jeneenthepharm's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
shayneh's review against another edition
4.0
Lots of fun. Please read this before you go and build a house! (Pro tip: as of 2014, multiply every dollar number in this book by 16 to adjust for inflation.)
sonshinelibrarian's review against another edition
2.75
Well, I picked this up on a whim after coming across it here at my library. It was certainly interesting. I enjoyed William Steig's illustrations throughout. Mostly I feel like this is a book anyone should read if they're thinking about building a house. There's a very dry humor underlying this comedy of errors, which is firmly pinned in the reality of how anything that can go wrong will and that people who don't have any expertise need to rely on those who have it but can also be taken advantage of by those same experts.
mefrost's review against another edition
challenging
funny
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
csd17's review against another edition
4.0
It was clever, sly, and funny... until it started to get real and read like a horror story or a morality tale. Read it. But don't start to take it seriously like I did.
2000ace's review against another edition
4.0
This is a really, really funny book, touching on just about every nightmare a home owner could possibly imagine. Eric Hodgins put his never-used engineering degree from M.I.T. to work overtime, to come up with dilemmas from jacking up the sagging foundation, to the famous"Taj Mahal" closet with changes totaling $1247.00. Mr. Blandings and his equally long-suffering wife are never mentioned by first name, but they still come across as the vulnerable, fallible type of people most of us are when confronted by construction madness. The illustrations by William Stieg are the icing on the cake in this highly entertaining story.
pussreboots's review
5.0
In the BookCrossing forums there is a long standing debate about film adaptations of books. With a well-read group of people, there is a lot of reluctance in the group at seeing the film adaptations as they are so often changed. I am firmly in the camp of film adaptation lovers. With so many books published every year it is impossible to read a significant cross section of them. Add up all the previous years and one is quickly faced with an avalanche of books! That's where the film adaptations come in; when I see a film has been inspired by a book I am almost certain to find a copy to read for myself. I've probably read hundreds of books "recommended" to me via the medium of film.
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House is one of these books. I saw the 1948 film starring Cary Grant and Myrna Loy on cable (back in the days when we could afford cable) and loved the film. It's actually my second brush with the book (having seen The Money Pit, the 1986 Spielberg version first). But it was the Cary Grant version that made me want to read the book. The next day I purchased a copy for myself.
So, does the book hold up to the movies? Yes. The 1948 versions is a very faithful adaptation in the setting, the plot and the characters. The book though is an even quirkier story than the film, being told in a number of ways: via an omniscient narrator who for the most part follows Mr. Blandings, letters between Blandings and the various workmen involved in the house, newspaper clippings and Mrs. Blandings's diary. The diary entries really caught my attention because they read so much like modern blog entries (minus the emoticons).
Besides the quirky narration, the book is illustrated by William Steig. Steig's cartoons pull out the funniest passages in the chapter and bring them to life with just a few lines.
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House is one of these books. I saw the 1948 film starring Cary Grant and Myrna Loy on cable (back in the days when we could afford cable) and loved the film. It's actually my second brush with the book (having seen The Money Pit, the 1986 Spielberg version first). But it was the Cary Grant version that made me want to read the book. The next day I purchased a copy for myself.
So, does the book hold up to the movies? Yes. The 1948 versions is a very faithful adaptation in the setting, the plot and the characters. The book though is an even quirkier story than the film, being told in a number of ways: via an omniscient narrator who for the most part follows Mr. Blandings, letters between Blandings and the various workmen involved in the house, newspaper clippings and Mrs. Blandings's diary. The diary entries really caught my attention because they read so much like modern blog entries (minus the emoticons).
Besides the quirky narration, the book is illustrated by William Steig. Steig's cartoons pull out the funniest passages in the chapter and bring them to life with just a few lines.
mtdewdependent47's review against another edition
4.0
Cary Grant does an excellent job reprising his role as Mr. Blandings. Myrna Loy's presence is sorely missed here, but overall, this radio production was quite enjoyable and recommended for fans of the movie and Old Hollywood.
catsofdeath's review
4.0
I will never build a house. I haven't seen the movies that are based on this book so this was a fresh read for me. I enjoyed it. I wouldn't say it's laugh out loud funny and you really do feel for Mr. Blanding as everyone even his wife seems to be against him. But then at times you look at both him and his wife and are like you are overreacting especially when a cottage was built down then hill from them and they were upset about it hurting the view but it could barely be seen. This is book one finished in my 26 book challenge: This challenge was read a book with a blue cover.
sunsoar25's review
3.0
Mr. Blandings, an NYC advertising executive, and his wife and kids want to leave their tiny Midtown apartment for a farmhouse in the country. The place they end up buying, and get thoroughly ripped off on, should have been demolished years ago, so they'll need build a brand new house. Pretty much everything that can go wrong, does go wrong while trying to design and construct the perfect home. This house may be the nightmare that does him in, or bankrupts him.
I picked up this novel published in 1946 because I love the hilarious movie starring Cary Grant and Myrna Loy, which was released in 1948. I didn't release until very recently that it was actually based on a very real book. Since the movie is so great, I expected the book would be just as good, if not better. As it turns out, the movie is by far better. The book doesn't really have the sense of humor or charm of the adaptation. Don't get me wrong because it has it's moments, but it's not nearly as fun. There's not really much when it comes to character development - we don't even know the Blandings' first names. The tongue-in-cheek style of writing is very sarcastic and dry, but it is very wordy - often using ten words when one or two would work just as well. As you can imagine some of the paragraphs got very long.
There were a few scenes that I would have liked to have seen in the movie, though. For example, Mr. Tesander's story about that time he drilled an 851 foot deep well for a client and never hit any water, just ruined his equipment and then the client died before paying him; the new neighbors who are building a shack on two acres of their property and they were only charged $65; the newspaper article where the local historical society wants to sue them for tearing down the third oldest building in the county; and finally the full painting scene that would make any painter in their right mind cringe.
Final verdict: Skip the book, watch the movie instead.
I picked up this novel published in 1946 because I love the hilarious movie starring Cary Grant and Myrna Loy, which was released in 1948. I didn't release until very recently that it was actually based on a very real book. Since the movie is so great, I expected the book would be just as good, if not better. As it turns out, the movie is by far better. The book doesn't really have the sense of humor or charm of the adaptation. Don't get me wrong because it has it's moments, but it's not nearly as fun. There's not really much when it comes to character development - we don't even know the Blandings' first names. The tongue-in-cheek style of writing is very sarcastic and dry, but it is very wordy - often using ten words when one or two would work just as well. As you can imagine some of the paragraphs got very long.
There were a few scenes that I would have liked to have seen in the movie, though. For example, Mr. Tesander's story about that time he drilled an 851 foot deep well for a client and never hit any water, just ruined his equipment and then the client died before paying him; the new neighbors who are building a shack on two acres of their property and they were only charged $65; the newspaper article where the local historical society wants to sue them for tearing down the third oldest building in the county; and finally the full painting scene that would make any painter in their right mind cringe.
Final verdict: Skip the book, watch the movie instead.
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