At Wit's End

Erma Bombeck

American suburban housewives staying home and raising children. That's an important job with little glory. Erma Bombeck lived that life. She was able to look at her family and her situation with humor and poignancy. She wrote about her life. This is one of her earliest (perhaps first?) books.

If you've lived in a family, you'll love this book. Have any of you women ever tried buying a swimsuit at the end of the summer? She tells about walking in a department store in August and trying to buy a bathing suit. I could see the face on the salesclerk that went with the "you've got to be kidding" dialog. She talks about losing her teenagers to their music. They had wires that ran from their ears to their radios. When she describes camping with her family in a leaning tent I remembered camping with my family.

Erma Bombeck knew how to make us laugh at ourselves. There is so much in this book that I have lived. I could picture the family car that should have been retired years before. I saw the gifts my children made when they were small and were giving with all their love. I heard the break in the word "mo-o-ther!", turning it into a three syllable word. Erma reminded us that we share many experiences throughout our culture.

Since I come from the same American culture she did this book is extremely funny to me. I would guess that many of the experiences cross many middle class and affluent cultures no matter what country. This book will make you laugh. The poignant moments will make you think.