The Egg and I

By: Betty MacDonald

Narrated by: Heather Henderson

Length: 9 hrs

Publisher's summary

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

This is a wonderful portrayal of their life.

What made the experience of listening to The Egg and I the most enjoyable?

I was lucky enough to gain an audio copy of this and it made for very engrossing listening. The narration was spot on, I felt as though I was there shivering in that kitchen having a cup of coffee. When I started and realised it was about 9 hours long I thought it would take forever to hear it all when in fact I think I completed it in about 3 sessions because I was enthralled. I would happily listen to more stories by Betty.

What did you like best about this story?

I have always been fascinated by the 1940’s especially living ‘on the land’ and being fairly self sufficient. My parents had a chicken/egg business when I was a child and I have many happy memories of ‘collecting’ the eggs. However I live in the UK and I certainly wasn’t around in the 1940’s so that is where the similarities end!
Betty married and blindly followed her husband off to the bleak mountains in Washington state to follow his dream of owning a chicken ranch. This is her story told exactly how she lived it .. non-politically correct and with moments of what would be described these days as racism.

Any thought that it would be an easy existence rapidly disappeared as we hear about her struggling to light the stove, forgetting the kerosene, living by candlelight, scrubbing the laundry by hand, ironing with an old flat iron warmed briefly on aforementioned stove. Carrying buckets of water, walking 5 or more miles to her nearest neighbours not to mention the act of caring for the chickens!!

Their days would begin at 4am, cold, dark and monotonous. But Betty did as her husband told her. I enjoyed her descriptions of learning to sew and making anything crafty, she wasn’t naturally talented. She adored reading but books were not easy to come by.

What about Heather Henderson’s performance did you like?

Clear, concise narration with just the right inflection on the characters .. very engaging.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This is a wonderful portrayal of their life but remember it was a LONG time ago and some of the issues may be sensitive but it’s as it was. Betty was very scathing of a lot of people around her, there are some fabulously humorous parts but I’m not sure her humour was appreciated by all. If you are of a delicate disposition then possibly some of the references to how the chicken industry works is not ideal.

Amusing Book

The author recounts her experiences living on a chicken farm in rural Washington state in the late 1920s. It is a great fish out of water story in which she learns how to manage a household with no electricity, running water or any "modern" conveniences. It is the help she gets from her more experienced neighbors which made this book and the later movie famous as one set of neighbors sparked a long movie series focused on Ma and Pa Kettle. I have never see any of the movies but am familiar with the characters and what you find in the book seems very different than what you find in the movies where they are shown as uneducated country bumpkins. as you might see in a show like Beverly Hillbillies. Pa Kettle matches the stereotype, but Ma is more of a resourceful survivor who helps the author learn to cook and clean her house with the resources available. One element of the book I found particularly interesting is the insight it gives into the daily life of a woman living in such a situation. It gives you a lot more appreciation for the life of woman 100+ years ago when managing a household took precise planning similar to that of a major military operation. Ma Kettle in particular knew the value of setting priorities when you add in managing many kids. Some things just cannot be done with all the work needed and only so much time in a day. I also doubt the movie Ma was as earthy and profane as the Ma of the books. I liked the character, but I like the author's grandmother even more. I plan to watch the movie version of the book ASAP, but will probably skip the rest of the Kettle series.. I would normally warn of a spoiler, but the preface gives away the fact that the marriage depicted in the book was a short one and ended in divorce. You can certainly detect the problems in the marriage as you listen and know the outcome in advance. The reader is excellent. She really fits the voice of the plucky author well.

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.

The Hens Revenge

Would you consider the audio edition of The Egg and I to be better than the print version?

sure no two ways about it. Audio with a fabulous narrator is far more robust than reading a book.

Have you listened to any of Heather Henderson’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Heather Henderson has a gentle and refined voice. I have listened to some of her other Audio narrations. and she lends a certain something to each book that is special, always she is in tune with the authors intent and true to the characters in the story,

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Can't exactly say anything moved me because what did make an impact and not in a good way was when Bob, was so unfeeling and callous when the horse was standing on her foot and she was in real pain. The lout only was annoyed that the work was being slowed down and stopped.

Any additional comments?

The Egg and I was written during a very different mindset in history than today so no one should judge Betty for what was normal in 1945.
It was not far into the story that I really disliked Bob and could foresee that things were not going to work out in the long term for them as a couple. I had a sense he was marrying her for money and a workhorse. He was just mean and selfish. Aside from that he was way to old for Betty and she was to young and innocent for such a clod.

Well Told Tale

Betty MacDonald could really tell a story! "The Egg and I" is about her first two years of marriage to Bob on a chicken farm in the 1920s. She humorously tells it like it is, both the good and bad of the situation and neighbors.
For a book written over sixty years ago, the language was pretty bad and included some unsavory descriptions. But that the book remains interesting and very funny after so many years is remarkable.

Textural Writing!

To be honest, I only made it through 4 hours. The prose was fantastic and rich. I've never read anything like it. Everything had a life and personality: mountains, trees, even the stove. This made the story SUPER alive, and there were several parts that were Laugh-Out-Loud funny, and the people she encountered were made out to be unusual. However, this was written in the 1940's and the writing style was readable (thank goodness), but there were no ups and downs to keep it interesting for me. All was on an even keel, and it became tedious with all of the grueling work one did in a rural area in those days. EVERYTHING was described, not in so much detail, but it was outlined in the book. I recommend trying the book because the writing style is so unusual. Her descriptions of sunrises and the mountain's behavior towards them, the fir trees bullying the fruit trees in the orchard, and the town's personality are amazing!

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.