For a book this dry, there wasn't much cynicism. The coach Ralph Corlis, was the most evolved soul and his decency which - maybe, but Erma doesn't say it- led to a probable fall from grace was refreshing to read about. The 11th chapter The Volunteer Brigade was the best one. But the book's unlikely parentage to a spin off cartoon from the Fox network was unexpected. They were of the same generation so there's little question of who influenced whom. But I suspect that James L Brooks was made of the same stuff as Erma Bombeck was. There are many references that I didn't get, and most of the narrator's point, and the jokes were like gibberish to me. This feeling crystallized by the time I read this collection of a family trying to settle in the suburbs. This book, published in the 70's but about events - I use the term loosely - in the 50's, reminded me of the first season of the Simpsons. Then I realized that something was the repressed tone and dry humor. Show More kept nagging my brain while I read.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |