Book Description
The second revision in sixty years, this sublime collection ranges over the verse, stories, essays, and journalism of one of the twentieth century’s most quotable authors. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Portable Dorothy Parker
This hefty compendium of short stories, magazine articles, and poems all handpicked by the author proves that Dorothy Parker was an accomplished writer and not just a witty celebrity.

My Favorite Writer!!
I was turned on to Dorothy Parker in my English class in eighth grade. And when I read some of the stories/poems in this portable book, I was cracking up in hilarity. Her stories are quite funny, but some (The Standard Of Living) send out very good messages that are quite enjoyable for anyone of every age.

This is a wonderful book, and if you like funny reads, this is perfect for you.

Get the earlier edition, if you can find it
I'm one of those who, like some other reviewers, has worn out at least three copies of the earlier edition and found this one to be the only new one available. It's not as good as the earlier one.

Although some of the new materials are welcome, many of the insightful and very funny reviews from the last third of the book are missing in this version. What happened to the review of Sinclair Lewis's _The Man Who Knew Coolidge_, "Mr. Lewis Lays It on with a Trowel," which gives a portrait of the age as well as an accurate, if savage, picture of the book? Or the hilarious review of Lou Tellegen's _Women Have Been Kind_? ("Mr. Tellegen is one who kisses, among other things, and tells.")

Those aren't reviews of "dusty tomes," as one reviewer put it, but significant articles for those interested in Parker or twentieth-century literature.

In short, some of the strongest material has been deleted.Those who wantto see the real genius of Parker's work need to purchase the earlier edition, too.

Edited to correct an error: The statement attributed to Tellegen above, which I'd included from memory, is actually from "An American Du Barry," a review of Warren G. Harding's mistress Nan Britton's account of her affair with Harding.

From the review: "The book bears the subtitle _Revealing the Love-Secret of President Harding_, which is but a mild statement.For when Miss Britton gets around to revealing, Lord, how she does reveal.She is one who kisses, among other things, and tells.An attempt was made to suppress the book.The author states, in one of her prefaces, that 'six burly policemen' (on the day that that man bites that dog, another front-age item is going to concern a policeman who is not burly) 'and John S. Sumner, agent for the Society for the Suppression of Vice, armed with a 'Warrant of Search and Seizure,' entered the printing plant where the making of the book was in process. They seized and carried off the plates and printed sheets.' 'Lady,' you want to say to the author, 'those weren't policemen; they were critics of literature dressed up.'"

The Exceptional Mrs. Parker lives on!
I'm delighted that Mrs. Parker is still in print.I have the old Viking Portable (a gift from a friend some years back), and needed to acquire a copy for a friend who had not read Dorothy Parker's works before.I may need to purchase this edition for myself; I read part of the introduction, which is updated from the earlier edition.The more time goes by, the more appreciation there appears to be for this amazing woman's intelligence and wit.The ragged page edges are somewhat annoying, especially for a book like this that I, at least, like to thumb through, but I've seen this treatment in other books so it appears to be the latest fad in publishing circles.I hope they get over it soon.My favorite poems are Resume, Frustration, and Inventory.The short story The Telephone is a timeless testament to impatience.I have a visit with Mrs. Parker several times a year, just randomly flipping through the book to read stories, poems, and her reviews.

You Were Perfectly Fine
This short story was read aloud at a recent dinner party, and it was hilarious.I haven't read many of the other stories, but I highly recommend it for this story alone. ... Read more

Book Description
Dorothy Parker was known for her outrageous one-liners, her ruthless theater criticism, her clever verses and bittersweet stories, but there was another side to Dorothy Parker--a private life, set on a course of destruction. She suffered through two divorces, a string of painful affairs, a lifelong problem with alcohol, and several suicide attempts.

In this lively, absorbing biography, Marion Meade illuminates both the dark side of Parker and her days of wicked wittiness at the Algonquin Round Table with the likes of Robert Benchley, George Kaufman, and Harold Ross, and in Hollywood with S.J. Perelman, William Faulkner, and Lilian Hellman. At the dazzling center of it all, Meade gives us the flamboyant, self-destructive, and brilliant Dorothy Parker. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

Book good, subject horrible
I liked the book, well written and I think it covered her life very completely and thorough-----but Dorothy Parker herself, I found to be a disgusting, awful, horrible and miserable person.I can't understand why everyone catered to her throughout her life so much. She was nothing! She didn't even appreciate anyone.She wasn't worth the powder to blow her to hell.

