This brings back memories.

I listened to the audiobook version of THE EGG AND I and found it as delightful as the movie and print version. By way of disclaimer, I and most of my forbears grew up on a farm in the Midwest. Betty MacDonald is about the same age as my grandparents. My parents, who also farmed, as well as some of my other relatives, raised chickens, as well as hogs, steers, sheep and milk cows. They gardened, canned, sewed, tatted and worried about running out of supplies before they could make it to town again. My relatives' stories about farming before electricity, running water and tractors became standard are similar in substance, but not as wittily told, as Betty's stories of living and working on a farm. Listening to this audiobook took me back in time to my childhood and to memories of my parents and grandparents talking about "the good old days".

I noticed, in some of the other reviews, that people were concerned about the way that Betty characterized the local American Indian population. I was surprised at this. For one thing, her characterizations of the American Indians were not entirely negative. She obviously was impressed with Indians that she was familiar with in her youth and the Indians in Washington appeared not to measure up to the high standards of her childhood memories. In any case, Betty's description of these Indians were gentle and kind next to her characterization of her Anglo Saxon neighbors, especially the Kettles. What I love about Betty's writing was that she treated everyone with equal amounts of wit, satire, soliloquy and sarcasm. I rolled on the floor laughing.

The listener who is not familiar with country living or who cannot imagine life before cellphones may not find this book as enjoyable and funny as I did. But anyone who has raised chickens, even 3 or 4 in your backyard, who has lived near colorful and eccentric neighbors, who has struggled to learn the skills necessary to survive in a new environment, or who just appreciates a well turned word will enjoy this audiobook immensely.

My hats off to Heather Henderson for a well done narration of this book. She made Betty and her family and neighbors come to life.
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Great tales of a small farm!

The Egg and I is a mostly autobiographical account about Betty MacDonald’s time on a chicken farm in the late 1920s in Washington state. Filled with humor, there’s plenty of odd characters, hardships to over come, new foods to be explored, and eggs to be gathered, cleaned, and packaged for sale.

The story starts off with a brief, but laughter-inducing, account of Betty’s school years leading up to her whirlwind romance with Bob, their marriage, and then moving to the Pacific Northwest in search of heaven – a chicken farm of their own! Betty isn’t your typical heroine with perfect hair and stylish figure. Nope, she’s like all the rest of us. She was considered rather too tall for the times, being 5 ft 9 in. I like that she had a belly and rough hands and messy hair. In many ways she’s a very practical person, but she’s still a city girl moving to the country, so there’s plenty for her to learn.

There is one big negative to this book, which was typical of the time period (this book was originally published in 1945): racist remarks towards Native Americans. At the time, such remarks were common and considered accurate. Thankfully, our society as a whole has grown and such remarks today would not sit well with me at all. In truth, even in a historical perspective, these remarks make me a bit angry. However, I am glad that the publisher decided to keep the book as it was originally written instead of washing out these remarks, maintaining the historical accuracy of views at that time, and showing that people of every ethnicity, including the author, are flawed.

OK, so now that that is out of the way, there’s plenty I enjoyed about this book. First, this story spoke to me in many ways. My husband and I some years ago left city life for rural living and had a little farm. We had to go through many of the same learning curves as Betty – starting a fire every day in winter to heat the house, irrigation, gardening, chickens, plowing with equines, stray dogs getting into our property, etc. While we have indoor plumbing, it’s not too hard to picture Betty briskly walking out to the outhouse on a crisp autumn morning.

The Pacific Northwest, and several places named in this book, hold a special place in my heart. Having family in Port Angeles and Seattle, we have visited the area many times. So it was a real treat to see these places through Betty’s eyes in the late 1920s when things were really rugged. She talks of all the edible local foods including the Dungeness crabs and the geoduck clams. Having a chicken farm, they were never short of eggs, so she learned to add an extra egg or two to any recipe that called for eggs, and to a few recipes that did not.

Ma and Pa Kettle feature prominently in the story, being some of the closest neighbors to the isolated chicken farm. There’s also the Hicks, who are eccentric in other ways. I think anyone who moves to the country will find a bevvy of interesting characters in the area and Betty doesn’t skimp on telling how odd her neighbors are. Also, Betty told amusing tales about the animals on the farm, her husband Bob, and inanimate objects, like the wood-burning kitchen stove. She doesn’t leave herself out of this well-meaning, laughter-inducing critique either. There’s plenty of chuckles to go around.

It being a chicken farm, we have to talk about the chickens. Since Bob was often working away from the farm during the day, Betty was the main care-taker of all the beasties. I love her descriptions of all the loving labor she, and sometimes Bob, put into caring for these birds. There’s the daily cleaning of their houses, maintaining the fences around their yards, putting together their feed, tending to the chicks (which far too easily succumb to death), gathering the eggs, and regularly culling the flock. She very accurately describes how with any other beast, such care would be returned with affection. Not so with the chicken! So true, and I say that from a place of love for chickens.

