short memoir about Trillin & his family, & some of the things that happen in families in general - weddings, diaper changing, school plays, family vacations, the fact that all families have their own private words & phrases that they share.
His essay about Thanksgiving - in this book - was fabulous! I'm so glad I'm not the only person in the world with ambivalent feelings toward Thanksgiving!
Trillin. He's funny. Read him.
August 3, 2016
This was a wonderful book, one which had me a bit teary-eyed by the end. One is constantly reading/hearing of authors and celebrities who go on, ad nauseaum, about how their universe revolves around their children and spouse, when it obviously doesn't. So to read Trillin and to understand how his soul was attached to the very idea of family, well, it's darn heartening.
The love of his life was his wife, Alice, and that's when my eyes became a wee bit cloudy. Soulmates and the personification of a marriage, Trillin's words came across strongly on this subject. His usual humor is here. As is his heart.
Book Season = Year Round
The love of his life was his wife, Alice, and that's when my eyes became a wee bit cloudy. Soulmates and the personification of a marriage, Trillin's words came across strongly on this subject. His usual humor is here. As is his heart.
Book Season = Year Round
August 21, 2012
A funny, smart, charming, feeling memoir about being a father to two daughters, parenthood in general, and living as part of a family. It's too funny and pointed to be schmaltzy but it is unashamedly full of love; my experience of parenthood resonates with Trillin's perspective. In one chapter he says that when his daughters were two and five he thought they were at the perfect age and he fantasized about some kind of freezing technology, but then as the years passed "they always seemed to be at the perfect age". Just lovely.
June 6, 2011
I really like Calvin Trillin. His essay About Alice made me want to read more about his family. I don't always like when authors read their own work, but Trillin did a nice job reading these essays. The essays were interrelated enough to make a coherent book even though they were on somewhat disparate topics. Mostly, when I hear Trillin reflect on his life, I have to get past my own jealousy that I don't live in the West Village of Manhattan, work from home and travel around doing reporting work. Why wasn't I born a poet? Trillin seems to understand how privileged his life is, but that doesn't quite eliminate my envy--it just makes me like Trillin better. Anyway, a nice summer read.
September 5, 2020
Calvin Trillin's dry wit enlivens these amusing family tales, which are filled with affection for his wife and daughters and their life in Greenwich Village. Some stories, particularly "Nuptials du Jour," are a bit dated now, but most stories made me laugh more than once, and who couldn't use a little more laughter in their life?
August 30, 2021
Typical loveliness from Calvin Trillin. I have previously read About Alice, and it's nice to continue with stories about the family. Lots of humour, which he is so good at, and he's never really angry. There is a Canadian connection, which makes me happy. He does such a good job of satirizing social issues from several decades. I need more Calvin Trillin.
April 26, 2009
This book is a collection of 16 essays by Calvin Trillin on the joys and travails of life with children. He has two daughters -- Abigail and Sarah -- and raised them with his wife Alice in Manhattan. (Although raising a family in Manhattan might make it seem like Mr. Trillin is from a rarefied world inaccessible to most of us, I found his writing to be down-to-earth, relatable and his observations about parenting to be fairly universal.) Mr. Trillin is a gifted writer, and I enjoyed reading his thoughts on family life immensely. He has an obvious love for his family, a great eye for detail, and a wonderful sense of humor.
This was my first time reading a book by Calvin Trillin. I'd heard of him and seen quotes by him and realized he was perhaps an important contemporary writer, but I'd never taken the time to read one of his books. I can unequivocally tell you that I will be reading more by Mr. Trillin as I think he might be the kind of writer who could write about virtually anything and I would enjoy reading it.
This isn't a book that begs for an in-depth review. It is an easy, humorous, enjoyable read that documents the author's life with his two daughters and his thoughts on parenting. More than anything, this book made me wish I could live in the Trillin family. Mr. Trillin seems like a wonderful father with an amusing and fun personality. I was particularly drawn to his love of Halloween, his obvious affection for his wife, and the family's dedication to making elaborate home movies. I wanted to grow up in the Trillin household!