Excruitiatingly Repetitious
I had heard Dorothy Parker was a creative wit, but I found this bio to be about 200 pages too long, with little evidence of her writing.As Dorothy would say, "What Fresh Hell is This?!"As for Dorothy - didn't see much in the way of her 'talent', but as a person, she was a very negative, mean-spirited, self-absorbed, promiscuous drunk who sponged off anyone she could her entire life. What a pathetic existance.And poor Alan Campbell who was her devoted husband.It's a wonder all her excesses didn't do her in before her 77 years.I have 150 MORE pages to slug through.I will finish it but prefer to read about people who make positive contributions to humanity, not suck dry what they can from others.

Good bio - a little windy
I am a big fan and was excited to read this book.It was a good read on some days and eye-burningly boring on others.I DO suggest the book but don't feel bad about skipping over parts - you won't miss anything. It could have been 50-80 pages shorter with the same info.

a great biography
this book is a great read and very imformative. it helped me with my project immensely.

Wow... what a b*(#h
I am nearly finished with this book - I haven't been this mesmerized by a book in forever! I would certainly recommend it. ... Read more

Amazon.com
Before there was Fran Leibowitz, there was Dorothy Parker. Before there was practically anyone, there was Dorothy Parker. When it comes to expressing the pleasure and pain of being just a touch too smart to be happy, she's winner and still champion after all these years. Along with Robert Benchley, Alexander Woollcott, and the rest of the Algonquin Round Table, she dominated American pop lit in the '20s and '30s; like Ginger Rogers, she did it all backwards. Parker's held up well--maybe the best of all of them.

This book is essential for any Parker fan, and an excellent way for new readers to make her acquaintance. It reprints her finest short stories and poems, some later articles, and all of her excellent "Constant Reader" book reviews from the Depression-era glory days of the New Yorker. The poetry, always light, has become brittle, sorry to say. But you've only to pick any story to be reminded that no middle-distance writer was better than Parker at her best. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

Biting Wit, Clever Literary Style, Acid Tongue, And Pure Genius
Dorothy Parker was brilliant! Sure I'd have been afraid of her and that whip-sharp mind of hers that could unleash a rapier wit with seeming ease, but I love her stories, poems, and essays. This "portable" anthology of the great lady's writings is a perfect marriage of the printed word compacted into an accessible format. This is a book to sit back and fall into, as one slips into tales peopled with a cast of (surely Hell-bound) movers and shakers, all infused with the cool, trademarked Parker style. Recommended sans hesitation!

The Bible For Dorothy Parker Fans
This is the bible for Dorothy Parker lovers. "The Portable" contains Mrs. Parker's short stories, poems, book reviews and Broadway criticism. The book originally came out in 1944 - and has never gone out of print.

Most of Mrs. Parker's most famous writing is presented here. Her short stories and verse were chosen in 1944 and arranged by Parker herself. When the book came out again in 1973 the editors added some of her theater reviews from Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, along with selected book reviews she penned for The New Yorker and Esquire.

The only downside to this edition is the rotten introduction by the crusty Brendan Gill, who was a longtime staff member of The New Yorker and is not too kind to Mrs. Parker. I suggest skipping his intro entirely. For most Parker fans, this is the first collection they buy, and it is a good start. If you are going to own just one Parker book, this is it.

a classic favorite
This has been one of my "always by my side" books for several years now.The short stories are ironic and witty, the poetry is amazing.Of everything, I would probably say the best part of this collection is the poetry.Ms. Parker has a brilliant sense of humor and she reveals an essence of feminism one can relish for years to come.

Sardonic Wit, Whimsy and Heart
Lips that taste of tears, they say,
Are the best for kissing. ~Dorothy Parker

Dorothy Parker died the year I was born and yet she seems like a modern writer you'd like to meet and talk to for hours. While she lived a troubled life she is a fascinating study. While in France she became friends with Earnest Hemingway and soon thereafter published her first book of poetry, "Enough Rope." She writes about her friendship with Earnest in the Uncollected Articles section.

Of all her writing, her poems strike me as her true self. She reveals so much in her poetry and many times her feelings reach new levels of desperation. She doesn't seem to find as many beautiful moments as Anais Nin, but then again she manages to continue the struggle of life without taking her life in a river like Virginia Woolf.

The true irony of her life is that she dies of natural causes after spending a life embraced in a dream of death. When she wishes people were dead, it might be because she sees death as some beautiful way to escape reality.

