The Egg and I

By: Betty MacDonald

Narrated by: Heather Henderson

When Betty MacDonald married a marine and moved to a small chicken farm on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, she was largely unprepared for the rigors of life in the wild. With no running water, no electricity, a house in need of constant repair, and days that ran from four in the morning to nine at night, the MacDonalds had barely a moment to put their feet up and relax. And then came the children. Yet through every trial and pitfall - through chaos and catastrophe - this indomitable family somehow, mercifully, never lost its sense of humor.

A beloved literary treasure for more than half a century, Betty MacDonald's The Egg and I is a heartwarming and uproarious account of adventure and survival on the American frontier.

©1945 Betty MacDonald (P)2015 Post Hypnotic Press

A "Must Read"

This book has been on my to-read list for a very long time. I am on a crusade to read more of these long-suffering books this year. The one I chose this time was "The Egg and I" by Betty McDonald. It was a good choice.

Mrs. McDonald has a great way of telling her life story, or at least the part that took place on an egg farm in Washington state. Life among her neighbors and others in this rural setting was never dull, and she tells about it with a great deal of humor and insight. She and her husband manage to make a go of their egg farm in spite of many hardships, including no electricity, but with a lot of determination. I was a little sad when I finished this book. It was a little like having great neighbors move away.

can't get enough

This is the kind of story you want to keep with you and listen to over and over. The characters and entertaining, inspiring, comforting and funny.

Love This Story

It's one of my favorites! I've read the book 5 times, only natural to also have it read to me. Funny, genuine and smart.

Wry and witty and definitely of the era

What did you love best about The Egg and I?

I’ve wanted to read The Egg & I for several years, ever since I found out that my grandmother and grandfather had a small farm in Port Orchard, around the same time Betty MacDonald had the chicken ranch in Port Townsend (they would have been 60 miles apart, but experiencing similar challenges and beauty). My grandparents (all of them) died before I reached age 13, so I ever had a chance to know them as adults. It felt like reading this book would give me a better understanding, in some way, of who my grandmother was.

So when Audiobookworm Promotions advertised the release of it in audiobook format for the first time ever, I jumped at the chance. This is the kind of story very well-suited to an audiobook. The wry humor falls in the same storytelling vein as authors like Garrison Keillor, so listening to it was breezy and fun.

It’s always interesting to experience an actual historic novel- that is, written by someone living in that era, with all the ideals of the era and no consideration that these values may be incorrect. Historical fiction is fun, but always written from a modern perspective, so it lacks the raw punch of true historic accounts. Listening to Betty’s understanding (aka society’s expectation) of what it means to be a wife, her offhand racist comments toward First Nations, and her exasperation with the “current fad” of chicken ranching was both awkward and honest. Knowing this could have easily been my grandmother, I wanted to show her that she, too, could have wants and needs apart from catering to her husband. But, of course, that was the era.

Slight cringe-worthy moments aside, the dry wit applied to this memoir makes it fun. And it doesn’t romanticize the self-suficient country life or the area. It seems an apt read, given the rise of homesteading. And of course, listening to it fortified my resolve to never homestead.

I recommend it for fans of memoirs, the 1940s, homesteading and country/ranch life, western Washington, and dry humor. And I definitely recommend it in audiobook format.

Delightful

Wonderful story. Great storytelling. Buying The Plague and I next. Surprised to discover this is where Ma and Pa Kettle came from.