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Book Review

Publisher's Note:

The incredible story of Brownie Wise, the Southern single mother—and postwar #Girlboss—who built, and lost, a Tupperware home-party empire Before Mary Kay, Martha Stewart, and Joy Mangano, there was Brownie Wise, the charismatic Tupperware executive who converted postwar optimism into a record-breaking sales engine powered by American housewives. In Life of the Party, Bob Kealing offers the definitive portrait of Wise, a plucky businesswoman who divorced her alcoholic husband, started her own successful business, and eventually caught the eye of Tupperware inventor, Earl Tupper, whose plastic containers were collecting dust on store shelves. The Tupperware Party that Wise popularized, a master-class in the soft sell, drove Tupperware's sales to soaring heights. It also gave minimally educated and economically invisible postwar women, including some African-American women, an acceptable outlet for making their own money for their families—and for being rewarded for their efforts. With the people skills of Dale Carnegie, the looks of Doris Day, and the magnetism of Eva Peron, Wise was as popular among her many devoted followers as she was among the press, and she become the first woman to appear on the cover of BusinessWeek in 1954. Then, at the height of her success, Wise's ascent ended as quickly as it began. Earl Tupper fired her under mysterious circumstances, wrote her out of Tupperware's success story, and left her with a pittance. He walked away with a fortune and she disappeared—until now. Originally publi…

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Overall Book Review:

Life of the Party: The Remarkable Story of How Brownie Wise Built, and Lost, a Tupperware Party Empire is a fascinating book. Author Bob Kealing, an award-winning broadcast journalist, provides an extensive, in-depth look at Tupperware’s humble origins and inner workings. Written in third person narrative, Kealing combines his research with countless interviews of Tupperware’s major players. The book is set during the 1950’s, and follows both Wise and Earl Tupper — inventor extraordinaire — from their early lives to their fateful showdown over the future of Tupperware. Kealing succeeds in providing unbiased reporting, so readers can form their own conclusions of what really happened. Pick up a copy of Life of the Party before the movie, rumored to star Sandra Bullock, is released!

Review of an Advance Reader Copy

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Crown Archetype

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  1 religious exclamation, 4 mild obscenities, 2 anatomical terms.

Violence/Gore:  A secondhand report of violence includes a man attempting to throw acid at a relative (and missing); in a brief, non-detailed scene of violent death, a person dies in a bombing. 

Sex/NudityNone

Mature Subject Matter:

Gender roles, racism, divorce, segregation, alcoholism.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

A character is described as an alcoholic and a drunk; a man is mentioned smoking a pipe.

Overall Book Rating
Profanity/Language
Rating:
3
10
Violence/Gore
Rating:
3
10
Sex/Nudity
Rating:
0
10

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About the Reviewer

My mother was the one who sparked my love of books. Long before school instruction, she sat me down and taught me to read. My childhood was filled with trips to the library and bookmobile to find great books. My first loves were The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Pippi Longstocking series by Astrid Lingren. Now as a mom and speech pathologist, I am constantly looking for good, clean books to use at home and in therapy. I enjoy reading many different genres, but my favorites are usually historical fiction. I married my best friend, the “boy next door”, and we have a beautiful little girl who we often find sprawled out on the floor, flipping through picture books. Together our family likes to swim, run and play tennis. Besides reading, I also love to bake, garden and travel.