If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits? Study Guide & Notes

If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits? Plot Summary

Preview of If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits? Summary:

Erma Bombeck tells the reader that she is a professional worrier and that she can worry about many things that other people might not consider, such as whether her daughter might marry an Eskimo who would set her adrift when she is old. She then tells the story of a lab rat named Lionel who survives all kinds of experiments but dies when he goes for a ride in the car with a teenager. Bombeck says these stories set up the rest of the book which is aimed at telling the reader about survival.

That survival ranges from enduring the growing years of her children to the realization that she is taking over the care of her mother. She talks about her husband and his tendency to be late so that she has never arrived on time for anything since their marriage. She relates the story of a mother...
(read more)