Customer Reviews

A Marriage Made in Heaven or Too Tired for an Affair

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is full of wit and one liners from a woman who knows family. I myself only have a husband and no kids but her writing is still hilarious to me. It reminds me of things my own mother used to say in her own funny and sacastic way. When she talk about her husband and his "ways" of packing a suitcase or talking about the kids I laughed out loud while reading in bed and scared my husband. I sure do miss her and only wish she could have spent a little more time on earth to make us laugh. I bet God is having a ball with her in heaven.

I have always enjoyed Erma Bombeck when she had a column, but the children were small and I never had much time to read. Had I gotten a book like this one, I could of breezed through raising children and marriage with much less guilt. It is one of the funniest (because it's so true) books I've ever read. I am now a collector of Erma Bombecks books. Chapters titled,; "How Much Happiness Can We Finance?" The book for me was filled with memories from the 50's and 60's, and how it used to be. I found myself laughing outloud and shaking my head at the humor, yet truthfulness, that Erma shares with her readers. I'm getting two more of her books for Christmas, and am getting several others on auction. If you need a laugh, kick out some of those endorphins that need to come out and lighten you up, don't miss Erma Bombeck's, "Marriage Made in Heaven or too Tired for an Affair." It's fantastic!

In this, one of Bombeck's last books (published 1993), we
begin to see the woman behind the witticisms and motherhood
one-liners. While this book lacks some of the wit and
wisecracks of some of her earlier works (The Grass is Always
Greener..., Family: The Ties that Bind...), we get a unique
insight into the life of Erma. Sounding more like a memoir
than comedy routine, the reader follows a young housewife
through the early years of "husband reform," through three
children, the empty nest, and a mid-life career that literally
took her from ironing shirts to joking with Johnny Carson.
A fitting tribute to anyone who wants to know about the woman
behind the column and the people that helped her become the
woman we laughed with for over 20 years. We'll miss you, Erma.

I miss Erma. I really do. I miss her style of writing, her humor and her wit. She is probably the only writer from my childhood that I have read faithfully of. Her columns were the highlight of our day when it appeared in our newspapers. Reading this book is like going down memory lane. I remember some of her stuff, but not all of them. This one is a honest and true look at marriage.

Marriage isn't happily ever after. We spend our lives changing our partners, resisting the changes that life throws our way, staying married through thin and fat, through children, through illness and career changes ~~ through death, death of a father and friend. It's a wonderful little book full of wisdom and insights. I love her chapter titles: A House Morally Divided Cannot Stand Each Other or Living on Love.

She offers insights to her own life and marriage oftentimes, poking fun at herself and her family. She is never mean but instead she is inspiring. She makes you think even while laughing at some of the silly things we all do in our own lives. I have not been married as long as she has but already, I see some of the things she has pointed out such as trying to change your husband.

If you're looking for a wonderful book to read ~~ don't miss this one. It's beautifully written and so poignant in some places. Erma writes about life because she has lived it. Her stories are still true today as they were fourteen years ago.

5-11-06

The chronicle of Erma Bombeck's married life, this is a sweet, funny, and realistic view of timeless marriage.

Ms. Bombeck starts on the wedding day, when she and husband Bill were married by a priest who spoke Latin with a Polish accent. She moves on to their children, their multiple homes, a saddening chapter about her tragic miscarriage, the chronicles of her morality arguments with her kids, and finally, her career.

She spent years as a housewife. But Ms. Bombeck's now famous writing started in a local paper, and she warmly describes how emotionally supportive her husband was when her columns became well-known. Touring can't have helped their marriage much, but apparently they both didn't let it hurt it.

She satirizes her own under-par household skills, the weird little quirks that come in with age, nd the glories of growing old together. She doesn't say anything about that last one, but it glows throughout the book.

Bravo, Erma.

"silent generation", between the "greatest" & the "boomers".
They can relive raising kids, borrowing from your in-laws, sex 50's style, dealing with the 60's etc., all with the wit & wisdom of Erma Bombeck.
This is more like a memoir, probably the last in a series, that rings true sometimes, of course, with exaggeration to humorous effect.
Not much to complain about here. She is a good writer who started small had an understanding, supportive husband & achieved national celebrity.
If you are of a certain age, you will laugh.

This book is funny, but it's more like a sweet, wistful and at times a little sad and rueful kind of funny, rather than the knee-slapping sarcastic wisecracks I was used to after reading most of Erma's previous books. Erma for the first time tells some of the true stories of her own life and builds on those for her humor. The problem is that, while Erma's other books focused on the 60s and 70s, this one starts all the way back in 1949 when she became a young bride to her husband Bill, without much realistic sense of what marriage entailed. My own parents weren't even married until 1961 and by the time I was old enough to get married myself, people's ideas and expectations of marriage had changed pretty drastically to say the least. My own marriage and life have been very different from Erma's and that makes it harder to relate to the book, especially when she's making a thoughtful point rather than just being hilarious. Some of her viewpoints came off almost martyrish to me, although my mother, being closer to Erma's generation, would probably understand the mindset better.

I was a little sorry I read the book because, despite the age difference between me and Erma, a lot of her previous funny writings stood the test of time and were something to which I could relate or at least see the humor. I see now that my enjoyment of her previous books was a testament to what a great and gifted writer she was, because she could make experiences universal even across generations for purposes of humor.

I would recommend this book if you're either "of a certain age" or are interested in the "woman behind the books", with the understanding that her life experiences - trying (and failing) to be a perfect housewife, struggling with "hippie" children in the 60s and so forth - might not mirror your own experiences or views. Frankly, just the fact that she and Bill stayed married for so long in this divorce-laden age and despite her eventual great commercial success is likely to interest a few readers right there.