Customer Reviews

Much Laughter, a Few Tears: Memoirs of a Woman's Friendship With Betty Macdonald and Her Family

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

 

 

I hoped to receive some more info about the life of Betty MacDonald. I found nothing. The pictures are very bad.
Only a few of Betty. No pics of Betty's mother, father, sisters and brother. Why? I don't understand this.
And the stories are rather boring. I found no details about Betty's life? And I know she had a very exciting and fascinating life. A good advice for Betty Fans all over the world. There is a Betty Fan Club and a wonderful surprise for me was that Betty's best friend Kimi is still alive and she is a real story
teller. A brilliant writer indeed.

I enjoy this book so much because Blanche's memories are filled with detail--and all of it fits perfectly with Betty's accounts of her family and her life. It covers many years of their friendship, has photographs and even excerpts of Betty's letters to the author. Accounts of Blanche's courtship, marriage, and in-laws are also interesting and humorous.

My thanks to the author for sharing her fascinating memories, pictures, and herself with grateful readers.

I was very pleased to discover this book having been a fan of Betty Macdonald for many years. I hoped this book would provide background information and answers to many unanswered questions about Betty's life - her family, marraiges, her early death etc. However, with the exception of the first chapter, this book was very disappointing. Titles to chapters promise all eg. "Betty tells chicken ranch stories" but scant information is confined to a few lines on the final page and this pattern is repeated throughout the book. Not to be recommended.

Blanche, Betty, Allison and Cleve were my friends on Vashon Island. This book is like setting down for coffee and talking with them again on Vashon Island. Always enjoyed hearing the stories of life, and the funny times they had during the early days with Betty MacDonald.

No longer living on the island, but enjoy reading the stories again and again.

I was somewhat suprised to read the poor review of this book. I am always glad to learn any new information on Betty and was thrilled when I discovered this book last year. It was interesting to get an outsiders view of this fascinating family and I quite enjoyed Blanche Caffiere's writing style. It's a must read for the true Betty MacDonald fan.

As one who is a great fan of Betty MacDonald's, I had hoped that this book would provide details beyond those in Betty's own books. It proved very disappointing. Blanche writes mostly of her own (very ordinary) life, adding a brief reference to, or funny line uttered by, Betty and family here and there. Only the first chapter, which refers to when Betty and Blanche were teens, has even a "full length anecdote." Sections that seem promising (for example, Blanche's mentioning she was eager to see Betty after her marriage for details about the meeting and courtship) lead to no further information. There are several photographs of Betty and one of her sister Mary, but none of any other family members. Don't purchase this one second hand for more than 50 cents.

This book is wonderful. Both Betty MacDonald and Blanche Caffiere were the same age as my parents and actually my folks were friends with both of them. It was like sitting at our dinner table at night and my Mom telling my Dad stories about her day with the "girls". I loved the story, the facts were very accurate, nice memories of places in Seattle such as Frederick & Nelson, Laurelhurst, The Athletic Club, Vashon (Burton), etc. For someone who is from the Seattle area, I think they would love this story and Mrs. Caffiere told her story like you were sitting across from her at the kitchen table with a cup of tea. I highly recommend.