Note : This review was first posted in my blog - Book and Ink

A book about an Irish-French family from half way around the world – definitely sounds like an interesting read for me. The book was just that – an interesting memoir of an oversized family (by present standards).

The story traces the roots of writer’s family who emigrated from Ireland to Canada. Written almost chronologically, the story begins with writer’s parents’ getting married and eventually having the writer and her siblings. The writer eventually falls in love, gets married and has her own kids and has her fair share of losses. Being from a large family myself, I know what fun it is when all folks get together. The writer sure had a lot of fun. Sadly having so many characters in a book had me all confused. It would have helped if the writer had a family tree in the beginning of the book instead of the ending. Some anecdotes in the book had me in splits – like the title, where her grandmother replies as to why she had a lot kids in spite of being poor, while others lacked wit and humor. The writing was pretty raw and much like what a seasoned blogger would write if he/she were to write a book (in terms of language). The book has quite a handful of spell errors that had been overlooked. The high point of the book would be the emotions – all the characters in the book emoted perfectly as they would have in real life. Needless to say, being a memoir, the writer captured emotions pretty well. The other interesting ‘feature’ of the book would be the songs that were featured.

MY SAY: One time humorous read. Perfect if you want to sample lives of people from a different culture.

RATING:

NARRATION: 6/10

CHARACTERISATION: 7/10

BOREDOM QUOTIENT: 4/10 (lower the better)

OVERALL RATING: 6.5/10
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This is a memoir of a very large French-Canadian family written by Pauline Kiely. With the title "No Poverty Between the Sheets," I figured this would provide a humorous view of growing up in such a family. Kiely provides this looking back from when her parents first came to Canada from Ireland and France to the day she was born to her time as an adult.

This memoir is filled with amusing anecdotes, comedy and raw emotion. I loved reading about this family's experience through time, especially the 60's and 70's. It was very interesting to see how music, the mix of cultures, drugs and the changing decades affected the family. I really loved all of the stories about animals and the song lyrics from her family. The story and some of the anecdotes did seem a little disjointed at times, I never really felt a good flow. However, it was a good book to pick up put down over the day. Overall, this was a different type of memoir, one about family ties and bonds with the unique outlook of a French and Irish Canadian point of view.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
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It took me a while to get interested in this book. It might have been because I’d heard such good thoughts about it and heard that it was hilarious, and maybe I just built it up in my mind too much. It could have just been the mood I was in.

But then the book got funny. Some of it was LOL funny and some of it was just snicker funny. It was also just a bit too corny at times.

What I liked about the book was that the family was super close and really loved and enjoyed each other’s company. I liked reading how they interacted and all the crazy things they did, and I liked learning a bit about where the lived. And I liked the photos. They add to the story and make you feel part of it.

All in all I liked the book, but I know many other people who loved it. Read it and see what you think. ( )