{"product_id":"life-among-the-savages-shirley-jackson-penguin-modern-classics-9780241387801","title":"Life Among the Savages Shirley Jackson Penguin","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA darkly funny account of family life from the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Haunting of Hill House\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Lottery\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e''Sometimes, in my capacity as a mother, I find myself sitting open-mouthed and terrified before my own children''\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs well as being a master of the macabre, Shirley Jackson was also a pitch-perfect chronicler of everyday family life. In \u003ci\u003eLife Among the Savages\u003c\/i\u003e, her caustically funny account of raising her children in a ramshackle house in Vermont, she deals with rats in the cellar, misbehaving imaginary friends, an oblivious husband and ever-encroaching domestic chaos, all described with wit, warmth and plenty of bite. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Jackson''s family chronicles have a genuinely subversive aspect ... Read today, her pieces feel surprisingly modern - mainly because she refuses to sentimentalize or idealize motherhood'' \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Comic masterpieces, laced with hints of the discontent that lies beneath'' \u003ci\u003eG\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIs it ironic or fitting that some of the greatest American writing about that venerated and difficult activity, motherhood, comes from a horror writer? ... There is something rather magical about how Jackson managed to so transform suffering into comic masterpieces * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eAs warm as it is hilarious and believable ... Never has the state of domestic chaos been so perfectly illuminated * The New York Times Book Review *\u003cbr\u003eWarm and funny ... Read today, her pieces feel surprisingly modern - mainly because Jackson refuses to sentimentalize or idealize motherhood * The New York Times *\u003cbr\u003eCharming ... You'll see every parenting stance you've ever adopted, every parent-story trope you've ever told or heard, expressed more perfectly than you ever could have ... One of the great memoirists of family life * Slate *\u003cbr\u003eA housewife-mother's frustrations are transformed by a deft twist of the wrist into, not a grim account of disintegration and madness, still less the poisoning of her family, but light-hearted comedy -- Joyce Carol Oates\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49083431190871,"sku":"9780241387801","price":9.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780241387801.jpg?v=1725548920","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/life-among-the-savages-shirley-jackson-penguin-modern-classics-9780241387801","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}