7: The Home-Maker (1924)
The Home-Maker, by Dorothy Canfield-Fisher, is one of the Persephone books I enjoyed in the past. That's long before I had a husband and a son, so I was curious to see if I had a different perspective on it this time. Not really - it's still such a remarkable little book. (Content warning for suicidal ideation and attempt, btw.)
So Evangeline is a proud housewife who housewifes the shit out of it. Like look out bitches because here comes the mop. She's incredibly stressed out, her kids are terrified of her (but very clean), her skin is doing its best to crawl off her. Her husband Lester is also terrified of her and hates his job as a bookkeeper at the department store; he already doesn't make enough money, sits around dreamily wanting to be anywhere but there, and eventually there's a reorganization and he loses his job. Bam. He doesn't see any way out but suicide, as he can't provide for his family. Of course, at the time, that would deny them his life insurance payout, so instead he heroically climbs up on the neighbor's icy roof to help put out a fire and "falls off".
And then he doesn't die.
He's stuck at home with nonfunctional legs and Evangeline has to go out, chin high, to beg for a job. They feel sorry for her at the department store and hire her and she blooms. She loves this shit. She loves knowing her stock, she loves selling people things that look nice on them and steering them away from poor choices, she's got the community knowledge and the trust of the ladies in town, she tears that place up. She stops being such a fucking bitch all the time, she doesn't give a shit if the kids eat storebought cookies, and everybody's a lot happier.
Meanwhile back at the house, Lester is finding out how much he loves being with his kids, especially the evil wolverine five year old terror Stephen. Turns out Stephen's just that way because nobody understands his perspective and he needs quiet people around who take the time to figure him out. The scenes with Stephen are truly touching - there's a bit that I may try to do a Science Experiment on my four year old with, where Lester challenges Stephen by giving him an egg beater and a bowl of soapy water and watches him figure out how to make the beater make bubbles. Anybody who has spent much time with small children knows how fascinating it is when they're figuring something out and you can see the wheels turning in their minds. Good stuff.
Helen, the oldest child, works with her father by learning how to cook together from books. His real love is literature, although he left college to marry Evangeline, and he fosters her aptitude for poetry and observation. Henry, the middle child, is Just A Kid and Lester kind of shrugs and says "hey let's beg your mom for a puppy". It's really gently heartwarming because everybody's finally feeling fulfilled in their lives.
(Oh, and then he realizes maybe he can walk again. Better shut that bullshit down before anybody knows about it!)
So is it didactic? Of course it's didactic, it's an Issues Book. It's also a wonderfully observed picture of a family finding happiness and people figuring out what it is that they're actually happy doing in life.
I know I could NEVER be a full time stay at home mom (which is what we call housewives now because we're expected to spend every waking moment enriching our children's education otherwise they'll have to go to a satellite campus and then what am I going to tell the other LueLaRoe reps?) Look, I'm a good cook. And I did successfully, after some fuss and muss, whelp a child. So I meet the minimum requirements. But my house is a fucking shithole, y'all. Evangeline cries when Henry dribbles meat grease in the hall again - I call for cats to come lick this shit up. My husband is the All Star parent of our four year old; I'm the JV team but sometimes I get a hit. He's healthy and happy and I'mma put a gift bow on his health insurance card and call it good.
I have no idea what I'd have done in 1924. I mean, failed, I guess? If the absolute cracking societal pressure required me to scrub those grease spots off the floor I'd be scrubbing, I'm no fool to think I'd say "wait a damned minute let's do this 2018 style", but I would be so miserable. So. Miserable. Even if economics were completely different I can't imagine staying home with our son. I'd have to get some sort of part time job or something. My brain would fall out of my ears and I'd eat all the cheese sticks. It would be a shitshow, we'd be on the local news. We'd be lucky to not be on the national news.
So this is an important, didactic, Issues Book. 4/5. Yes. It's also quite good, though, and I really recommend it.
Thanks to the Reed College Library for interlibrary loaning this to me!
So Evangeline is a proud housewife who housewifes the shit out of it. Like look out bitches because here comes the mop. She's incredibly stressed out, her kids are terrified of her (but very clean), her skin is doing its best to crawl off her. Her husband Lester is also terrified of her and hates his job as a bookkeeper at the department store; he already doesn't make enough money, sits around dreamily wanting to be anywhere but there, and eventually there's a reorganization and he loses his job. Bam. He doesn't see any way out but suicide, as he can't provide for his family. Of course, at the time, that would deny them his life insurance payout, so instead he heroically climbs up on the neighbor's icy roof to help put out a fire and "falls off".
And then he doesn't die.
He's stuck at home with nonfunctional legs and Evangeline has to go out, chin high, to beg for a job. They feel sorry for her at the department store and hire her and she blooms. She loves this shit. She loves knowing her stock, she loves selling people things that look nice on them and steering them away from poor choices, she's got the community knowledge and the trust of the ladies in town, she tears that place up. She stops being such a fucking bitch all the time, she doesn't give a shit if the kids eat storebought cookies, and everybody's a lot happier.
Meanwhile back at the house, Lester is finding out how much he loves being with his kids, especially the evil wolverine five year old terror Stephen. Turns out Stephen's just that way because nobody understands his perspective and he needs quiet people around who take the time to figure him out. The scenes with Stephen are truly touching - there's a bit that I may try to do a Science Experiment on my four year old with, where Lester challenges Stephen by giving him an egg beater and a bowl of soapy water and watches him figure out how to make the beater make bubbles. Anybody who has spent much time with small children knows how fascinating it is when they're figuring something out and you can see the wheels turning in their minds. Good stuff.
Helen, the oldest child, works with her father by learning how to cook together from books. His real love is literature, although he left college to marry Evangeline, and he fosters her aptitude for poetry and observation. Henry, the middle child, is Just A Kid and Lester kind of shrugs and says "hey let's beg your mom for a puppy". It's really gently heartwarming because everybody's finally feeling fulfilled in their lives.
(Oh, and then he realizes maybe he can walk again. Better shut that bullshit down before anybody knows about it!)
So is it didactic? Of course it's didactic, it's an Issues Book. It's also a wonderfully observed picture of a family finding happiness and people figuring out what it is that they're actually happy doing in life.
I know I could NEVER be a full time stay at home mom (which is what we call housewives now because we're expected to spend every waking moment enriching our children's education otherwise they'll have to go to a satellite campus and then what am I going to tell the other LueLaRoe reps?) Look, I'm a good cook. And I did successfully, after some fuss and muss, whelp a child. So I meet the minimum requirements. But my house is a fucking shithole, y'all. Evangeline cries when Henry dribbles meat grease in the hall again - I call for cats to come lick this shit up. My husband is the All Star parent of our four year old; I'm the JV team but sometimes I get a hit. He's healthy and happy and I'mma put a gift bow on his health insurance card and call it good.
I have no idea what I'd have done in 1924. I mean, failed, I guess? If the absolute cracking societal pressure required me to scrub those grease spots off the floor I'd be scrubbing, I'm no fool to think I'd say "wait a damned minute let's do this 2018 style", but I would be so miserable. So. Miserable. Even if economics were completely different I can't imagine staying home with our son. I'd have to get some sort of part time job or something. My brain would fall out of my ears and I'd eat all the cheese sticks. It would be a shitshow, we'd be on the local news. We'd be lucky to not be on the national news.
So this is an important, didactic, Issues Book. 4/5. Yes. It's also quite good, though, and I really recommend it.
Thanks to the Reed College Library for interlibrary loaning this to me!
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