91.
Author: Shirley Jackson
Title: Life Among the Savages
Publication: Paperback
Pages: 235 pages
Genre: Nonfiction
Acquisition:
Date Completed: December 6, 2010
Rating: 5 stars out of 5

In Shirley Jackson's obituary, a friend from the NY Times writes of the authors, "the fact was that she used a typewriter {and not the broomstick of legend}--and then only after she had completed her household chores." This image of the house-proud and "well prioritized" novelist has apparently cast a long shadow on the perception of Shirley Jackson, painting her as a rather eccentric "Angel of the house."

Her own writing, however, tells a different story. Of her family life, Jackson herself says, "Our major exports are books and children, both of which we produce in abundance. The children are Laurence, Joanne, Sarah and Barry: my books include three novels, The Road Through The Wall, Hangsaman, The Bird’s Nest, and a collection of short stories, The Lottery. Life Among the Savages is a disrespectful memoir of my children” (Twentieth Century Authors). The first page of Life Among the Savages echoes this view of her life: "When we moved into {our house} we had two children and about five thousand books; I expect that when we finally overflow and move out again we will have perhaps twenty children and easily half a million books ... This is the way of life my husband and I have fallen into, inadvertently..."

I found Jackson's "disrespectful memoir" to be truly delightful. Here she writes a collection of family stories and anecdotes that perfectly emphasize the minor frustrations and confusion of parenthood while maintaining a great sense of humor. Children are loud. And dirty. And have a tendency to say very inappropriate things - but then again, adults can be nervous and bumbling and completely inept when thrown into alien territory like parent-teacher conferences. For all the "disrespect" that Jackson claims, the book itself is simply grounded, and portrays a wonderfully contemporary attitude towards parenthood that I was able to relate to and enjoy.

Successfully raising a horde of children must require a good sense of humor, and Shirley Jackson has it in spades. I cannot wait to get to the sequel, Raising Demons.