While I was reading, I kept marking sections of the book to showcase passages that I think illustrate what a reader can expect in this book. I ended up having so many that I'm just going to go through and pick three or four that will give you the best "feel" for this book.
When our older daughter, Abigail, was four years old, she attended a progressive nursery school in lower Manhattan that was sweet and nurturing and, if I may say so, a little bit earnest. It was the sort of place where teachers would say to a kid who had just attacked another kid, "Use words not hands, dear." (At one point, we all began to wonder exactly what the words for sneaking up behind another kid and pulling her hair might be. All I could think of was something like "I'm a nasty little beast who deserves a good hiding.")
I tried to fulfill the mandate every American has to convince his children that they have a cushy deal compared with the deprivations and tribulations he had to face as a child. At one point, of course, I had to quit telling them that when I was a little boy in Kansas City, my sister, Sukey, and I walked ten miles barefoot through the snow just to get to school every morning. They got old enough to check it out. This is always an awkward transition for a parent -- the onset of what I think of as the age of independent confirmation of data. It seems to come rather suddenly. One moment, your daughters are accepting everything you say without reservation...the next moment, you've got a couple of private eyes in the house.
But we all felt that keeping a dog in the city would be too difficult. That left cats. When the girls were asked why we didn't have one, they always said "Daddy hates cats," to which I always replied, "No, girls, hating cats would be prejudice, and Mommy and I have tried to bring you up to oppose prejudice whenever you encounter it. What might be fair to say is that I have never met a cat I liked."
At the very least, parents wonder whether they should worry. I always found it comforting when I'd come across something I could decide not to worry about. Then I could cross it off the list. When Sarah was little, she had an imaginary friend named Craig Binnger. "Imaginary friends are supposed to have names like Jack or Popo or Tillie-bear," I said to Alice. "How come her friend sounds like a life insurance salesman?" Should we worry about that? No.
About the Author
Calvin Trillin is the author 19 previous books, including American Fried, Travels with Alice, Remembering Denny and Messages from My Father. A long-time staff writer for The New Yorker, he also wrote a column for Time and a weekly poem for The Nation. He was raised in Kansas City, Missouri and lives in New York City.
Final Thoughts
A fun, smart, delightful collection of essays on family life by a gifted writer. I'll definitely be reading more books by Mr. Trillin. Any recommendations for the next one to seek out?
This was my first time reading a book by Calvin Trillin. I'd heard of him and seen quotes by him and realized he was perhaps an important contemporary writer, but I'd never taken the time to read one of his books. I can unequivocally tell you that I will be reading more by Mr. Trillin as I think he might be the kind of writer who could write about virtually anything and I would enjoy reading it.
This isn't a book that begs for an in-depth review. It is an easy, humorous, enjoyable read that documents the author's life with his two daughters and his thoughts on parenting. More than anything, this book made me wish I could live in the Trillin family. Mr. Trillin seems like a wonderful father with an amusing and fun personality. I was particularly drawn to his love of Halloween, his obvious affection for his wife, and the family's dedication to making elaborate home movies. I wanted to grow up in the Trillin household!
While I was reading, I kept marking sections of the book to showcase passages that I think illustrate what a reader can expect in this book. I ended up having so many that I'm just going to go through and pick three or four that will give you the best "feel" for this book.
When our older daughter, Abigail, was four years old, she attended a progressive nursery school in lower Manhattan that was sweet and nurturing and, if I may say so, a little bit earnest. It was the sort of place where teachers would say to a kid who had just attacked another kid, "Use words not hands, dear." (At one point, we all began to wonder exactly what the words for sneaking up behind another kid and pulling her hair might be. All I could think of was something like "I'm a nasty little beast who deserves a good hiding.")
