The Kitchen Sink Papers

by Mike McGrady

PAPERBACK

Mass Market Paperback

First published November 2, 1976

Reviews

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book about a family where the husband stayed home and took care of the family for a year while his wife concentrated on her business. Because it was written in the early '70s, it definitely feels "retro." At the same time, the author has some remarkable insights about the nature of contemporary life. After the end of the year, they had a much more egalitarian relationship, where they shared both income-producing and homr-maintaining responsibilities. I feel I don't remember a time as an adult where my contributions to the world of work were not valued, so this is a great reminder of much things have changed, even in my lifetime. I didn't know about his book until I saw the author's obituary, and I wish I had read it while he was still alive, as I would have loved to have told him how moving the book is -- even nearly 40 years after he wrote it.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this may not qualify as a lost classic, I found it completely fascinating as an historian of 20th-century America and as a child of the 1970s. Mike McGrady, a successful journalist, traded roles with his wife Corinne for a full year in 1973 and took on the job of househusband, while Corinne expanded her own business and took on the role of provider. A compelling and sometimes quite painful look into the relatively recent past, a past in which a wife's complete servitude to husband and children was taken for granted, and a reversal of traditional roles was a radical experiment.

[Gaile · Rating 4 out of 5]

A husband takes over his wife's duties while she attempts to open a business.

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

sort of interesting........read at ave 168