BLANDING'S WAY

by Eric Hodgins ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 5, 1950

Mr. Blandings has again made Book-of-the-Month (the first, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, did right well in book and moving pictures) for this will be the alternate selection for October, with Belles On Their Toes. It is just as sobering a picture as the earlier book for his attempts to establish himself in his Connecticut home and reconcile his advertising job in the city with life in the country do little to lift the veils of dishonesty he encounters. Crists follows crisis, from the fire that brings all of Lansdale to help him to the campaign he continues to bring a state park to the community. In between there is Joanie winning an essay contest which turns into a red flag; their cook's husband whose farming brings the County Agent down on them; the local newspaper which Mr. Blandings didn't mean to buy and which, once bought, teaches him too much about the first settlers and the imported gentry and causes him to give up his job in the city; an article an oleomargarine dismays the dairy farmers; the state park issue plays into the hands of other detractors. To square his conscience, he sells both the house and the paper, and returns, his horizons still clouded, to his advertising job. ""What was past was prelude"" for this jungle of thinking in which peace-loving Mr. B. is embroiled and he stays on the run with much wry humor as his principles turn on him and bite. It's fine to have the Blandings with us again in spite of the fact that their confusion is as hopeless as the reader's own.

Pub Date: Oct. 5, 1950

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1950

Categories: FICTION