A Happy Accident
The Home-Maker is an engaging, poignant and startlingly current novel. It charts the mutual journeys of Evangeline and Lester Knapp as they move (in opposite directions!) from disenchantment to fulfilment. In both cases this transition involves renouncing the roles imposed on them by a society founded upon fixed notions of male/female responsibility. (So, Evangeline leaves the home and Lester the office).
The portrayal of dissatisfaction, be it Lester's apathetic despair or Evangeline's channelled neuroses, is psychologically astute and is symptomatic of the psychological perspicacity of the novel as a whole. Particularly striking is the insight into the relationship between mind and body. For Lester, Evangeline and their children unhappiness and sickliness go hand in hand.
For meditation on questions of gender, responsibility and family this novel is a must read. Highly recommended.
In search of America's domestic soul
What an exciting find. I read The Homemaker cover to cover in one sitting, into the early hours of the morning. It's a remarkable book.
Lester and Eva Knapp are profoundly unhappy. He hates his job. She is a prisoner at home. Their children are paying the price, made sick by their parents suffocating misery.
When Lester is crippled by a terrible accident the Knapps' lives seem to hit rock bottom, but in the family's dark time they begin to see.
The Homemaker tells an uplifting story of Eva's discovery of the happiness brought by personal fulfilment and the family's defiance of the restrictive norms of small town America in the new shallow consumerism of the 1920s.
Most moving is Lester's journey from dispirited clerk to talented, loving parent. And the way in which his perceptive understanding of the real needs of his children cures them of their soul-sickness.
For in his accidental role reversal, Lester is allowed to become The Homemaker.
This is a beautifully written book, with characters you care deeply about and who will stay with you long after you have turned the final page.
It is also a profound comment on a society that cannot accept deviations from the traditional roles of breadwinner and homemaker that speaks as forcefully today as it did 80 years ago.
The Homemaker is a domestic Great Gatsby, asking the same deep questions about where America was heading in the early years of the 20th century. It is an unfortunate quirk of literary fate that one should be a revered set text and the other almost unknown.
Out of the kitchen Mama, Daddy's cooking tonight
Another fantastic Persephone book (Susan Glaspell's Fidelity first hooked me in) by another American author. Dorothy Canfield Fisher tells an initially horrifying yet gripping tale of a maniacally high energy, perfectionist mother who unwittingly brings unhappiness and physical illness on her husband and two children because of her own misery as a housewife. While the husband and wife's complete ignorance of the effects their inner desires and feelings have on others is not always entirely plausible, their emotions nevertheless stand out as most genuine and relevant to today's society. Canfield Fisher succeeds at depicting a very real spousal situation and as an author in the early to mid twentieth century, fashions a role reversal that, even today, might sadly seem odd and cause embarrassment and/or shame to the couple. Suitable for both men and women, I highly recommend this very quick read.
One of the finest early 20th Century novels I've read
Persephone Books consistently chooses some of the most amazing fiction to re-print, and _The Home-Maker_ is a stunning example of a novel that's been undeservedly neglected. Dorothy Canfield's book raises some very important questions about gender roles in society, questions which are still completely relevant today. Not only is the book very assertive in its statements about society but it's also a very good yarn. The characters in this book have continued to haunt me after finishing the book and I've re-read the book once already. It's a brilliant, brilliant book and deserves a wider audience.
What makes a happy family?
This is a wonderful novel which is just as relevant today as when it was first published in 1924. Lester and Evangeline Knapp live in small-town America. Lester is a miserable clerk in a department store, and Eva is equally miserable at home. The first chapters of the novel are almost unbearable as we see Eva mercilessly cleaning her house to within an inch of it's life, creating a "perfect" home with no warmth at it's centre. Her children are nervous (except her youngest, Stephen, who is rebellious),her husband is dyspeptic, and her neighbours admire her efficiency while Eva bursts into hysterical tears at the slightest upset. When an accident disables Lester, their roles are reversed. He stays home to keep house and look after the children, and Eva goes to work as a saleswoman in the store which once employed her husband. All the qualities which made Eva such a disastrous housekeeper make her a wonderful saleswoman. The children find their health and happiness improves when their house becomes a home instead of a torture chamber. Lester discovers his vocation in nurturing his family, the relationship which develops between him and the children is beautifully drawn. But, will small-town America allow this bliss to continue? Can the Knapps really be happy in such an unnatural situation? Canfield Fisher's novel is involving on every level. I loved Eva's blossoming in her new career, her enthusiasm was a joy. The author's theme is not just the rights of adults to follow their inclinations and talents, but the rights of children to be brought up in a nurturing environment. Who raises them isn't really the issue.