The memorable short stories make extended points about human nature and page 48 is an especially good example of a page dripping heavily with sardonic wit. Where did all this angst come from? She is a woman living in a time where she cannot always speak her mind and she is deeply frustrated in many of her "internal dialogue" confessions.

When given the choice between creating and curing, she seems to create from a place of deep emotional pain. She seems to fall into similar patterns and actually seems to revel the idea of: "I wore my heart like a wet, red stain on the breast of a velvet gown."

Dorothy Parker's poems seem to be more of her desire to break free from the brutal revelation of life. She has a typical love-hate relationship with men and is an astute observer of cultural trends. I have a feeling she wrote many of her poems while she was in a manic state of some sort because she reveals so many of her feelings and comments so deeply on her life experience. The first few lines of "Wisdom," show her frustration.

This I say, and this I know:
Love has seen the last of me.
Love's a trodden lane to woe,
Love's a path to misery.

She seems to be having a bipolar diatribe during the story of the Telephone Call. Her mean streak can be a bit shocking at times, but she does love rain and has other sensitive qualities which seem to balance this more sarcastic and vindictive side of her personality.

Dorothy Parker wrote reviews under the title "The Constant Reader." There are quite a few reviews from The New Yorker. She reviews The Journal of Katherine Mansfield and We Have Always Lived in a Castle by Shirley Jackson. I enjoyed her conversational style and the way she thinks through her writing while she writes. It is as if you are observing the entire thought process. You can read her thoughts about Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband from Vanity Fair.

One of my friends reads me Hemingway and I read him Dorothy Parker poems. It is a friendship made in heaven. He also knows all about Dorothy Parker and the Algonquin Round Table and has lists of books for me to read. This book is my first Dorothy Parker experience and I found many poems that I loved and quotes that are definitely collectable. This is an enjoyable introduction to Dorothy Parker that may end up with many highlighted pages.

You may also enjoy reading: Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament

~The Rebecca Review

Very Biting & Very Funny
I most like her very short stories & this is a great collection. They are almost scenes more than stories. In many of her writings, definitely in my favorites ("But the One on the Right"- about sitting next to a dud at a dinner party, "The Sexes"- about a date getting off on the wrong foot, "Here We Are"- about nervous newlyweds), Parker takespeople's silent assumptions, adds dialogue riddled with miscommunication, then has her characters completely overanalyze the situation. What's left is very biting, very funny and gives loads of evidence to the sayingthat `assuming makes an ass out of you and me'. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

From one who only read the short stories of the book
Not that I dislike her poems (I only read about a dozen) but I bought this book primarily for the stories. And I still don't regret it. Parker's stories can be separated in 2 or 3 groups; the cleverly sarcastic ones (most of the stories I believe), the third-person narrative ones (much rarer) with a rather grave tone (quite emotionally loaded), and the third group I do not remember because I read this book a while ago. Bear with me...

I have to say that nearly all of these stories made me want to purchase a gun and start to kill people randomly. Why? Because Parker has a way to present us the unnice sides of humans in such a way that you feel it like a personal attack (not an attack from the author to you, but one from the characters to another character, and that will make you want to break something). I guess that means Dorothy is good at making the reader emotionally involved; and she is. However sarcastic and cynical she gets, you always know how to take it, you always know what it means. It's a bit like someone telling you something terribly sad and adding a smile to it; you know it does not mean they are happy at all, but you understand it in a deeper way. Sorry if this all sounds far-fetched and fancy; I do suck at reviews. (This being said, that's a purely personal standard, on an amazon standard, I think I'm doing fairly well.)

Lastly, a word about Modern Library. Their books are definitely classy. I always prefer a hardcover to a paperback, so this edition made my day. The paper quality is a quite a fine one as well and the font is classy too (it has some special "e" in it, with a diagonal bar, but I don't think you'd notice that unless you were told).

Just A Little One
This is the Modern Library edition of the classic Dorothy Parker collection of stories and poems. If you want to introduce someone to Mrs. Parker - maybe with a birthday gift book - get this.

The first half is divided into verse from the collected editions Enough Rope, Sunset Gun, Death and Taxes; the second half is more than 25 short stories. It's a compact little hardcover book, with an old style typeface, and moderately priced. Even the dust jacket is classy.

