Fanny Herself
by Edna Ferber
On This Page
Description
It was about this time that Fanny Brandeis began to realize, actively, that she was different. Of course, other little Winnebago girls' mothers did not work like a man, in a store. And she and Bella Weinberg were the only two in her room at school who stayed out on the Day of Atonement, and on New Year, and the lesser Jewish holidays. Also, she went to temple on Friday night and Saturday morning.Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Interesting early 1900's story of a middle-American young Jewish girl setting out to claim success for herself in the opportunity-heavy world of business, mostly as a direct response to a childhood of sacrifice that did not fare well for her mother and a determination to blaze a different trail. Of course, women were not major players in business, yet she refused to buy into that and fought her way forward anyway. Lots of talk about Jewish identity, is it a race or religion, and quite a bit of denial of her roots....all with mixed results. Women's suffrage, worker's rights, zealous capitalism, and the start of WWI all made for a much headier book than i was anticipating from Ferber, having read several of hers already. Apparently a fair show more amount of autobiographical content in the initial setting of the story. I enjoyed Ferber's folksy writing style probably more than i enjoyed this story...she has a very charming way of writing that makes it feel like just the two you are sitting in a comfortable room somewhere and she is recounting this story to you in person.....warm, judgmental, intimate, and very honest. No regrets. show less
Hard to believe this book was first published in 1917. The story and writing style do not feel dated and the story is just as strong today as in 1917. Features the strong female protagonist Edna Ferber is known
for.
for.
Fanny Herself is a very special book and one of my favorites. An old-fashioned novel filled with family, love, hard work, determination and wits. Fanny grows up in a supportive small town and is always learning from her daily experience and mostly from her larger than life mom. A hard but busy and fulfilling life pushes many dreams and feelings to the side to focus on the practical.
Eventually... feelings have a way of catching up.
Read this book. Its a treat, a roadmap for life and a gift from Ferber to her readers.
Excellent!
Eventually... feelings have a way of catching up.
Read this book. Its a treat, a roadmap for life and a gift from Ferber to her readers.
Excellent!
I'll admit it. I love old-fashioned novels. This one concerns a small town girl who makes it big in Chicago in the brand new field of the mail order catalog. She tries mightily to submerge her passionate human side in order to be a success in this male field. She does find success, but also finds she is losing her soul to Big Business. A boy from her small town home helps her find her way. Interesting look at small town Jewish culture before WWI.
If I had read this instead of listening, I might have been more engaged with the story. I found it a bit dull.
semi autobiographical of Edna Ferber. How her mother keeps the family general store going after her father dies. And her early adventures in business,
Published in 1917 and 1913, respectively, these books represent early steps in Ferber's journey to her 1924 Pulitzer Prize. Fanny is the semiautobiographical story of a Jewish girl growing up in the Midwest. Roast Beef is the chronicle of Emma McChesney, a divorced mother and traveling sales rep for T.A. Buck's Featherloom Skirts and Petticoats. Both titles feature vintage illustrations and scholarly introductions.
(From Library Journal)
(From Library Journal)
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
First published in 1917
132 works; 3 members
Top Five Books of 2024
795 works; 264 members
Author Information
72+ Works 4,983 Members
Edna Ferber was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Aug. 15, 1885. She spent her early career as a reporter. In 1910, Everybody's Magazine published her short story, The Homely Heroine, set in Appleton, Wisconsin. Ferber's novel, Dawn O'Hara, the story of a newspaperwoman in Milwaukee, followed in 1911. She gained national attention for her series of show more Emma McChesney stories, tales of a traveling underskirt saleswoman that were published in national magazines. A play based on the stories, Our Mrs. McChesney, was produced in 1915, starring Ethel Barrymore. With collaborator George S. Kaufman, Ferber wrote acclaimed plays Dinner at Eight and The Royal Family. Ferber won the Pulitzer Prize in 1925 for So Big, the story of a woman raising a child on a truck farm outside of Chicago. Her best known books include Show Boat, Cimarron, Giant and Ice Palace. Show Boat was made into a classic movie and Broadway musical; the film version of Cimarron, won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1931. Ferber wrote two autobiographies, A Peculiar Treasure published in 1939 and A Kind of Magic in 1963. She died of cancer on April 16, 1968. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1917
- People/Characters
- Fannie Brandeis; Molly Brandeis; Theodore Brandeis; Clarence Hoyl; Michael Fenger; Olga Brandeis (show all 7); Mizzie Brandeis
- Important places
- Winnebago, Wisconsin, USA; Chicago, Illinois, USA; New York, New York, USA
- Dedication
- To William Allen White
- First words
- Preface
It has become the fashion among novelists to introduce their hero in knee pants, their heroine in pinafore and pigtails. Time was when we were rushed up to a stalwart young man of twenty-four, who was present... (show all)ed as the pivot about whom the plot would revolve. Now we are led, protesting, up to a grubby urchin of five and are invited to watch him through twenty years of minutiae. In extreme cases we have been obliged to witness his evolution from swaddling clothes to dresses, from dresses to shorts (he is so often English), from shorts to Etons.
The thrill we get for our pains is when, at twenty-five, he jumps over the traces and marries the young lady we met in her cradle on page two…
…With which modest preamble you are asked to be patient with Miss Fanny Brandeis, aged thirteen. Not only must you suffer Fanny, but Fanny’s mother as well, without whom there could be no understanding Fanny. For that matter, we shouldn’t wonder if Mrs. Brandeis were to turn out the heroine in the end. She is that kind of person.
Chapter 1
You could not have lived a week in Winnebago without being aware of Mrs. Brandeis. In a town of ten thousand, where everyone was a personality, from Hen Cody, the drayman, in blue overalls (magically transfo... (show all)rmed on Sunday mornings into a suave black-broadcloth usher at the Congregational Church), to A. J. Dawes, who owned the waterworks before the city bought it. Mrs. Brandeis was a super-personality. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)They laughed together at that, so that Albert Edward Cobbins awoke with a start and tried to look as if he had not been asleep, and failing, smiled benignly and drowsily upon them.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 118
- Popularity
- 275,870
- Reviews
- 9
- Rating
- (3.85)
- Languages
- English, Esperanto, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 48
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 9
