This book was published the first time in 1958 under the parole "Do you dare read about yourself? Can you not read about your neighbour?"

In this book we meet Mrs. Svendsen, a devoted and unselfish housewife and mother, always putting her husband and two sons first. Then the apartment, laundry, the dishes and maybe, if there is time, herself. And all this just to impress her neighbours. I guess most of you are familiar with the expression "keeping up with the Jones", which is the key ingredient in Mrs Svendsen's existence.

We also meet Edna, Mrs Svendsen's best friend, a radical woman who do not clean her apartment every day, she goes skiing with the children instead of washing the windows on Fridays, and Mrs. Svendsen can even spot dust in the living room. But, there is also a snake in paradise, taking the form as Mrs. Helgesen, the new and good looking neighbour, who wears make up and high heels. She also feels rather sweet about poor Mr. Svendsen. A drama in the making.

This book is filled with satire, caricatures, humour and wit. Everything from the characters to the surroundings is almost cut out from the fifties and pasted in between two hardback covers. But then again, it is contemporary satire from the fifties, about the fifties. It was extremely popular back then, and the fun part is that it still works. Though it was looked upon as something new and refreshing, something many was thinking, but did not dare say out loud. Almost scandalous.

Today, this book is almost like a fairy tale, at least to me. Maybe I am demanding too much of my future husband (if I find someone), but I am not alone. All of my friends, and me included, expect our men to help cleaning the house, doing laundry, dishes and vacuuming. I even expect my man to help me with the kids at night, he has to help changing the diapers and cook dinner. I expect us to share equally the work around the house, since (most likely) both of us will have full-time jobs. Time, on the other hand, will show:)

I really enjoyed this book, it told me of a time lost, but nonetheless, a very interesting time period indeed. ( )