My Life and Hard Times (Perennial Classics) [Paperback]

James Thurber (Author), John K. Hutchens (Introduction), Russell Baker (Afterword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 1999 | Series: Perennial Classics

Widely hailed as one of the finest humorist of the twentieth century, James Thurber looks back at his own life growing up in Columbus, Ohio, with the same humor and sharp wit that defined his famous sketches and writings. In My Life and Hard times, first published in 1933, he recounts the delightful chaos and frustrations of family, boyhood, youth odd dogs, recalcitrant machinery, and the foibles of human nature.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"As a humorist Thurber is contemporary and timeless." -- -- The Spectator

"Possibly the shortest and most elegant autobiography ever written." -- -- From the Afterword by Russell Baker

"Thurber's My Life and Hard Times is just about the best thing I've ever read." -- -- Ogden Nash

From the Publisher

3 1-hour cassettes --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 86 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics (October 6, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060933089
• ISBN-13: 978-0060933081
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,704 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #78 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Artists, Architects & Photographers

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Do yourself and everyone else a favor and READ THIS BOOK., December 8, 2001

By 

lemonzest "Jenn" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Life and Hard Times (Perennial Classics) (Paperback)

Other reviewers have said it before, but I feel the need to back them up even more: This book is a work of pure genius and originality.

I was lucky enough to discover James Thurber while in the 8th grade, after flipping ahead in my English book and reading "The Car We Had To Push." A year later, I stumbled across copies of this book and "The Thurber Carnival" (an anthology of all his books) at a Harper Collins discount book sale. I consider this book to be the greatest deal of my life, since I purchased it for fifty cents and now feel that I would have done the same if it had been fifty dollars instead.

My Life and Hard Times is only a quarter of an inch thick, disguising the awesome amount of humor it contains. When I packed for college, this was the first book to accompany me on my journey, and I still reread it once or twice a month. The stories can be enjoyed on their own, but when combined into a biography such as this, the realization that Thurber can take the most ordinary-seeming events in life and turn them into a riot of laughter. It almost makes *me* wish for a family as interesting as he makes his own out to be. The stories provide a good dose of nostalgia for those who remember life in the early twentieth century, but for the rest of us, it's a treat to hear the stories through the eyes of someone who lived through it.

I'll stop gushing about how much I absolutely adore this title and leave you with the best advice I can give: BUY THIS BOOK, and treasure it.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Elegantly simple and hilarious to boot, March 18, 2002

By 

Catherine S. Vodrey (East Liverpool, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Life and Hard Times (Perennial Classics) (Paperback)

James Thurber actually does tell something of the story of his life in this famed biography, but mostly he just moseys along telling stories with his trademark dry, mopey wit. The very first chapter--"The Night the Bed Fell"--begins with the laconic observation, "I suppose that the high-water mark of my youth in Columbus, Ohio, was the night the bed fell on my father."

Thurber goes on to explain how his grandmother felt that electricity leaked if not plugged up, a preoccupation that kept her busy filling in every gap in every lamp or outlet in the house.

All the chapters are pretty much entitled with the name of some highlight of Thurber's Ohio youth: "The Day the Dam Broke" and "The Night the Ghost Got In" and that sort of thing. What the chapters all have in common is that Thurber is a brilliant storyteller who manages to make the most plebian, everyday happenings matters of sparkling humor.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Summer Reading Made Enjoyable, September 2, 2004

By 

ACGT (Norcross, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Life and Hard Times (Perennial Classics) (Paperback)

In My Life and Hard Times, James Thurber depicts the idiosyncrasies of human beings with a unique and humorous autobiography that diverts the reader and helps them to laugh at life. In a personal collection of stories such as "The Day the Dam Broke" and "The Night the Ghost Got In," Thurber rambles conversationally about his youth the early 1900s, keeping away from politics and big events and instead focusing on the "little perils of routine living" that pepper the lives of the ordinary people. By describing ridiculous events such as an entire town fleeing from a nonexistent flood, Thurber points out humans' lack of common sense and the foolishness that results. His short anecdotes help the reader not only to laugh at the characters and events in his book, but also at the reader's own life. However, Thurber finds no fault with people, instead laughing good naturedly and accepting them as a part of life. Memorable characters, ranging from Thurber's often insane grandfather to a slew of unique housemaids, add humor to the stories with their zany antics. The author's scribbled illustrations, scattered throughout the novel, increase the informal atmosphere. James Thurber's distinctive autobiography is an entertaining, if brief, read. Its frank and humorous look at the silliness of people's lives is fun to read silently, but makes, as Thurber says, "a better recitation."