Family: The Ties That Bind and Gag! [Hardcover]

Erma Bombeck (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1987

A cherished family reunion sets the stage of Erma Bombeck's predictably hilarious recollections of raising a family. Her conclusion: you can't live with them, you can't live without them...or can you...?

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Syndicated columnist and bestselling author (Motherhood: The Second Oldest Profession Bombeck here takes a look at the family grown and comes up with characteristically incisive, irreverent and pertinent wisdom. Her three children, now adults, and herself at the age where "you look wonderful," she provokes thought about the shifting family. Intergenerational relationshipsBombeck's with her parents; hers with her childrenand the amorphous family constellations of the '80s are explored by a master of the art of domesticity. Adult children who return to the empty nest, technology that needs to be mastered in kitchen and family room are grist for Bombeck's ever-ready mill. "Family is a perennial that comes up year after year" demonstrates matriarch Bombeck. First serial to Redbook; author tour.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

As always Bombeck fans will welcome her latest book and there will be no disappointment. This time, she has emphasized the grown familya blend of generations in which the parents visit their son's first apartment and find it furnished with a card table, four folding chairs, two cereal bowls, three spoons, a phone with a 50-foot cord, and a $4000 stereo. Looking back on the ups and downs of 30 years of motherhood, she sometimes envies Jane Goodall, Vanna White, Charles Kuralt, and even the statue of Justice, the latter because she always wears a blindfold when she's near a scale. A mix of nostalgia, humor, and a touch of pathos, Family should appeal to anyone who has ever been a parent, a child, or both. Highly recommended. Ken Phifer, Montgomery Cty. P.L. & Montgomery Coll. Lib., Rockville, Md
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 199 pages
• Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill; First Edition edition (October 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070064601
• ISBN-13: 978-0070064607
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #627,076 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Beloved for her wry yet warm look at family life, Erma Bombeck was America's favorite humorist at the time of her death in 1996. Ten of her 13 books, including Forever, Erma, appeared on the New York Times best-seller list. She claimed her first fiction writing was the weather forecast in the Dayton Herald. Her favorite food was pasta, and her hobby was dust.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for chuckles, July 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Family - The Ties that Bind...And Gag! (Mass Market Paperback)

I loved this book. She puts all the pressures of raising a family and looking after kids into perspective. And you will chuckle a lot because in her novel you will see glimpses of your own family. Family quirks and eccentricities are universal and I simply cannot think of anybody who could possibly dislike this book. She has a lovely, irreverent sense of humour.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully funny!, May 11, 2006

By 

Busy Mom (Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Family - The Ties that Bind...And Gag! (Mass Market Paperback)

I grew up reading Erma Bombeck. I have always loved her columns and her books. My parents and I would sit around the dinner table and discuss her columns ~~ but now as a mother and a wife, I have a much better appreciation of Erma's writing.

This one is about her kids coming home in 1987 and one of them announced that he's moving back in permanently ~~ and it's a rundown of all the things that family members do. Sometimes, it's funny and sometimes, it's annoying. But what are you going to do? Throw them out on the streets? Erma had me laughing all night while laying in the hospital bed with a sick preschooler. She's been there and I am going through it. It's a honest, refreshing look at parenting and marriage ~~ everyone should read Erma. She gets her points across with humor and statire.

I am reading three others of her books ~~ and can't wait to read them. She's the perfect medicine for this housewife!

5-11-06

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bound and Gagged, April 14, 2004

By 

Alan Attebery (Arlington, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Family: The Ties That Bind and Gag! (Hardcover)

One of the funniest humor columnists of all time, Erma Bombeck has scored again with this funny snapshot of family life.

It's 1987, and all three Bombeck children have come home for a visit (one of whom has decided to make his visit permanent). Not only does Erma provide us with a timeline of the events of this particular weekend, she also delves back into her memories of the years gone by as she routinely attempts to defend her parenting skills (or lack of them) to us.

It's been several years since Erma Bombeck passed away. But her books continue to be as funny and relevent today as they were back then. "Family - The Ties That Bind and Gag" is no different.