Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
19th out of 101 books
—
24 voters
The Home-Maker
Although this novel first appeared in 1924, it deals in an amazingly contemporary manner with the problems of a family in which both husband and wife are oppressed and frustrated by the roles they are expected to play. Evangeline Knapp is the perfect, compulsive housekeeper, while her husband, Lester, is a poet and a dreamer. Suddenly, through a nearly fatal accident, thei...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
August 30th 2005
by Academy Chicago Publishers
(first published 1924)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
517)
The very, very best novels leave me struggling for words, quite unable to capture what it is that makes them so extraordinary.
The Home-Maker is one of those novels. It was published in the 1920s, it is set in small town American, and yet it feels extraordinarily relevant.
It is the story of the Knapp family – Evangeline, Lester and their children, Helen, Henry and Stephen. A family that was unhappy, because both parents were trapped in the roles that society dictated a mother and a father should...more
The Home-Maker is one of those novels. It was published in the 1920s, it is set in small town American, and yet it feels extraordinarily relevant.
It is the story of the Knapp family – Evangeline, Lester and their children, Helen, Henry and Stephen. A family that was unhappy, because both parents were trapped in the roles that society dictated a mother and a father should...more
2 likes · like · see review
view all 5 comments
I enjoyed this book and felt that it still had a very important message, especially in light of the "mommy wars". Evangeline is uptight and obsessive about housework and is terribly unhappy in her role, though she tries her best not to let it show. She's also bitterly disappointed in her husband Lester, who is a dreamer and just can't seem to advance in the working world. He, too, is miserable and feels like an utter failure.
When Lester has an accident and is unable to return to work, his wife b...more
When Lester has an accident and is unable to return to work, his wife b...more
Fisher is best known today for the children's book Understood Betsy, which I read and liked a few years ago, but she also wrote many novels for adults. This one is a Persephone reprint -- I should just eventually buy everything they've reprinted, as I haven't disliked one yet.
Evangeline Knapp is a smart, organized, determined woman, stuck at home in a role she despises; she loves her children, but she can't seem to sympathize with them, and her passion for cleanliness and organization has becom...more
Evangeline Knapp is a smart, organized, determined woman, stuck at home in a role she despises; she loves her children, but she can't seem to sympathize with them, and her passion for cleanliness and organization has becom...more
Jul 07, 2009
Susann
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
I can see why Persephone says this is popular among book groups.
Shelves:
persephone
Mom may keep the cleanest house in town but, in doing so, she makes her whole family and herself miserable. Dad is a poet/dreamer, completely unsuited for his office job. All seems lost until an Event happens which causes the roles to reverse.
Fisher (a champion of the Montessori method) shows us how we can each blossom when given the opportunity to pursue our own paths. It's pure delight to watch the Knapp family grow, and to watch Lester watching his children and nurturing each one individuall...more
Fisher (a champion of the Montessori method) shows us how we can each blossom when given the opportunity to pursue our own paths. It's pure delight to watch the Knapp family grow, and to watch Lester watching his children and nurturing each one individuall...more
This book rather disturbed me because it dealt with, among other things, the possibility that not all women are by nature maternal. Written in 1924, that premise was even harder to accept than it might be today.
The husband/father in this story states that the wife/mother "...had passionate love and devotion to give (the children), but neither patience nor understanding. There was no sacrifice in the world which she would not joyfully make for her children except to live with them."
Having raised...more
The husband/father in this story states that the wife/mother "...had passionate love and devotion to give (the children), but neither patience nor understanding. There was no sacrifice in the world which she would not joyfully make for her children except to live with them."
Having raised...more
I loved this book, which I got from Persephone. The story is one that any modern woman (or man, for that matter) can understand and empathize with, despite the fact that the book was published in 1924. Evangeline is a loving mother but is simply not suited, temperamentally, to raising her three children. She is lauded in their small community for her dedication as a "home-maker," but in reality, her home is an unhappy one. Her husband, Lester, a dreamy man who loves literature and poetry, toils...more
A lot has been written about how this book, written in 1924 (I think) was so "ahead of its time." Perhaps. The story is summarized on the back cover: a traditional family with 3 children, where the mother stays home and the father goes out to work, is turned upside down when the father is injured and can't work outside the home. The mother then goes to work, thus going against the traditional roles. But there is so much more to this book. I've never read a writer who could get so inside the char...more
Eighty-five years ago this book was scandalous. Today, the Home-maker is still a poignant critique of gender-roles and social expectations. Woman earn more than men, men stay home with the baby, but there is still the pervading sense that both are betraying who they were born to be. I remember being advised in 1996 by my supervisor to reconsider a career in archaeology because it necessitated so much time away from home, making it difficult to "have a family". Dr. C herself had been divorced bec...more
I had to keep checking on the year in which this book was written; it's progressive by today's standards. I tore through this book in two sittings, it's so engaging.
