Sunday, September 28, 2014

At Wit's End - Erma Bombeck

Raja gifted me this book a long while ago. I love reading funny books. I kept this book away for later reading. I was not sure how Erma Bombeck would turn out. I don't remember reading much of her stuff and if I had, it didn't make much of an impression on me.

I liked reading this one. Its all about the middle aged housewife and the life she leads. Husbands, children, clubs, vacations, beauty, friends, social gatherings, cars, growing old, gadgets, illnesses, habits, differences etc. Bombeck writes the details with great flair for seeing the humour in the mundane, the everyday business and in people and their behaviors.

What I liked most was the way she turned serious and wrote about her children and their growing up and ho it affected her, about Christmas gifts that makes the church bells toll. Wonderful stuff. Funny writer she is but in those two pieces she wrote more about life as a parent as a human, more than anyone else.

Its not Wodehouse, not Dave Barry, not Bill Bryson. Its honest, life-as-you-get humour. What Erma has done however, is that she put humour back in my life, my writing. Thanks Erma.

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