The Tent, The Bucket, And Me - Emma Kennedy
Last summer I read ’I left my tent in San Francisco’ and I really loved that, so to get me through the current hectic exam period, I’ve been reading another of Emma Kennedy’s books, and it’s been the perfect respite from what seems to be constant stress.
The Tent, The Bucket, and Me is an autobiographical tale of the author and her parents’ struggles to have a successful holiday in the 1970s, ranging from camping in Britain and France to a gite in France and camping in the Isle of Wight.
Initial thoughts are that this book is the perfect book for when you’re feeling down, because in my opinion, nothing is ever as bad as some of the traumas that this family endure during the book - truly I felt so bad for them, it was just so awful. It definitely put things into perspective, and definitely would be a great read for anyone who’s had a crappy holiday: this will hopefully make you feel a hell of a lot better about what you perceive to be ‘bad luck.’
Kennedy writes so hilariously, and always manages to make me laugh. She’s intelligent but open to everyone and it’s a great easy read to dip into every so often just to get away from other things.
It was quite poignant for me really. It was like reading about my holidays, but thirty years earlier. Emma Kennedy is an only child, with two fairly liberal teachers for parents and I identified so much with that. The tales of being dragged around English stately homes and gardens resonated so much with me, and it was kind of sad when it got to the last chapters where I really understood it. In the whole of the book, bar the last bit, Emma is really, really great friends with her parents, and she seems so contented to spend weeks on holiday with them, but towards the end she becomes a typical ‘teenager’ where she’s reclusive and doesn’t want to be seen enjoying herself with her parents, which I sadly kind of identify with. It was weird to see my family holiday experiences being paralleled to perfectly in someone else’s autobiography - especially seeing as it’s set in the 1970s.
So yeah, I would totally recommend this book as an easy read that will most definitely make you laugh, and you might even find yourself identifying with it a lot more than you previously thought you would! :)
Tea and a good book.
x
