Quote:
Originally Posted by aug_aug
I'm surprised no one's commented on the darker observations she made in the novel, like the roaming hack abortion provider, the child molesting (hinted at) abusive and constantly drunk native Americans, and where she hinted at was a near-rape scene at her home one night.
Somehow everyone seems to be just not mentioning these parts of the story and focusing on the snicker-smile aspects of the farming life. I read into these parts a little more and thought about the darker side of living where and when she did...I'm just saying...
Overall I did not think the book was "funny" at all necessarily, and got tired of the constant anthropomorphism (sp?), "the mountain lifted her skirt, etc. etc."
I thought the book was interesting enough and am glad I took the time to read it, as I'm often in that area for work and for camping, fishing, etc. and it is the most beautiful country you could imagine.
For humor though, please do yourselves a favor and read Confederacy of Dunces, hilarious.
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I just read
Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole and you're right. It is rip-roaring funny. Since the voting I also read
Love Among the Chickens by P.G. Wodehouse, which was funny in a Jeeves and Bertie way. Actually, it basically
was a Jeeves and Bertie story, except it didn't have Jeeves, or Wooster, or any of the usual gang of supporting characters; but change the names, and there you are. I will say this for
The Egg and I by Betty MacDonald: I
believed that she had spent time on a chicken farm, whereas I felt that a chicken farm was just a backdrop for the Wodehouse story; and whether or not he had any personal experience with a chicken farm, it certainly
seemed more like a slightly researched setting for a story rather than something of which he had actual knowledge.
I'm also now reading
Lamb by Christopher Moore, and so far it's had more laugh-out-loud moments in the first three chapters than the entire text of
The Egg and I.