Suds in Your Eye

by Mary Lasswell

Other authorsGeorge Price (Illustrator)
Hardcover, 1942

Status

Available

Call number

813.52

Publication

New York: Literary Classics, Inc., 1943

Description

Life is ripe with good times and plenty of beer when Mrs. Feeley welcomes her new friend, the musical Miss Tinkham, to share her San Diego home and junkyard, Noah's Ark. It's not long before the gourmet culinarian Mrs. Rasmussen moves in, too, and the three elderly ladies bask in their joie de vivre. But the party is cut short when they discover the property taxes have been pocketed by a swindling lawyer. The three wisecracking women must use their collective smarts to raise the money before they lose their home--and maybe fit in a trip to Tijuana if they can earn a little extra.   With this first book of Mary Lasswell's to feature the "Arkies," you'll be hard pressed to not grin along with the charm of Lasswell's characters. Go back to the '40s in this authentic piece of Americana and see how the story of your new three favorite ladies begins.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Srabibliotecaria
My mother recommended this book to me when I was about ten --- hmmmmmmmm. (Note: No one in our house drank anything alcoholic.) I love it, and the next one -- is that High Times? After that book they fall off a bit, but are still enjoyable. The Price illustrations really add to the books.
LibraryThing member Kristelh
This book is probably mostly unknown book, it really is out of print but you can buy used books and there is an e-book available. My book club voted to read this book. Mary Lasswell is an American author who wrote during WWII while she waited for her military husband to return. Suds in Your Eye is
Show More
her first book and it is a rather silly book about 3 old, impoverished women who live to drink beer. The book is set in San Diego during WWII and it is about living life to the fullest without working your life awy. It embraces making do with what you have, eating well but cheaply and not overextending your self so that you can't enjoy life. It is a book that embraces community; in this book you have 3 old women and an old man, you have Chinese, Mexicans, tuna queens (fish factory workers), teachers and secretaries. A bit of this book reminded me of John Steinbeck's book Cannery Row but just not great literature like you expect from John Steinbeck.

What I think the essence of this book is "the community" that one can have with other people and how this book embraced all peoples and classes of people and when you think about this book being written in 1942, that's saying something. The plot is just a simple story of 3 old ladies trying to survive in Noah's Ark (the name of the place Mrs Finey lives). It's a quick read, the e-book was without defects. I think the author chose to write as a way of getting by while she waited for her husband to return from th e war. The book is humorous. Because it is so much about drinking "cases of beer", living in a junkyard with a fence of beer cans, I think it makes the book a bit quirky and will give it that tag as well.
Show Less
LibraryThing member JudyGibson
I enjoyed this little book especially for the historic look at life in San Diego during WWII. I don't remember the war, but I do remember the tuna cannery, the bars for sailors (where the gaslamp district is now, oh yes, locker clubs and strip joints), the "Tia Juana" nightclubs (I guess they're
Show More
still there). Love the story of the spunky beer-guzzling old ladies! A fun read.
Show Less

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1942

Physical description

220 p.; 20 cm
Page: 0.4926 seconds