| Evelyn Ryan is a housewife in a small 1950s Ohio town. Her life would be described as "awful" by an outside observer: she lives with an alchoholic husband who is frequently out of work and spends much of his earnings on booze, and she has 10 children who keep her constantly busy with their various adventures. Although Evelyn showed much promise academically, her marriage to Kelly Ryan ended her dreams of writing for a newspaper.
However, Evelyn refuses to give up and wallow in her depressing circumstances. Instead, she channels her creativity into entering contests which were quite popular in the 1950s. Most involved writing brief rhymes or essays, and the prizes varied from luggage to bug spray to free groceries to trips and cars. Evelyn's genius comes through in the many creative entries she writes, and consequently in the constant stream of prizes which arrive at the Ryan home, often just when needed (she constantly seems to win a new appliance just when the old one has stopped working). | ||
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Plot & Themes Family, love Yes Special relationship with - mother Period of greatest activity? - 1950+ Subject of Biography Gender - Female Profession/status: Ethnicity - White Nationality - American Setting How much descriptions of surroundings? - 5 () Century: - 1930's-1950's Writing Style Book makes you feel? - encouraged - like laughing Pictures/Illustrations? - A lot 11-15 B&W How much dialogue in bio? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog How much of bio focuses on most famous period of life? - 76%-100% of book |
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