I tried to fulfill the mandate every American has to convince his children that they have a cushy deal compared with the deprivations and tribulations he had to face as a child. At one point, of course, I had to quit telling them that when I was a little boy in Kansas City, my sister, Sukey, and I walked ten miles barefoot through the snow just to get to school every morning. They got old enough to check it out. This is always an awkward transition for a parent -- the onset of what I think of as the age of independent confirmation of data. It seems to come rather suddenly. One moment, your daughters are accepting everything you say without reservation...the next moment, you've got a couple of private eyes in the house.
But we all felt that keeping a dog in the city would be too difficult. That left cats. When the girls were asked why we didn't have one, they always said "Daddy hates cats," to which I always replied, "No, girls, hating cats would be prejudice, and Mommy and I have tried to bring you up to oppose prejudice whenever you encounter it. What might be fair to say is that I have never met a cat I liked."
At the very least, parents wonder whether they should worry. I always found it comforting when I'd come across something I could decide not to worry about. Then I could cross it off the list. When Sarah was little, she had an imaginary friend named Craig Binnger. "Imaginary friends are supposed to have names like Jack or Popo or Tillie-bear," I said to Alice. "How come her friend sounds like a life insurance salesman?" Should we worry about that? No.
About the Author
Calvin Trillin is the author 19 previous books, including American Fried, Travels with Alice, Remembering Denny and Messages from My Father. A long-time staff writer for The New Yorker, he also wrote a column for Time and a weekly poem for The Nation. He was raised in Kansas City, Missouri and lives in New York City.
Final Thoughts
A fun, smart, delightful collection of essays on family life by a gifted writer. I'll definitely be reading more books by Mr. Trillin. Any recommendations for the next one to seek out?
September 5, 2009
I finally finished this book and have decided for sure that I like Calvin Trillin in column-format. A whole book is more than a bit much for me. He's clever and there were parts of this book about raising a family in Grennwich Village (not far from where I live currently) that made me smile and wax a bit philosophical about what choices I may make when that time comes. I also liked the description of the Village before it was taken over by Marc Jacobs and Sex-in-the-City Tours. In all though, my parting recommendation is that everyone should run out and read "About Alice", which was fabulous. If you read this, I recommend a chapter at a time, with breaks in-between.
January 31, 2008
Calvin Trillin is one of the great New York journalists, more like an anthropologist exploring New York characters. He reminds me about the goodness left in New York.
This book is about his role as a father and husband within New York, balancing his daughter's trips to Chinatown with his wife's unhappiness over his view that Thanksgiving should be celebrated with spaghetti carbonara and not turkey.
Amazing food writing along with hilarious writing= easy and fun read.
This book is about his role as a father and husband within New York, balancing his daughter's trips to Chinatown with his wife's unhappiness over his view that Thanksgiving should be celebrated with spaghetti carbonara and not turkey.
Amazing food writing along with hilarious writing= easy and fun read.
June 6, 2014
I'll ready anything by Calvin Trillin (some stories repeat from his other books and essays). Favorite quotations: "Your children are either the center of your life or they're not, and the rest is commentary." and "About all you can do is pick the school whose parent body offends you the least." Above all, I'm reminded to enjoy parenting while it lasts bc it's over way too soon. Ok, I have to go cuddle my daughter now.
December 15, 2015
This is a wonderful collection of articles previously published in The New Yorker. I identified with them entirely. When finished, I was certain that we were in complete agreement: Before we had children, we had no idea of what we would do. When they were born, we knew that everything about our lives had changed entirely. Having watched them grow, we cant conceive of having done things in any other way.
January 4, 2016
I'm smitten with Calvin, his writing, and the life he lived as co-parent with Alice in NYC. His sense of humor makes me laugh out loud when I least expect to. I particularly enjoyed Alice's economic theories and Calvin's suggestion that we change our national thanksgiving dish to spaghetti carbonara, but in general, despite his repeated protests that he doesn't want to offer parenting advice, I feel like the stories he tells offer a particularly appealing way to raise children.
August 16, 2008
Trilling begins with the child-rearing theory that "Your children are either the center of your life or they're not," and then, with style, wit, and profundity, explores what it means to be "a family man." Laugh-out-loud funny at times, and a challenge to all of us who call ourselves "Dad." (There might be spillover for moms, too.)
