
The Egg and I
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $15.60
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Heather Henderson
-
By:
-
Betty MacDonald
When Betty MacDonald married a marine and moved to a small chicken farm on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, she was largely unprepared for the rigors of life in the wild. With no running water, no electricity, a house in need of constant repair, and days that ran from four in the morning to nine at night, the MacDonalds had barely a moment to put their feet up and relax. And then came the children. Yet through every trial and pitfall - through chaos and catastrophe - this indomitable family somehow, mercifully, never lost its sense of humor.
A beloved literary treasure for more than half a century, Betty MacDonald's The Egg and I is a heartwarming and uproarious account of adventure and survival on the American frontier.
©1945 Betty MacDonald (P)2015 Post Hypnotic PressListeners also enjoyed...




















People who viewed this also viewed...






Mrs. McDonald has a great way of telling her life story, or at least the part that took place on an egg farm in Washington state. Life among her neighbors and others in this rural setting was never dull, and she tells about it with a great deal of humor and insight. She and her husband manage to make a go of their egg farm in spite of many hardships, including no electricity, but with a lot of determination. I was a little sad when I finished this book. It was a little like having great neighbors move away.
A "Must Read"
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
can't get enough
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Love This Story
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What did you love best about The Egg and I?
I’ve wanted to read The Egg & I for several years, ever since I found out that my grandmother and grandfather had a small farm in Port Orchard, around the same time Betty MacDonald had the chicken ranch in Port Townsend (they would have been 60 miles apart, but experiencing similar challenges and beauty). My grandparents (all of them) died before I reached age 13, so I ever had a chance to know them as adults. It felt like reading this book would give me a better understanding, in some way, of who my grandmother was.So when Audiobookworm Promotions advertised the release of it in audiobook format for the first time ever, I jumped at the chance. This is the kind of story very well-suited to an audiobook. The wry humor falls in the same storytelling vein as authors like Garrison Keillor, so listening to it was breezy and fun.
It’s always interesting to experience an actual historic novel- that is, written by someone living in that era, with all the ideals of the era and no consideration that these values may be incorrect. Historical fiction is fun, but always written from a modern perspective, so it lacks the raw punch of true historic accounts. Listening to Betty’s understanding (aka society’s expectation) of what it means to be a wife, her offhand racist comments toward First Nations, and her exasperation with the “current fad” of chicken ranching was both awkward and honest. Knowing this could have easily been my grandmother, I wanted to show her that she, too, could have wants and needs apart from catering to her husband. But, of course, that was the era.
Slight cringe-worthy moments aside, the dry wit applied to this memoir makes it fun. And it doesn’t romanticize the self-suficient country life or the area. It seems an apt read, given the rise of homesteading. And of course, listening to it fortified my resolve to never homestead.
I recommend it for fans of memoirs, the 1940s, homesteading and country/ranch life, western Washington, and dry humor. And I definitely recommend it in audiobook format.
Wry and witty and definitely of the era
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Delightful
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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
This was a fun book to listen to!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It's a true gem
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It's the Little House books, but from Ma's side
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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.This is a wonderful portrayal of their life.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Amusing Book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.