Betty MacDonald Memoirs

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.

Thanks to vaccines, tuberculosis is rare in North America today and, thanks to antibiotics, relatively treatable. This wasn't the case in 1938, when Betty MacDonald was diagnosed. It was more common and often deadly. The only hope for a cure was treatment in a sanitorium, which was costly. For those who couldn't afford it, there were public facilities with long wait lists. It was into one of these, Firland Sanitorium (The Pines in The Plague and I), that Betty MacDonald was lucky enough to go in 1938. With the same abundant wry humor and keen observation of people that made her first book, The Egg and I, so immensely popular, MacDonald describes life at The Pines.

The Audiobook: Chronologically, this book takes place after her misadventures on a chicken ranch-the subject of Betty's first book, The Egg and I-and before her account of a year spent in a tuberculosis sanatorium, recounted in The Plague and I (both of which are also available in audio from Post Hypnotic Press). Despite the hilarity with which she described her time spent chicken farming, she was unhappy in her marriage and terribly lonely. Anybody Can Do Anything opens with her leaving the farm and her husband and making her way with her two children back to Seattle and the bosom of her family, just as the Depression begins. She and her family-a mother, a brother, and three sisters, plus her two young girls-live in a modest dwelling in a respectable neighborhood, near good schools and adequate for a normal family." As the Depression goes on, they find much comfort in having that home and in having each other to rely on and commiserate with. With two children to support, Betty was desperate for work as jobs became more and more scarce. But she also had her sister, Mary, an eccentric and energetic finder of jobs and organizer of people. Since childhood, Mary had been getting Betty in and out of situations. With Mary's 'can do' attitude, Betty was propelled into jobs and sent on dates, regardless of whether she possessed the skills necessary for the job or had anything in common with her date. Betty credits Mary's positive attitude with getting them through the hard years: Mary, one of those fortunate people who are able to bring forth great reserves of strength and fortitude during times of stress, accepted the Depression as a personal challenge. She always had a job, she tried to find jobs for her family and hundreds of friends, and while she was looking propped up everyone's limp spirits by defying big corporations. When the telephone company threatened to cut off our telephone because the bill hadn't been paid, Mary marched right down to see the president and told him that if he cut off our phone and left us with no communication with the outside world, she was going to sue him personally... I told him a telephone and telegraph company is a public service operating under a special grant from the State. If you cut off my telephone, you will not be performing a public service and I will sue you.- While successful with the phone company, this tactic didn't work when it came to their heat and the electricity, and they find themselves relying on old Christmas candles for light and firewood for heat: When we ran out of fireplace wood, Mary unearthed a bucksaw and marched us all down to a city park two blocks away, where we took turns sawing up fallen logs." Betty's writing is a testament to the power of humor to help cope with adversity, and her humor also afforded her opportunities to comment on larger issues. As the Depression grinds on, she notes: Now I grew more and more conscious of the aimlessness and sadness of the people on the streets, of the Space for Rent signs, marking the sudden death of businesses, that had sprung up over the city like white crosses on the battlefield and I lifted myself up each morning timidly and with dread." She doesn't desert her boss, Mr. Chalmers, even though his business is clearly failing. She intends to stay until the end. And I did," we read, in spite of Mr. Chalmers' telling me many times that the Depression was all my fault, the direct result of inferior people like me wearing silk stockings and thinking they were as good as people like him." And have we not heard this victim blaming rhetoric after every economic crisis, including the crash of 2008?

Comedy is probably not the first thing that springs to mind when we recall the Great Depression, but when Betty MacDonald recounted her experiences of that "hard" and "dreary" era in Anybody Can Do Anything, she found lots to laugh about. Chronologically, this book takes place after her misadventures on a chicken ranch – the subject of Betty's first book, The Egg and I – and before her account of a year spent in a tuberculosis sanatorium, recounted in The Plague and I (both of which are also available in audio from Post Hypnotic Press. Despite the hilarity with which she described her time spent chicken farming, she was unhappy in her marriage and terribly lonely. Anybody Can Do Anything opens with her leaving the farm and her husband and making her way with her two children back to Seattle and the bosom of her family, just as the Depression begins. She and her family - a mother, a brother, and three sisters, plus her two young girls – live in a "modest dwelling in a respectable neighborhood, near good schools and adequate for a normal family." As the Depression goes on, they find much comfort in having that home and in having each other to rely on and commiserate with.

The war created nearly insoluble housing problems in Seattle, so when Betty MacDonald remarried during it, she and her new husband, Don, were unable to find anything suitable. They turned to the small islands within commuting distance, but tours of these islands turned up little available housing, at least of the suitable variety, until they found the perfect house on Vashon. Now all they had to do was learn to cope with island life. They moved to Vashon in the fall, which wasn't too bad, but then winter showed up and was tough on everyone. Unsurprisingly, Betty's two teenaged daughters reached heights of unenthusiasm. Don and Betty's commute had more in common with a marathon as they struggled to travel to the mainland daily. They nearly packed it all in that first winter, but spring came and the Island seduced them with her many different charms. The glories – and difficulties – of gardening on Vashon; the friendly and the less than lovable neighbors; the animals, starting with their own dog and cats, plus raccoons, deer and others. Their house was always full of guests, guests and more guests, and then there were the renovations, the machinery needing repairs, the undependable workmen, and what might go wrong next? All too familiar ground for most householders, but for MacDonald, these all included a slight island twist. Eventually, MacDonald's daughters do grow up into charming adults, in spite of an abrasive adolescence, and return to Vashon when they can to remember the joys. This was Betty MacDonald's last memoir before her untimely death from cancer – her farewell. Her tongue is still sharp and she still finds humor in ludicrous situations, quirky personalities, and self-turned jibes, and the whole rounds out the picture begun with the (golden) Egg. She knew she was dying, but that didn't dry up her wit or dissuade her from enjoying the life she had. She was one amazing woman and a writer whose prose remains as vibrant and enjoyable today as it was when originally published.