Sleeping Arrangements (edition 2006)

by Laura Shaine Cunningham

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228	6	117,876	(3.48)	12
Very few books have the magic of Sleeping Arrangements - the memoir of Lily Shaine, an orphan brought up by her two eccentric bachelor uncles. Uncle Len is a 6 foot 6 inch private investigator, a trench-coated cross between Abraham Lincoln and Sam Spade. Uncle Gabe, the librarian, is a confirmed dreamer who writes gospel songs in his spare time. With her uncles as mentors, the human jungle of the Bronx in the 1950s as her playground, the schoolroom as her torture chamber, and very knowing little girls as her playmates, Lily learns the secrets of life, sex, death and, above all, family love. A wry, funny and deeply affectionate portrait of the most unlikely of happy families, Sleeping Arrangements is a modern classic.… (more)

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Member:	Lwellen
Title:	Sleeping Arrangements
Authors:	Laura Shaine Cunningham
Info:	Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (2006), Edition: New edition, Paperback, 240 pages
Collections:	Your library
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Sleeping Arrangements by Laura Shaine Cunningham

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Quite an unusual family. Laura (though her name is Lily in the book; I'd love to read her other books to see why she changed). Her mother died when she was only 8 years old. Her two bachelor uncles moved in with her (an eventually her dotty grandmother) and quite a different life for them all. It was funny how naive these men were in taking care of her and her Uncle Gabe had to call his sister to see how to give her a bath. Come on, she was 8. She should know! They had no furniture. Her Uncle Len, liked to live unencumbered.

A humorous read though sometimes sad. They lived together for 8 years and though it was unusual it seemed to work. (

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sweetbabyjane58 | Feb 29, 2024 |

A vivid account of how the author was cared for by her bachelor uncles after the death of her mother, set in the Bronx of the 1950s. I came across it in a letter from Jessica Mitford to the author (read in "Decca", edited by Peter Y. Sussman). It is well worth reading, which I did in a single sitting. There is a tension between the roles of a single parent (loving but the need to scrape a living makes her daughter fairly feral, with the dangers of the street not hard to find); the uncles (pretty inept domestically but showing total commitment to the nurture of their bereaved young niece); and the unsettling power of the Authorities. (

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Roarer | Sep 28, 2020 |

Oh gosh. I should've trusted my instinct and judged this book by the cover. Something about the art hinted at a high yuck factor (lots of child sexuality, including molestation and prostitution by a girl as young as 5). But the words all over the cover said stuff like 'comic, delightful, enchanting, funny.' One blurb says you'll want to 'send to your mother' a copy.

Um, no. I did get through it, as did Laura. But if it weren't for those amazing uncles, we may not have been able to do so. I wish she'd gotten to know them better so we could, too. But I cannot imagine sharing this with my mother. Or anyone I know. (

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Cheryl_in_CC_NV | Jun 6, 2016 |

Odd story about young girl growing up with equally odd uncles and grandmother during the 50's. (

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Nancy.Mosholder | Nov 30, 2009 |

Childhood memories – 50's in the Bronx – very enjoyable – in part, unbelievable, as in, did this really happen, but always interesting.

marysargent | Apr 29, 2007 |

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Very few books have the magic of Sleeping Arrangements - the memoir of Lily Shaine, an orphan brought up by her two eccentric bachelor uncles. Uncle Len is a 6 foot 6 inch private investigator, a trench-coated cross between Abraham Lincoln and Sam Spade. Uncle Gabe, the librarian, is a confirmed dreamer who writes gospel songs in his spare time. With her uncles as mentors, the human jungle of the Bronx in the 1950s as her playground, the schoolroom as her torture chamber, and very knowing little girls as her playmates, Lily learns the secrets of life, sex, death and, above all, family love. A wry, funny and deeply affectionate portrait of the most unlikely of happy families, Sleeping Arrangements is a modern classic.

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