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

by James Thurber (Author) "I suppose that the high-water mark of my youth in Columbus, Ohio, was the night the bed fell on my father..." (more)
Key Phrases: attic door, James Thurber, High Street, New Jersey (more...)

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

Product Description

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.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics (October 6, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060933089
• ISBN-13: 978-0060933081
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #104,772 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 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 "lemonzest" (Japan) - See all my reviews

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.

15 of 15 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 (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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:

5.0 out of 5 stars I laughed so hard it hurt!, June 23, 2004

By	Alice M. Wollman (Leona Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews

I first read this book as a summer assignment a quarter of a century ago. I picked up this old book again this year, and believe it to be written by arguably one of the best humorists in the last one hundred years. James Thurber is a master at the art of language and never fails to tickle the proverbial funny bone. For an easy, lighthearted read, this book is well worth the money and will likely become a favorite for your own private library.