Customer Reviews

Please Don't Eat the Daisies (Fawcett Crest)

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I came to this book by way of the film. The book is a delightful set of essays about raising kids (boys), buying a home and working (writing). The book stands the test of time well, continuing to be funny and relevant. The book's only problem is that it is too short!

Sadly, this book is out of print and even more sadly, a lot of people have talked themselves out of reading it because they assume it is nothing more than Jean Kerr's sunny suburbia with kids, sheepdog and a long-distance commuter, theater critic Walter Kerr. The 1960 movie with Doris Day and David Niven was that way, as was the mid-1960s sitcom on NBC starring Pat Crowley . . .

BUT there is much, much more! To get off the ranch and create this book, Jean Kerr let her redoubtable comic genius roam into all kinds of spaces, and recall that she had not only upper-middle-class suburbia but America's biggest urban area to draw upon. Kerr's ingenuity in thinking of topics is legendary. My very favorite is her tone-perfect send- up of Francois Sagan's 1955 bestselling weepie, BONJOUR TRISTESSE (which was published only a couple of years before Kerr satirized it).

And that leads to the only serious problem with this book, though it isn't Kerr's or the book's fault: it's fifty-some years old. Herein are lots and lots of references to New York restaurants, night clubs, and theaters (and their plays) that have long since vanished. Nonetheless, if you like spot-on written humor of multiple varieties, overlook the arcana and don't get too mad at the pre-feminist kids-house-yard-dog assumptions that sometimes exist (cheerily but dubiously), Kerr's smash hit could be your meat. Sadly, I am allergic to most old pulpy paper but I was able to snag a hardbound version at a reasonable price. Amazon makes it possible to do just that. The quality of the humor is "classic" enough IMHO for me to rate PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES five stars. ***** Enjoy!