Eric Hodgins | Author | LibraryThing

About the Author

Includes the names: Eric Hodges, Eric Hodgins HODGINS, Eric collect Hodgins

Image credit: By Joseph Janney Steinmetz - Joseph Janney Steinmetz photographic collection (1930s-1970s), State Archives of Florida, Attribution, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24459107

Works by Eric Hodgins

Popular Recent

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1946) 399 copies, 13 reviews

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House [1948 film] (1948) — Original book — 110 copies, 1 review

Blanding's Way (1950) 63 copies, 1 review

Episode: Report on the Accident Inside My Skull (1971) 12 copies

Trolley to the Moon (1973) 5 copies

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House | Blandings' Way (1777) 5 copies

Behemoth: The Story of Power 3 copies

Ocean Express: The Story of the Bremen and the Europa (1932) 3 copies

Sky High: The Story of Aviation 2 copies

"Getting Somewhere" 2 copies

Episode : report on the accident inside my skull 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

Adaptations: From Short Story to Big Screen: 35 Great Stories That Have Inspired Great Films (2005) — Contributor — 127 copies, 1 review

No, But I Saw the Movie: The Best Short Stories Ever Made Into Film (1960) — Contributor — 77 copies, 3 reviews

Reader's Digest Condensed Books 1964 v04 (1964) 38 copies

Reader's Digest Condensed Books 1951 v02 (1951) 4 copies

Reader's Digest Condensed Books: The Third Day • Jamie • Hotel • Episode • The Bird of Dawning (1965) 2 copies

Tagged

1940s (5) 20th century (7) 40s (2) American (4) American fiction (3) American literature (5) architecture (12) Cary Grant (6) classics (2) comedy (21) Connecticut (8) domestic fiction (2) DVD (13) EDLIT (2) family (7) fiction (98) film (4) first edition (5) funny (2) Guardian 1000 (5) hardcover (4) HC (3) HTS (2) humor (62) illustrated (3) literature (4) movie (5) movies (4) Myrna Loy (3) New York City (3) novel (13) own (3) read (6) real estate (3) romance (5) to-read (32) unread (5) US (3) USA (3) vintage (3)

Common Knowledge

Legal name: Hodgins, Eric Francis
Birthdate: 1899-03-02
Date of death: 1971-01-07
Gender: male
Nationality: USA
Place of death: New York, New York, USA
Places of residence: New York, New York, USA
Education: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Occupations: writer
publisher
editor
Organizations: Fortune Magazine
Time Inc.
Redbook
Youth Companion

Members

Reviews

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House by Eric Hodgins

The perils of building your dream house...in the country...

Both a comedy (or tragicomedy?) and a biting satire about a couple who "decide" they want a house in the country. Do they even know what they want? They make foolish decision after foolish decision & a modern-day (by 1946 standards) comedy of errors ensues.

If only they listened to their lawyer from the very beginning but their fate is sealed as they plunge forward, head first into certain catastrophe. I was delighted by every page until the whole comedic tone changed. The denouement (the last 1/5)was abrupt. It was not funny any more. Mr. Blandings, once so relatable, and seemingly a good husband, suddenly goes for the metaphorical smackdown on his wife. Even an illustration by Steig shows Mr. Blandings looming largely and aggressively over her as she is forced to cower. The last pages of the book limp along, to its dismal (not funny) ending. The sudden change of tone, rather than keeping to the same consistency that had been established before- as well as the sudden sexism- caused the once hilarious story to all come crashing down in the end. … (more)

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kimber-rose | 12 other reviews | Jan 4, 2025 |

Mr. Blandings builds his dream house by Eric Hodgins

Does a good job of representing the confusion experienced, and caused, by a home building customer

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sarcher | 12 other reviews | Sep 15, 2024 |

Mr Blandings builds his dream house by Eric Hodgins

I purchased this as a gift to my wife after we had moved back in to our remodeled house. We both knew the story going in since we're huge fans of the movie (which I also highly recommend); there are slight differences, but over all the story is familiar.
It is very much a book of its time, upper middle class city people, getting taken advantage of by those slick country folk. it's a bit of a throw-back, but a very fun and quick read. Apparently he wrote a sequel, so I'm on the hunt for that.

½

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hhornblower | 12 other reviews | Jan 24, 2023 |

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House by Eric Hodgins

It was clever, sly, and funny... until it started to get real and read like a horror story or a morality tale. Read it. But don't start to take it seriously like I did.

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OutOfTheBestBooks | 12 other reviews | Sep 24, 2021 |

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