Words that Cut Like Diamonds and are Twice as Pretty
Here you have it, all of the wit and charm of Dorothy Parker in one neat compact volume. The poems, many of which I had read before, are brilliant and stunning, having the punch of an O. Henry story in one or two little pages. The short stories, of which I had read exactly none before I picked up this book, are, incredibly, just as good as her verses. Full of the pathos and drama of a wide variety of domestic experience, these prose gems are brimming with smart and realistic dialogue seldom found in any medium. Some of the best tales are simply inner monologues of a woman doing ordinary things like waiting for the man she adores to call her on the phone or dancing with a clog footed bore who keeps kicking her in the shins. These pieces are so well done and so dead on that they would make great audition pieces for budding actresses to impress a casting agent with. Much has been made of Dorothy Parker's unhappiness and self destructive behavior, but despite, or possibly because of, her abject misery, the lady could put pen to paper. Her work, much more than her biography, is what should stand the test of time. If you like this book and simply have to have more, you should also pick up "Not Much Fun: The Lost Poems of Dorothy Parker" compiled by Stuart Silverstein and collecting, many for the first time, the poems that Dottie wasn't that fond of--they are brilliant as well.

4 books in one, and at a great price
This book is a compilation of all three of Parker's books of poetry as well as her published book of short stories.As for the price, it can't be beat, especially considering it's in hardcover.Plus, you also don't have to worry about buying 2 or 3 books to make sure you've got all of the poems you wanted.

Dorothy Parker's writing is fantastic anyway, and uses cynical wit to draw the reader into the poem.The reader laughs, but manages to feel empathetic.Her style is unique and doesn't seem outdated, even though most of this was written at least half a century ago.If you've ever wanted to laugh about being broken-hearted, this is the book for you.

The Poetry and Short Stories of Dorothy Parker
Great book.Ideal for any Dorothy Parker fan ... Read more

Amazon.com
A succinct, yet enlightening introduction and footnotes with quintessential Dorothy Parker anecdotes and quotes serve as brilliant foundation for this collection of "lost" poems. In fact, they are pieces that Parker discarded as not fit for publication, and Parker enthusiasts will notice that many foreshadow more-polished later versions. Though Parker once described her verse as "horribly outdated--anything once fashionable is dreadful now," it's clear that even her "unfit" works are far from dreadful.Book Description
During the early years of her career, while struggling to "keep body and soul apart" (as she ruefully put it later), Dorothy Parker wrote more than three hundred poems and verses for a variety of popular magazines and newspapers. Between 1926 and 1933 she collected most of these pieces in three volumes of poetry: Enough Rope, Sunset Gun, and Death and Taxes. The remaining poems and verses from America's most renowned cynic make up this volume. Eclectic and exuberant, these 122 once-forgotten gems display Parker's distinctive wit, irony, and precision, as she dissects early-twentieth-century American urban life and gleefully skewers a rich array of targets that range from personal foible to popular culture. With an authoritative, immensely entertaining, and critically acclaimed introduction by Stuart Y. Silverstein, Not Much Fun is an essential addition to the Dorothy Parker library and a welcome gift to her many admirers and devoted fans.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

She called them 'verses' -- but they're more potent than verse
She was a Rothschild --- just not the right kind. Her mother died a month before her fifth birthday, her hated stepmother died when she was nine, her father died when she was 20.

Born lucky, you might say.

It should be no surprise that Dorothy Parker had a close relationship with alcohol (great quantities, taken in small sips, so she was always drinking but never completely smashed). Or that she had bad luck in love (two husbands committed suicide). Or that she'd fail at suicide on four separate occasions (once she slashed her wrists, but only after ordering dinner to be delivered, thus guaranteeing that she'd be found alive).

Dorothy Parker was one of the most celebrated writers of her time, but she's much better remembered for her big mouth. Day after day, she sat with America's greatest wits at the Round Table in the bar of New York's Algonquin Hotel and quietly devastated the all-male group with her one-liners. She was as much a symbol of the 1920s as the flapper, the flivver and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Or so the legend has it.

The fact is, Dorothy Parker had no trust fund. She was a working writer. And much of her work involved --- try imagining a career like this now --- poetry. She sold her first poem to Vanity Fair in 1915 for $12, a tidy sum back then. And she wrote about 330 more during her life; over thirty years, that's a poem every other week.

She downplayed her poetry. She said she wrote "verses" --- not poems. And they weren't, she noted, original: "I was following in the exquisite footsteps of Miss Edna St. Vincent Millay, unhappily in my own horrible sneakers."

