Anybody Can Do Anything is my fourth Betty MacDonald book in a row. According to Wikipedia, I had the order of the books wrong. First she wrote The Egg and I, then The Plague and I, then Anybody Can Do Anything and then Onions in the Stew.
Anybody Can Do Anything was a really delightful read. I found it fascinating to get a first person account of what working life was like during the Depression for a woman. Betty left her husband on the chicken farm and came home with her two, very young children in tow. The Depression has hit and everybody lives back at home with their mother. Her intrepid and hysterically funny older sister, Mary, thinks anybody can do anything and she is quite good at getting jobs for both herself and Betty (though not quite so good at keeping the jobs). Thus begins Betty MacDonald's adventures as a working girl. She goes from one crazy situation to another until finally after years of this, she winds up working for the government and actually gets to rise to a position of authority, though she never feels quite qualified. (Who would, if you had to be Mary's younger sister? Betty's inferiority complex mirrors her sister's superiority one!).
Though she does mention her two daughters from time to time, I get the impression during this period, her mother was really raising them. She goes from job to job, office party to office party, madcap mishap to madcap mishap while perpetually going to night school to try (and fail again and again) to learn shorthand.
An extremely entertaining book that gives you a slice of life right out of history. Two thumbs up!
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment