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Jean Kerr

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Please Don't Eat the Daisies Kindle Edition

by Jean Kerr (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.2 251 ratings

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The “refreshing . . . laugh-out-loud” #1 New York Times bestseller about life in the suburbs that was adapted into a classic film comedy (Kirkus Reviews).

One day, Tony Award–winning playwright Jean Kerr packed up her four kids (and husband, Walter, one of Broadway’s sharpest critics), and left New York City. They moved to a faraway part of the world that promised a grassy utopia where daisies grew wild and homes were described as neo-gingerbread. In this collection of “wryly observant” essays, Kerr chronicles her new life in this strange land called Larchmont (TheWashington Post).

It sounds like bliss—no more cramped apartments and nightmarish after-theater cocktail parties where the martinis were never dry enough. Now she has her very own washer/dryer, a garden, choice seats at the hottest new third-grade school plays (low overhead but they’ll never recoup their losses), and a fresh new kind of lunacy.

In Please Don’t Eat the Daisies “Jean Kerr cooks with laughing gas” as she explores the everyday absurdities, anxieties, and joys of marriage, family, friends, home decorating, and maintaining a career—but this time with a garage! (Time).

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Jean Kerr, author, playwright, and wife of theater critic Walter Kerr, has invited all of us to join her in the madcap life she describes as a (real life) suburban working mother of four boys. Although dated, these 1957 vignettes into the Kerr household, read here with ease by Marni Webb, suggest that without a heavy dose of humor, any Mom is liable to end up on a psychiatrist's couch at $25 an hour. For example, if you don't remember to tell your child what not to do (usually something completely unimaginable and totally outrageous), there she will be, doing it, having conceived the impossible and actualizing it herself. Recommended for libraries with older audio listeners who want to recall the nostalgic 1950s.AKristin M. Jacobi, Eastern Connecticut State Univ., Willimantic
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"This timeless audiobook, originally published in 1957, sounds as fresh as a daisy...These tapes sound like two hours of stand-up comedy. Webb delivers it in a deadpan manner with appropriate pauses for laughter. Her tone conveys the frustration and hilarity of being a young mother trying to survive in a rough environment." -- AudioFile, June/July 1998

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07KHCRL7K
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media; Reprint edition (January 22, 2019)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 22, 2019
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 5678 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 118 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #163,666 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #61 in Parenting & Family Humor
- #76 in Theatre Biographies
- #115 in Humor Essays (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
4.2 251 ratings

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4.2 out of 5

251 global ratings

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pkspalding

Very, very funny and not what I expected

Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2019

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While currently in the hospital, as Kerr describes in the penultimate essay in this book, I was looking for light reading, emphasis on light. My knowledge of Please Don't Eat the Daisies stemmed entirely from the film with Doris Day; my 4hinking was it just doesn't get lighter than that, does it? What I find is a collection of essays from various magazines that Kerr wrote in the 1950's. The Manhattanites schlep to the suburbs story is there, all right, in one chapter. This book is funny from the introduction to the utterly useless and superfluous Index (sadly omitted from this ebook edition). The many pieces on child rearing in the suburban '50's do show their age, but they aren't offered as childrearing primers, and remain very funny. Essays on writing, Broadway, producers and how to lunch them, as well as some wicked send ups of Francoise Sagan, as well as Stephen Vincent Benét's 'John Brown's Body' (in which Mickey Spillane hogs the stage. A bucolic writer I assume to be E B White is dealt with smartly. Finally, her essay on survival tips for a hospital visit had my bruised and battered body aching from laughter. Do yourself s favor and read this book.

17 people found this helpful

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Diane Pettit

Remains funny, refreshing and wholesome 62 yrs after it was written.

Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2019

I initially read Please Don't Eat the Daisies when I was a teenager. The author's sense of wry humor and literary references made me laugh back then even when I had no experience with house buying, decorating home repair , raising kids, pets and playwriting. Now that I've experienced all but the playwriting part, I've found it to be even funnier and found myself, on numerous occasions, explaining the title to others. In spite of it being quite dated, it is very refreshing to find some things remain amusing and entertaining.

One person found this helpful

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DebO

So Glad This is FINALLY on Kindle

Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2019

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I first read this wonderful book in the 1960s when I was in grade school. I have read it so many times that I have literally worn out four or five copies to the point they were falling apart, and it still makes me laugh out loud. I am so glad it is finally available on Kindle so I don't have to worry about more copies falling apart. If you've never read this hilarious book, by all means, do. It is a wonderful look at the challenges of being a mother of four boys when all you really want is to sleep late in the morning. It also is a delightful comment on theater, fashion, home remodeling and decorating, and the other tribulations that, despite technology, haven't changed that much in 5 decades. This is definitely the funniest work I have ever read and is sure to keep you laughing from start to finish.

18 people found this helpful

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Kay Hudson

Still funny after all these years

Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2019

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I read Jean Kerr’s Please Don’t Eat the Daisies decades ago (it was originally published in 1957) and remembered it fondly, so when I saw an ebook version wander by (from Open Road Media) I grabbed it. And the book is just as funny as I remembered. The title comes from one of her essays about raising children (the inspiration for a movie), but much of the short book is about writing (Kerr was a respected playwright, her husband a drama critic) and life in general. I hope Open Road rescues Kerr’s other books (The Snake Has All the Lines, Penny Candy), which also appear to be long out of print.

8 people found this helpful

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sue lowcavage

Since I grew up in the 50’s I can appreciate all the references

Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2023

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Reading. So funny.

One person found this helpful

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JP

Okay

Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2023

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It is okay of a story. The writing it very good, but the story line didn't grip me and hold me. I guess I didn't find it relatable. Good thing it's a short book and I read it in a day.

One person found this helpful

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Gale Kelsey

Fun book.

Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2021

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I did a reading from this book in my college speech class. I got an A. It's so funny and so relatable to people's lives. I loved it. Good movie with Doris Day, too.

One person found this helpful

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dazee

not that funny i think

Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2016

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I cant relate to the authors wealthy lifestyle and child-raising ideas at all. she does not make me laugh.