Her poetry was collected at the peak of her fame. It has since languished. A decade ago, "Not Much Fun: The Lost Poems of Dorothy Parker" appeared. As with many things Parker, don't believe the title.

Is Parker a great poet? By no means. But she was one of the first American women to speak her mind --- her smart, contrarian, troubled mind --- openly on the page, and that gives her a certain historical import. And, setting aside all serious considerations, she's just plain fun. Fun and funny.

The book opens with a poem about...bridge. ("Didn't you hear what I bid?")It moves on to "Any Porch," a pastiche of overheard conversations. ("I really look thinner, you say?") She decries "the lady in back," who invariably ruins her night at the theater. She touches on every popular subject, even psychotherapy: "Where a Freud in need is a Freud indeed/we'll always be Jung together."

Parker's stock in trade is the last line that dramatically reverses the energy of the poem --- and slaps the reader in the face. Thus, a poem about Hollywood ends: "The streets are paved with Goldwyn." Well, how else?

And there are many poems that are just droll jokes:

Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
A medley of extemporanea;
And love is a thing that can never go wrong;
And I am Marie of Romania.

And:

Razors pain you; Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you; And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful; Nooses give;
Gas smells awful; You might as well live

If Parker were only cleverness and verve, she'd be worth a paragraph in a chapter on the `20s. What makes her poems interesting is that her pain shows through the wit. In a great poet, this is no big deal; when the poet in question is paying her rent with her poems, it means something that she goes beyond froth. As, here:

When all the world was younger.
When petals lay as snow.
What recked I of the hunger
An empty heart can know?
For love was young and cheery,
And love was quick and free;
Tomorrow might be weary,
But when was that to me?

But now the world is older,
And now tomorrow's come.
The winds are rushing colder,
And all the birds are dumb.
And icy shackles fetter
The brooklet's sunny blue--
And I was never better;
But what is that to you?

"I don't care what is written about me so long as it isn't true," Parker once said. But in addition to poems that tell more than she may have intended, "Not Much Fun" includes an introduction, by Stuart Y. Silverstein, that's so amusingly annotated it's almost a biography. Together, they give a rollicking and touching picture of a woman you'd never want to be --- but would surely want to know.

Dottie Didn't Like Them, But I Sure Do!
How we live in a world where this book was at one time remaindered and now out of print is simply beyond me. Dorothy Parker is not only one of the finest poets who ever ran pen across page, but a wit and a charm as well. This collection of works that fell through the cracks (mostly because Dottie didn't like them) is a gem fit for anyone's library. The obligatory biography is peppered with footnotes of a more informal and personal nature, giving many of her scathing witticisms in given situations. The verses collected are also quite good, even though viewed as rejects by the author. Scathing, sarcastic, brilliant and at times, very personal, your Dorothy Parker collection isn't complete without them. The conclusion of the book are the "Hymns of Hate" not collected anywhere else and are wildly funny and pertinent even in our modern world. Don't miss this fun and fine book which has, hopefully, not seen its last visit to the printing press.

awesome collection
Awesome collection of many of Dorothy Parker's orphan verses as well as her witty remarks throughout the years. The book does not overlap much with other Dorothy Parker collections -- and therefore likely a great addition for some even avid Parker fans. The introduction attempts to present the life story of Dorothy Parker, although I find the comical rendition sometimes a bit too harsh to laugh about. Overall, an easy read that is easy to pick up but hard to put aside!

"fun" for the reader if not the writer
If you are a Dorothy Parker fan, this is a great book. It has the seiries of "I Hate...." poems, which is not collected anywhere else, as well as other gems Dottie deemed not worthy of being republished elsewhere. Mr Silverstein's excellent use of footnotes helps explain what was going on with Dottie when various poems were written. I have always admired Dorothy Parker but I definitely wouldn't want the pain and anguish of her life.

So if you are a Dorothy Parker fan, get this book for the lost poems so you can have a full collection of this underrated literay star. I recommend it highly.

Gotta Love Dottie
Dottie is my fave poet and my literary hero.Wouldn't model my life after hers, but I sure wish I could sharpen my tongue to match hers sometimes.Loved reading this. ... Read more

Book Description
As this complete collection of her short stories demonstrates, Parker's talents extended far beyond brash one-liners and clever rhymes. Her stories not only bring to life the urban milieu that was her bailiwick but lay bare the uncertainties and disappointments of ordinary people living ordinary lives.

