The Home-Maker [Paperback]

Dorothy Canfield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 2005

1924. The Home Maker is as relevant today as when it first appeared. It tells the story of Evangeline Knapp, the perfect, compulsive housekeeper, whose husband, Lester, is a poet and a dreamer. Suddenly, through a nearly fatal accident, their roles are reversed: Lester is confined to home in a wheelchair and his wife must work to support the family. The changes that take place between husband and wife, parents and children, are both fascinating and poignant. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Although this novel first appeared in 1924, it deals in an amazingly contemporary manner with the problems of a family in which both husband and wife are oppressed and frustrated by the roles that they are expected to play. Evangeline Knapp is the perfect, compulsive housekeeper, while her husband, Lester, is a poet and a dreamer. Suddenly, through a nearly fatal accident, their roles re reversed: Lester is confined to home in a wheelchair and his wife must work to support the family. The changes that take place between husband and wife, parents and children, are both fascinating and poignant. The characters are brought to life in a vivid, compelling way in a powerful novel more relevant now than when it was first published. The Home-Maker is one of those "time lost" novels whose recovery will entertain and intrigue whole new generations of readers. -- Midwest Book Review

This is a book for every stay-at-home mother who has ever felt guilty for wanting a nine-to-five job, for every father who spends his work days longing to be home with his children. Far ahead of its time in 1924, The Home-maker can still bring light to many who find their frustrations, passions, and dreams revealed in the lives of Evangeline and Lester Knapp. For fourteen years, Evangeline has been a full-time homemaker, pouring her considerable talent and energy into making a perfect house and perfect children, "forced, day after day, hour by hour, minute by minute, with no respite, into the life-and-death closeness of contact with the raw, unfinished personalities of the children, from which her own ripe maturity recoiled in ever-renewed impatience." Lester, on the other hand, is an absent-minded poet, hopelessly ill-suited to his job as an accountant. When Lester takes a near-fatal fall from a roof, however, their roles are reversed. Evangeline becomes a saleswoman - happy, fulfilled, making far more money than Lester ever hoped to - while Lester's paralyzed legs ironically provide him with a socially acceptable reason to stay home and relish the imperfect unfolding of his children's lives. Dorothy Canfield follows the Knapp family's pre- and post-accident lives, shifting her focus from one character to the next, illuminating differences rather than failings, asking for tolerance in a world bound by tradition. Her conclusion is both triumphant and painful, raising as many questions as it answers about individuals and society. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Erica Bauermeister

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Academy Chicago Publishers (August 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0897330692
• ISBN-13: 978-0897330695
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #317,701 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, May 19, 2008

By 

A. Luciano (Lowell, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Home Maker (Paperback)

It is shocking to me that this book was published in 1924. It is incredibly poignant and thought-provoking, even by today's standards.

Evangeline is the perfect housewife and mother of three young children. Her house is immaculate, her children mostly well-behaved. Dinner is healthy and hot and on the table precisely as scheduled. Everyone in town admires her as the perfect example of wife and mother.

In reality, though, Evie is absolutely smothered by her life. She is impatient and unhappy, and her attitude and constant nitpicking is making her kids miserable and physically sick.

Evangeline's husband, Lester, likewise hates his job as an accountant for a department store. He would like time to himself, to sit and puzzle through things, to watch the poetry of the world unfold around him.

When Lester falls and is seriously injured, it becomes impossible for him to go back to work. Evangeline jumps into the workforce as a saleswoman, and finds she has an incredible talent for sales, and that nothing makes her happier than going to work every day. Lester, meanwhile, finds that he delights in spending so much time with his children, observing them grow and learn as he takes care of the day-to-day chores of the household. The children, free from the stress of living under their mother's constant criticism, blossom.

This was such a compelling story of individuals trying to find their niche in society, and the surprise they find in being satisfied with working outside of their expected gender roles. The book very carefully examined the ways in which working outside of the home might be fulfilling to some people, while working at home might be just as fulfilling to others, regardless of their gender. I really liked the close inspection of the inner lives of the children as well; this book spent a great deal of time focusing on the fact that children are people with thoughts and feelings and needs just as important as those of adults, even when they don't have the words to express them.

This book, although published eighty-four years ago, is still relevant today. Quite a feat.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A underrated novelist and her forgotten novel, April 4, 2009

By 

R. B. Kleiman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Home Maker (Paperback)

Dorothy Canfield Fisher wrote a children's book that's still widely-read ("Understood Betsy") but she's been virtually forgotten as a writer of adult novels. That's a shame because her work is superior, with well-rounded characters working their way through challenging situations. The Home Maker is particularly gripping because it's also a work of first-wave feminism, about a woman who makes herself and her family miserable when she's trapped at home and the unlikely ways she and her husband find to free themselves.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ahead of her time, February 23, 2008

By 

J. Topp (Bethlehem, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Home Maker (Paperback)

I loved this book and wish that I could have known this writer because she must have been a formidable person in her day. Although today we might not judge harshly (at least not out loud) the subject matter of the book, the "correct" roles of men and women in a marriage, I think the perception is still there that women should delight in child-rearing, while men are all about making money. I kept having to remind myself that this was written nearly 70 years ago!