There's the husband (former English major) forced to be an accountant so he can get married and support a household, not thriving in this role. His cultural critiques (of work, of consumerism) could have been written today. There's the wife, embittered by house cleaning she doesn't want to do and a little tired of dealing with her c...more
There's the husband (former English major) forced to be an accountant so he can get married and support a household, not thriving in this role. His cultural critiques (of work, of consumerism) could have been written today. There's the wife, embittered by house cleaning she doesn't want to do and a little tired of dealing with her c...more
The book provides a very interesting look at the feminist revolutionary views of family and gender roles in the 1920s while telling a compelling story that continues to feel fresh and relevant today. At first, the Knapps are a traditional family with Mrs. Knapp staying home and raising the three children and Mr. Knapp working as a midlevel functionary at a local store. After an accident, Mr. Knapp is forced to stay home while Mrs. Knapp goes to work at the store. Both discover how much they enjo...more
Really enjoyed this interesting book about splitting domestic tasks and paying work. Eva is a full-time mum and homemaker. She's very house proud, copes really well with very few resources (she's able to recycle clothes and furniture to look better than most people's new stuff) and she always has home cooked food on the table. The trouble is Eva is frustrated by the never ending housework and it has taken on such importance that she's missing out on doing things with the kids. She's unhappy (but...more
I discovered ‘The Home-Maker’ by Dorothy Canfield Fisher through the review of Nymeth from the Things Mean a Lot. I loved the basic premise of the book and couldn’t resist getting it. I started reading it a few days back and finished it in a couple of sittings. Here is what I think.
‘The Home-Maker’ is about a family and the interesting consequences of what happens when traditional gender roles are reversed. Evangeline Knapp is the mother who is a perfectionist. She likes her house to be spotless...more
‘The Home-Maker’ is about a family and the interesting consequences of what happens when traditional gender roles are reversed. Evangeline Knapp is the mother who is a perfectionist. She likes her house to be spotless...more
Am currently reading an original copy published in 1924. Judging by the aged date stamps, this book was heavily read in Minneapolis throughout 1941 & 1942, when women were working outside the home for the war. Hmmm...
This is a book that deserves a wider readership because its central drama is one that still echoes in society. Eva Knapp is devoted to keeping house & her children in line--but is miserable. Her children cringe from the 'waves of revolt, and exasperation' that roll off her....more
This is a book that deserves a wider readership because its central drama is one that still echoes in society. Eva Knapp is devoted to keeping house & her children in line--but is miserable. Her children cringe from the 'waves of revolt, and exasperation' that roll off her....more
This book begins as a downright harrowing picture of suburban family life, circa the 1920s. But it turns into a thoughtful (and sometimes amusing) examination of how adherence to traditional views of gender roles might actually be doing harm to the family at the center of the book. Even though this book was written in 1924, the ideas within it are absolutely relevant today. Sadly, the debates about who ought to be responsible for child-rearing and housekeeping have continued, and most often, it’...more
"The story of what happens when a wife and mother puts all her efforts into the house, and not the home. Fortunately, irreparable damage is averted when Lester, the father, takes over the role of homemaker." Reads the recommendation in The Gentle Art of Domesticity for The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. With that introduction the plot was pretty simple to guess. The real genius of Fisher is her spot-on psychology. She infuses each character of this little world with thoughts so much thei...more
This novel opens with Mrs. Knapp preparing an ordinary dinner for her family, but it reads like an ulcer-inducing horror story because her soul is so tortured by the job of homemaker. Meanwhile, poetry-loving Mr. Knapp is similarly tortured by having to be the breadwinner. Fortunately, however, he is soon disabled by a hideous accident and they get to swap gender roles. I should mention that this riveting little book was first published in 1924. Anyway, while Mrs. Knapp grabs the business world...more
Fascinating book. The idea that the author is putting forward is wrong (see proclamation on the family), however there is much to think about in reading this. Her idea is that it is irrelevant who is in the home to care for the children and who is providing for the family, as long as it is a parent. Her argument for this is flawed in that it is a simplistic picture she paints and real alternatives to the difficulties faced by the main characters are available that would preserve the roles each i...more
A must read for parents in particular ...
This book was written in 1924 yet tells the story of how a couple reverses their roles (breadwinner and at-home parent) to provide the best for their children.
The book I have is a worn hardback from the 1920s that belonged to my grandmother. In the back there is a typed list of names suggesting a book club. So glad I picked this up when we cleaned out my childhood home and my parents were trying to get rid of many old books.
