Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Peoples Book Club (1943), Edition: Book Club Edition
Description
The charming adventures of the Mama of an immigrant Norwegian family living in San Francisco. This bestselling book inspired the play, motion picture, and television series I Remember Mama.
User reviews
LibraryThing member delphica
(#34 in the 2007 book challenge)
It's a collection of memoirs/stories/anecdotes based on memoirs written by a daughter about her family, recent immigrants to San Francisco. Well, recent at the time, I believe most of them took place in the 1910s and 20s. They're all very droll and usually illustrate
Grade: B+
Recommended: This is a little on the bland side, but it made a great book discussion book because it was such a good jumping off point to talk about the immigrant experience and that particular time period, and provided lots of fodder for people to compare it to other books with similar themes as well as more personal family experiences. It's also a quick read.
It's a collection of memoirs/stories/anecdotes based on memoirs written by a daughter about her family, recent immigrants to San Francisco. Well, recent at the time, I believe most of them took place in the 1910s and 20s. They're all very droll and usually illustrate
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some sort of moral, which is nice, but this is one of those books where when you take a closer look, it's a little amazing how simple the stories seem and yet how absolutely intentional and skillful they are. And of course, they are about one of my favorite things, domestic life in the 1910s. This was so popular when it was published that a movie and then a TV series were based on it, although I have seen neither.Grade: B+
Recommended: This is a little on the bland side, but it made a great book discussion book because it was such a good jumping off point to talk about the immigrant experience and that particular time period, and provided lots of fodder for people to compare it to other books with similar themes as well as more personal family experiences. It's also a quick read.
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LibraryThing member dichosa
A beautiful, heartwarming story about Norwegian immigrants living in San Francisco. It is written from the perspective of the eldest daughter as she graduates high school and realizes the love of her family, especially her mother.
LibraryThing member beanyncecil
In this true story, the author was told by a more experienced writer that she should write about things she knows. And this book proves the other author was right. Telling only about the things with which she was most familiar: her family of Norwegian descent, San Francisco in the early 1900's,
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etc., Kathryn Forbes has woven a tale which I am only too glad to read over and over. it never lets me down. Show Less
LibraryThing member bell7
In episodic chapters, the author draws on the experiences of her Norwegian immigrant grandmother to describe a family in San Fransisco in the early 1900s, and their steadfast Mama.
I picked this up from the library on a whim, because as I was looking at the book, I was almost certain that I'd read
I picked this up from the library on a whim, because as I was looking at the book, I was almost certain that I'd read
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it before. Or part of it. I'm still not entirely sure. Two of the stories - "Mama and the Graduation Present" and "Mama and Uncle Elizabeth" - I believe were in one of my literature books as an elementary or middle school student. I really enjoyed these heartwarming and often funny stories. Each chapter could be read nearly on its own, though time moves on, and some references are made to past chapters. The importance of family, and Mama's oft-repeated phrase, "It is good," are at the heart of this story. Show Less
LibraryThing member leseratte30
I really enjoyed reading this book. It showed the transition from an immigrant to an adapted lifestyle. Very wise woman.
LibraryThing member jillrhudy
In PB reprint from 1943: this trove of delightful little gems about an indomitable Norwegian matriarch of early twentieth-century San Francisco. Mama manages five kids, her own squabbling siblings, money problems, medical crises, and a growing number of boarders with optimism and insight. A fine
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antidote to our own coarse and indulgent times. I was saying Mama's mantra "is good, is good" and grinning ear to ear by the middle of the book. Show Less
LibraryThing member fingerpost
A collection of (I assume) semi-autobiographical short stories about the author's growing up in San Francisco, the child of Norwegian immigrant parents. The keystone that holds the family together is Mama, around whom each story/chapter focuses. Though originally published in 1943, this has aged
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remarkably well. Reading it in 2021, the language still felt fresh, and the stories engaged me. It's mostly a sweet and heart-warming collection. Show Less
Language
Original publication date
1943
Physical description
8.2 inches