While Betty often jokes, she also usually tells it like it is. I hope others enjoy this classic as much as I do.

I received a free copy of this book via The Audiobookworm.

The Narration: Heather Henderson did a great job with this book. I love how she carries the humor, telling it with a sense of irony where needed. She has a unique voice for each character and her male voices are quite believable.

7 people found this helpful

Oh, I remember those August canning days.

I remember in 1946 my mother reading “The egg and I” to my sister and I. I remember enjoying the book and when I saw it released in audio format I decided to read it again.

The book was released in October of 1945 and it was a quirky, semi-autobiographical book about a young woman in the Pacific Northwest during the early decades of the twentieth century. The book opens with her childhood but most of the book is about her marriage in 1927 and her life on a chicken farm in the Olympic Peninsula. We grew up on a farm so the book brought back memories.

The book is full of humor; some of it farm people will relate to more than a city dweller. MacDonald made the other people in the book into composite characters with fictional names to protect their friends and acquaintances’ identities. She created the Kettle family and in 1947 they were made into a movie. Several people filed lawsuit claiming the book damaged their reputations but they all lost.

The book is well written and most enjoyable. Be prepared to laugh while reading. The book is narrated by heather Henderson.

18 people found this helpful

Great story from the forties

I chose to listen to the audiobook after receiving a free copy. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.

The Egg and I is a delightful memoir about the first couple of years of Betty MacDonald's marriage. Despite her misgivings, they bought a remote ranch on a mountain and started a chicken farm.

Even though the work was grueling and it was lonely, Betty kept her sense of humor and her husband loved the life they were living.

Readers nowadays may be offended by the way she talks about Indians but they need to keep in mind that this book was written in the 1940's, and her view was accepted back then. She actually wrote that she hated the Indians. I'm not sure why she wrote that since she talked nicely about a couple of them later in the book. But I suggest not reading or listening to The Egg and I if you can't get past that. It did rub me the wrong way but I know people talked like that 70 years ago and it was considered "okay," so I looked past those comments and was still able to enjoy the book.

Another thing that stuck out as something that wouldn't be accepted today was when they went to the fair and she put her baby in the truck to sleep and left her there to look at some things at the fair. Or when she left the baby lying with the dog when she went to care for the farm animals. Times sure have changed!

Betty MacDonald's description of her neighbors, the Kettles tickled me. We lived in northeast Tennessee when I was a teenager and we often drove in the mountains and saw farms that looked like she described the Kettle's home. My dad always commented how funny it was that there'd be a farm like that next to one that was really nice.

The narrator, Heather Henderson, has a pleasant voice and I enjoyed listening to her. She did a great job of using different voices for different characters. I especially liked Pa Kettle's voice.

I enjoyed listening to the Egg and I and I hope to see the movie sometime.

4 people found this helpful

This is a wonderful portrayal of their life.

What made the experience of listening to The Egg and I the most enjoyable?

I was lucky enough to gain an audio copy of this and it made for very engrossing listening. The narration was spot on, I felt as though I was there shivering in that kitchen having a cup of coffee. When I started and realised it was about 9 hours long I thought it would take forever to hear it all when in fact I think I completed it in about 3 sessions because I was enthralled. I would happily listen to more stories by Betty.

What did you like best about this story?

I have always been fascinated by the 1940’s especially living ‘on the land’ and being fairly self sufficient. My parents had a chicken/egg business when I was a child and I have many happy memories of ‘collecting’ the eggs. However I live in the UK and I certainly wasn’t around in the 1940’s so that is where the similarities end!
Betty married and blindly followed her husband off to the bleak mountains in Washington state to follow his dream of owning a chicken ranch. This is her story told exactly how she lived it .. non-politically correct and with moments of what would be described these days as racism.

Any thought that it would be an easy existence rapidly disappeared as we hear about her struggling to light the stove, forgetting the kerosene, living by candlelight, scrubbing the laundry by hand, ironing with an old flat iron warmed briefly on aforementioned stove. Carrying buckets of water, walking 5 or more miles to her nearest neighbours not to mention the act of caring for the chickens!!

Their days would begin at 4am, cold, dark and monotonous. But Betty did as her husband told her. I enjoyed her descriptions of learning to sew and making anything crafty, she wasn’t naturally talented. She adored reading but books were not easy to come by.

What about Heather Henderson’s performance did you like?

Clear, concise narration with just the right inflection on the characters .. very engaging.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This is a wonderful portrayal of their life but remember it was a LONG time ago and some of the issues may be sensitive but it’s as it was. Betty was very scathing of a lot of people around her, there are some fabulously humorous parts but I’m not sure her humour was appreciated by all. If you are of a delicate disposition then possibly some of the references to how the chicken industry works is not ideal.