December 30, 2008
A nice read, with reflections on family life, child rearing, the magnificence of the Halloween parade through the Village in NYC. Meant as a light, but reflective kind of short memoir, the book mainly functions as Trillin's love letter to his family and really does a nice job of it. But dude, if I had the money and work schedule, sure I'd take the summers off in Nova Scotia too.
October 1, 2011
I'm kind of in love with Calvin Trillin. I'll admit that pregnancy hormones are probably giving me extra warm fuzzies in reading a book that is essentially a love letter to fatherhood and being a husband, but he is just so darn charming and endearing that I can't help myself. While I think anyone could and should enjoy this book, I especially recommend it to those awaiting impending parenthood.
January 10, 2015
There were two laugh-aloud moments here, but it feels like recycled material, and in the early going Calvin Trillin, previously known to me as a sometimes-snarky, astute observer of humans and delicious food, comes across as a maudlin or grumpy old man. The latter portion of the book is better. I wonder whether it's newer or unpublished material.
August 28, 2012
Like Salinger's Glass family, the real-life Trillin family is precocious, its likes and dislikes closely observed and carefully limned, and sometimes the effect is wearying. This memoir of Halloween parades, holiday traditions, pets, summer vacations, Chinatown takeout excursions and more is loving and often very funny. But it's hard to relate to.
November 9, 2013
Thoroughly enjoyable, as indeed everything by Trillin is, and especially to the point if you are a parent. Abigail and Sarah are lucky to have had Calvin and Alice as parents, which they probably know --- what struck me particularly from this book was the idea that our time with our children is evanescent, and Trillin reminds us to enjoy every crazy moment.
July 1, 2007
I want to be a dad like Calvin Trillin someday - after reading his obit for his wife in the New Yorker, I've read some of his books and loved the witty, touching and powerful prose throughout. Wish I could write like him...
October 6, 2007
I love Calvin Trillin. He reminds me of Bill Bryson, but with more of a focus on his family (and his stomach; if anyone can beat Bryson in stomach talk, it's Trillin). A quick read, funny and sweet.
September 27, 2007
This collection of essays on family life is humorous and light-hearted. It is a quick read and has laugh-out loud moments. It reminds me of parts of my childhood and is enjoyable to read while living in NYC. At the funnier times it reads like a tamer David Sedaris book.
February 11, 2008
When not eating his way around the world, spinning tales for The New Yorker, or writing books full of insultingly accurate limericks about Republicans, Calvin Trillin sure had some entertaining family antics.
May 4, 2009
I think this is the best and most personally revealing of Trillin's autobiographical books. It's a loving portrait of his family and what being a parent means ("Either your children are the center of your life or they're not").
September 21, 2009
awesome, erudite, well written, very enjoyable. A series of essays concerning the authors children, child rearing et al. I rarely enjoy this sort of thing, but Tillin is the exception to the rule. I highly recommend!
August 13, 2010
Very funny and (he might hate this word, sorry) wise. He manages to dispense a tremendous amount of parenting advice without letting on that that's what he's doing--thank goodness, because it would kill the humor and probably make the advice unpalatable too.
February 25, 2012
I've been on a huge Calvin Trillin kick lately - his essays are just so funny and so charming. I would very much like to live in his bygone New York City, where writers can afford brownstones in the Village and drive off to Chinatown to pick up the best dishes from a variety of restaurants.
January 5, 2017
I love Calvin Trillin's memoirs (having read all three of the ones focused on eating and food), and it was genuinely wonderful to read one that was, simply, about a family that loved each other and spending time together. Refreshing and recommended.
March 29, 2007
A love story to NYC and his family. It's a bit repetitive at times but just warms the heart in that NYC-is-grand-love-is-grand kind of way.
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July 19, 2007author and poet trillin relates the comfortable joys of raising a family in well-heeled manhattan. cozy and funny.
January 15, 2008
Reading Calvin Trillin is like spending a lazy Sunday listening to your favorite family friend fill you in on all that's been going on.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews