Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
Family Man
Calvin Trillin begins his wise and charming ruminations on family by stating the sum total of his child-rearing advice: "Try to get one that doesn't spit up. Otherwise, you're on your own." Suspicious of any child-rearing theories beyond "Your children are either the center of your life or they're not," Trillin has clearly reveled in the role of family man. Acknowledging t...more
Paperback, 192 pages
Published
June 30th 1999
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
(first published 1998)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
484)
Over the years, I had read Calvin Trillin "here and there", but never read a book of his essays. Then my friend loaned me a copy of Uncivil Liberties & I decided I wanted to read more, but it became a fun game to search for Trillin at library book sales & such, rather than just ordering copies of his books or going to the regular bookstore. So Family Man is the next one I found - at a Dollar Book Store in Tigard, Oregon! (Uh, sorry, Calvin.) You have to love a man who can write so wonder...more
This book is a collection of 16 essays by Calvin Trillin on the joys and travails of life with children. He has two daughters -- Abigail and Sarah -- and raised them with his wife Alice in Manhattan. (Although raising a family in Manhattan might make it seem like Mr. Trillin is from a rarefied world inaccessible to most of us, I found his writing to be down-to-earth, relatable and his observations about parenting to be fairly universal.) Mr. Trillin is a gifted writer, and I enjoyed reading his...more
This was a wonderful book, one which had me a bit teary-eyed by the end. One is constantly reading/hearing of authors and celebrities who go on, ad nauseaum, about how their universe revolves around their children and spouse, when it obviously doesn't. So to read Trillin and to understand how his soul was attached to the very idea of family, well, it's darn heartening.
The love of his life was his wife, Alice, and that's when my eyes became a wee bit cloudy. Soulmates and the personification of a...more
The love of his life was his wife, Alice, and that's when my eyes became a wee bit cloudy. Soulmates and the personification of a...more
A nice read, with reflections on family life, child rearing, the magnificence of the Halloween parade through the Village in NYC. Meant as a light, but reflective kind of short memoir, the book mainly functions as Trillin's love letter to his family and really does a nice job of it. But dude, if I had the money and work schedule, sure I'd take the summers off in Nova Scotia too.
Thoroughly enjoyable, as indeed everything by Trillin is, and especially to the point if you are a parent. Abigail and Sarah are lucky to have had Calvin and Alice as parents, which they probably know --- what struck me particularly from this book was the idea that our time with our children is evanescant, and Trillin reminds us to enjoy every crazy moment.
Like Salinger's Glass family, the real-life Trillin family is precocious, its likes and dislikes closely observed and carefully limned, and sometimes the effect is wearying. This memoir of Halloween parades, holiday traditions, pets, summer vacations, Chinatown takeout excursions and more is loving and often very funny. But it's hard to relate to.
I really like Calvin Trillin. His essay About Alice made me want to read more about his family. I don't always like when authors read their own work, but Trillin did a nice job reading these essays. The essays were interrelated enough to make a coherent book even though they were on somewhat disparate topics. Mostly, when I hear Trillin reflect on his life, I have to get past my own jealousy that I don't live in the West Village of Manhattan, work from home and travel around doing reporting work...more
I've been on a huge Calvin Trillin kick lately - his essays are just so funny and so charming. I would very much like to live in his bygone New York City, where writers can afford brownstones in the Village and drive off to Chinatown to pick up the best dishes from a variety of restaurants.
I'm kind of in love with Calvin Trillin. I'll admit that pregnancy hormones are probably giving me extra warm fuzzies in reading a book that is essentially a love letter to fatherhood and being a husband, but he is just so darn charming and endearing that I can't help myself. While I think anyone could and should enjoy this book, I especially recommend it to those awaiting impending parenthood.
May 09, 2012
Marguerite
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
biography,
poetry-and-essays
There were two laugh-aloud moments here, but it feels like recycled material, and in the early going Calvin Trillin, previously known to me as a sometimes-snarky, astute observer of humans and delicious food, comes across as a maudlin or grumpy old man. The latter portion of the book is better. I wonder whether it's newer or unpublished material.
Very funny and (he might hate this word, sorry) wise. He manages to dispense a tremendous amount of parenting advice without letting on that that's what he's doing--thank goodness, because it would kill the humor and probably make the advice unpalatable too.
I think this is the best and most personally revealing of Trillin's autobiographical books. It's a loving portrait of his family and what being a parent means ("Either your children are the center of your life or they're not").
awesome, erudite, well written, very enjoyable. A series of essays concerning the authors children, child rearing et al. I rarely enjoy this sort of thing, but Tillin is the exception to the rule. I highly recommend!
I finally finished this book and have decided for sure that I like Calvin Trillin in column-format. A whole book is more than a bit much for me. He's clever and there were parts of this book about raising a family in Grennwich Village (not far from where I live currently) that made me smile and wax a bit philosophical about what choices I may make when that time comes. I also liked the description of the Village before it was taken over by Marc Jacobs and Sex-in-the-City Tours. In all though, my...more
Charming and readable. I just saw Calvin Trillin on the Today Show, and he is even more likable in person and it is hard to believe he is 77 because he is just so with it.
Trillin is a gentle observer of life. It doesn't hurt that he is clever an witty. His prose is good but his poetry (e.g. Deadline Poet) is super (if dated).
I love Calvin Trillin, his essays are so entertaining and he never fails to mention Kansas City. I wish I knew him in real life.
Jul 15, 2009
Rick Blasiak
added it
I got this book at the book exchange. What a great book for someone who has two daughters that he looks up to...
Seems like many of these essays have appeared elsewhere, but great to read them again.
Cute essays about raising his children and how much he loved watching them grow.
Fond reflection on family life with characteristic Trillin wit.
I enjoy Trillin's understated and clever prose.
A funny, smart, charming, feeling memoir about being a father to two daughters, parenthood in general, and living as part of a family. It's too funny and pointed to be schmaltzy but it is unashamedly full of love; my experience of parenthood resonates with Trillin's perspective. In one chapter he says that when his daughters were two and five he thought they were at the perfect age and he fantasized about some kind of freezing technology, but then as the years passed "they always seemed to be at...more
Dec 18, 2009
Bobbie
added it
Family Man by Calvin Trillin (1999)
relaxing, delightful, worth the time
Fun little stories and moments.
Wonderful!!
I will definitely read more of his books!
Calvin Trillin is one of the great New York journalists, more like an anthropologist exploring New York characters. He reminds me about the goodness left in New York.
This book is about his role as a father and husband within New York, balancing his daughter's trips to Chinatown with his wife's unhappiness over his view that Thanksgiving should be celebrated with spaghetti carbonara and not turkey.
Amazing food writing along with hilarious writing= easy and fun read.
This book is about his role as a father and husband within New York, balancing his daughter's trips to Chinatown with his wife's unhappiness over his view that Thanksgiving should be celebrated with spaghetti carbonara and not turkey.
Amazing food writing along with hilarious writing= easy and fun read.
Jun 22, 2010
Beth Shields-Szostak
marked it as to-read
1st edition
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Calvin (Bud) Marshall Trillin is an American journalist, humorist, and novelist. He is best known for his humorous writings about food and eating, but he has also written much serious journalism, comic verse, and several books of fiction.
Trillin attended public schools in Kansas City and went on to Yale University, where he served as chairman of the Yale Daily News and became a member of Scroll an...more
More about Calvin Trillin...
Trillin attended public schools in Kansas City and went on to Yale University, where he served as chairman of the Yale Daily News and became a member of Scroll an...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