3 people found this helpful

This was a fun book to listen to!

Any additional comments?

The Egg and I, written by Betty MacDonald, is entertaining, witty, heartening, and uplifting. Ms. MacDonald took difficult times in her life and made them appear fun by utilizing witty and dry humor throughout. The good, the bad, and the ugly of married life on a chicken farm in the late 1920’s is written with such flare that even today I think some people will relate to some of the situations.

The Egg and I is narrated by Heather Henderson and she performed the story so well that I thought Betty MacDonald herself was sitting in my living room telling the story. Henderson’s voice is soothing and hypnotic and took an already great book to an utterly outstanding book! The ‘voice’ of Pa Kettle was perhaps my favorite, but the ‘voices’ of all the characters were distinctive and enjoyable to listen to. Ms. Henderson is a new narrator for me, but I will definitely search out more titles narrated by her in the future - especially the other books written by Betty MacDonald.

Overall, this was a fun book to listen to and I found myself laughing out loud throughout. The Egg and I is extremely well-written with charming and delightful characters and is one audio book that I will listen to again and again.

Story – 4 stars
Performance – 5 stars
Overall – 4.5 stars

3 people found this helpful

can't get enough

This is the kind of story you want to keep with you and listen to over and over. The characters and entertaining, inspiring, comforting and funny.

3 people found this helpful

The Hens Revenge

Would you consider the audio edition of The Egg and I to be better than the print version?

sure no two ways about it. Audio with a fabulous narrator is far more robust than reading a book.

Have you listened to any of Heather Henderson’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Heather Henderson has a gentle and refined voice. I have listened to some of her other Audio narrations. and she lends a certain something to each book that is special, always she is in tune with the authors intent and true to the characters in the story,

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Can't exactly say anything moved me because what did make an impact and not in a good way was when Bob, was so unfeeling and callous when the horse was standing on her foot and she was in real pain. The lout only was annoyed that the work was being slowed down and stopped.

Any additional comments?

The Egg and I was written during a very different mindset in history than today so no one should judge Betty for what was normal in 1945.
It was not far into the story that I really disliked Bob and could foresee that things were not going to work out in the long term for them as a couple. I had a sense he was marrying her for money and a workhorse. He was just mean and selfish. Aside from that he was way to old for Betty and she was to young and innocent for such a clod.

3 people found this helpful

Sarcasm does not equal wit

Well, I’m so conflicted about this book. I have watched the movie numerous times and love all the wonderful characters. The movie is a funny, feel-good story. This book is not. Most of the time the book is better than the movie. This book is not. It took me several days to finish LISTENING to this book—and it’s not that long of a book. The book is a memoir—my favorite genre. The author begins describing her background growing up—which gives her mindset as she entered into marriage. A woman’s role was to support her husband’s career choice without question, because his happiness was most important. She made every effort to do that, but she sure wasn’t happy about it. She had great difficulty finding the good in the location where she lived (the PNW), in her husband and his livelihood (a chicken farmer), and in the people around her (her neighbors, and the local Native Americans—“Indians”, as she refers to them). Her feelings about Native Americans is deemed racist in this day and age. I spent the first half of the book looking for any signs of familiarity with the movie narrative I’ve loved for years. The movie’s funniest characters (the Kettles, Birdie Hicks, Crowbar and Geoduck) really don’t come across as likable in the book—because deep down I think she saw herself as better than everyone. In the second half of the book, these characters are mentioned more (but still with disdain), but by that point I felt like I was just listening to a rant that was never going to end. It made me wake up at night and question the difference between being “witty” and being “sarcastic”. Why? Because in some review somewhere her humor is described as “witty”. She was thought to be a humorist of her day. I just found her terribly sarcastic. I’ve removed the remaining books in the series from my TBR list. I don’t think I could tolerate more negativity and sarcasm.

I also rate the narration when I listen to an Audible book. I found this narrator to be better than the off-putting material she had to read.

2 people found this helpful

A book of it's time

Well written, and we'll read. Betty MacDonald had a gift for rich evocative descriptions of people and landscapes. She clearly had a real affection for both on the Olympic Penninsula.

However, she also was quite clearly a product of the white, western ethos (as am I) and as such also brings to the book a lack of perspective for anyone existing outside of that ethos. Certainly some people and events she describes I would feel as uncomfortable as she clearly did, but she has a tendency to tie those events to broad cultural a racial stereotypes and not simply to troubled individuals on the spectrum of behavior that exists across all people regardless of race or culture.

I do believe that her often biting observations of people are genuinely meant to be humorous, and in truth, many are; just at the expense of her subjects.

If you're able to take these shortcomings as they are, there are some real nuggets in there. And there are many moments that hint at the broad social and cultural shifts looming on the horizon. On balance it remains a enlightening time capsule of the life and people of the Olympic Penninsula in the first half of the Twentieth Century.

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