Beautiful, funny and inspiring.
This book was written in 1924 yet tells the story of how a couple reverses their roles (breadwinner and at-home parent) to provide the best for their children.
The book I have is a worn hardback from the 1920s that belonged to my grandmother. In the back there is a typed list of names suggesting a book club. So glad I picked this up when we cleaned out my childhood home and my parents were trying to get rid of many old books.
Beautiful, funny and inspiring.
I really enjoyed this book, which is--as the summary says--quite relevant today, despite the fact that it was written in 1924. Some of the language is a bit quaint, but it's a charming book. And it supports a point I've long been making--no one really knows what goes on in a marriage/relationship/family except the people who are in it, and what works for one family could be awful for another. You have to just do what works for you and your loved ones, and to heck with what everyone else thinks.
I liked this book much more than I thought I would. I think I was worried it was going to turn out like Ethan Frome. Fear not -- it didn't. I liked that even though poor Evangeline was such a household bully, everyone liked her anyway. I was a little sad [spoiler:] that the only way for the happy ending to be achieved was to leave one character permanently crippled. (I imagine he will find out that he isn't.) But I liked her depiction and understanding of the children. It was a good book.
At first painful to read (perhaps because of the minor elements of myself I saw in Eva), this turned into a really lovely story about finding the right role in family life. The parts from the father's point of view were particularly fascinating, especially as he got to know the children and feel a fierce protectiveness for them. I was biting my nails towards the end to see how things would turn out for the family. Fascinating for the characters as well as for how it makes you think about family...more
What a charming book! For one, it was ahead of its time--depicting a family in which the woman much more enjoyed being in the workforce, the man better at being a stay-at-home Dad. Fisher was a Vermont writer and wrote extensively about Montessori school and childrearing. She didn't see "The Home-maker" as a feminist book, but as a children's book--namely, that it represented children, their personhood, their feelings, more than it was out to make a statement about gender roles of women or men....more
This book is a must read by any woman, wife or mother. Published in the 1920's you will be surprised how very fresh the topics explored are.
This quote will stay with me,
"Since he had died and come back to this other life, he took everything and himself too, more simply, with little concern for the present-ability of the role he was to play. If, honestly, that was the sort of nature he had, why rebel against it?"
This quote will stay with me,
"Since he had died and come back to this other life, he took everything and himself too, more simply, with little concern for the present-ability of the role he was to play. If, honestly, that was the sort of nature he had, why rebel against it?"
Eva Knapp is the perfect home-maker, with the cleanest house of anybody in her small-town Ladies' Guild. But she hates what she does so well, and she makes her children miserable too. Meanwhile her husband Lester is equally unhappy at work. When Lester loses his job, what seems like a tragedy becomes an opportunity for the whole family to be happy.
This story of reversal of the traditional husband-wife roles wouldn't be innovative if it had been written 50 years later, but it is startling for the...more
This story of reversal of the traditional husband-wife roles wouldn't be innovative if it had been written 50 years later, but it is startling for the...more
This was a really interesting book on how gender roles are defined. It was written in the 1920s and tells about a traditional family where both parents resent their defined role. When an accident occurs and the father has to stay home while the wife works everything changes and suddenly the entire family can find happiness. It's a really interesting book that made me think about my future role as a mother and how I can embrace it instead of resenting it.
This is probably one of my favorite books of all time. A story about parenthood and finding happiness, even if it means flying in the face of social norms.
The characters are real and likable. You are bound to identify with one or more of them, though it may surprise you which ones you end up cheering for.
The characters are real and likable. You are bound to identify with one or more of them, though it may surprise you which ones you end up cheering for.
I can't believe this was written in the 1920s. What's even more amazing is that we are still so stuck. Myth of progress, I guess. If you are lost in your marriage and society's predefined role for you, read this book and start listening to yourself.
The fascinating part is that it was written in 1924 and is about a family in which both parents are unhappy with, and inept at, the traditional roles of breadwinner and home-maker. But what happens from that point is compelling and powerful.
While this wasn't always a scintillating read, Canfield certainly had some interesting things to say. I particularly liked her essay on marriage which was included in the front of the 2007 reprint. As for The Home-Maker it explored society's expectations of gender roles within the marriage. I think my main problem was the either/or nature of what was presented - Either you work outside the home and don't trouble yourself about things like your house and your spouse and your children or you do st...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
For more information, please see http://www.answers.com/topic/dorothy-...
More about Dorothy Canfield Fisher...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“How he loathed his life-long slavery to the clock, that pervasive intimate negative opposed to every spontaneous impulse. "It's the clock that is the nay-sayer to life," he thought”
—
2 people liked it
More quotes…