Edited by Colleen Breese ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Disappointed - thought she was funnier than this
I bought this book of stories because I thought Parker was funny.Some of her later work is.But all these stories written in the 1920's are depressing and dreary.Where is the humor?I expected some astoundingly humorous work and what it is is depressing mostly.Just my 2 cents.

Biting wit abounds.
Dorothy Parker was a great writer and a great social observant who now gives us a clear window into the past. Her wit is biting and at it's best in this collection, favourite reads are for the individual to decide, however, for me, as well as cheering me up with her razor sharp observation and almost cruel wit. Parker also saddens me for her wit must have been based on the cynacism of one who viewed her life as overindulged and wasted by circumstance, as a wealthy woman and as a woman in her time. Reading her is alawys like laughing with a red hot tear in your eye, for her work is as much an insight into her soul as it is to her lifetime and lifestyle.

Darker than expected, but witty
Perhaps because it doesn't include some of Dorothy Parker's well-known, light-hearted poetry or journalism, this collection of short stories was darker than I expected. Some of what are considered Parker's classic short stories - such as "Big Blonde" and "A Telephone Call" - impressed me less than several other stories. "Mr. Durant," for example, is a story about abortion published in 1924 that gets around the censors of that day by not using the A word at all. Incredibly well done. In this book, at least, Parker's wit excels in the closing section of "sketches" rather than stories. "Our Tuesday Club" is an assemblage of character descriptions, rather than a narrative, and I regard it as a wonderful example of Parker's wit. Despite their age, most of the stories in this collection hold up well.

Men never make passes at girls reading Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker is one of the great women writers of the twentieth century. Though her life was marred by alcoholism and rather poor choices, her biting, insightful stories are a window into the twenties and women in general. I read her stories whenever I've had a rough day and need a giggle.

Smarter than you, not that you'd know it
Mrs. Parker possessed a venom that incapacitated its victims with sheer brainy pleasure.Her stories are tight, sparse, and crunchy with wit--Oscar Wilde looks like Krusty the Klown in comparison.While some would complain that she rarely strays from critiquing the hypocrisies of the wealthy and powerful, it's hard to argue that there isn't enough material therein to fuel a thousand careers.Her work is essential reading for those of us who aren't perfectly at ease with the ways of the world but find ourselves coping with it anyway.

The Elaine Stritch readings of seven of these stories are also tremendously entertaining and worthy of separate purchase.The delight of sitting in a darkened room, listening to a master actress reading Mrs. Parker, sipping from a tumbler of whiskey, must be experienced to be believed. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (9)

A Journey into Dorothy Parker's New York
This book provides an armchair walking tour of the meaningful places for the writer Dorothy Parker in NYC. It is also an excellent accompaniment to the Portable Dorothy Parker.

Dot's NY
You hear the words "Dorothy Parker" and you think of New York.
I really enjoyed this book and it was a pleasure reading about Dorothy's apartment's and frequented locations.I knew a bit about Dorothy, from her works and "What Fresh Hell is This", but did not know about New York - I did not know where Uptown was or where Downtown was (I think NY is the only place that has both) but now I do.Plus with all the other interesting items and photographs makes this an essential book for a Parker enthusiast to have and use on their visits to New York.

Nice book about the famous Ms. Parker
(A good book for a novice,like me, wanting a nice introduction regarding the life of Dorothy Parker---with photos)

This is a well-written and well researched book about Dorothy Parker.
This book is very compact and therefore this is a wonderful introductory book about the famous writer.

This book is filled with photos of all the places that Dorothy Parker lived throughout her life. Dorothy moved ALOT & therefore the author had to research all the places that Ms.Parker frequented & resided at during her entire lifetime. Also, the author interspersed information about Dorothy's life ,the famous places she loved to visit (eg: THE ALGONQUIN)and all the people that she associated with (eg: Hemingway, F.Scott Fitzgerald,etc...).

I want to live in her New York.
There are no places or points in time like New York in the 20s. Dorothy Parker wrote about it, and now we write about her. I wish I could slip into a time machine and drink a martini while spying on the Round Table. Amazing. I would love to take the tour.

A Charming and Excellent Guide to Mrs. Parker and her New York
This book is an unusual creation, equal parts "coffee table book" and truly informative resource. It's well laid-out, with plenty of direct and indirect information and trivia available in well constructed sidebars.

Mr. Fitzpatrick's gifts are such that the book is one that will appeal equally to the Parker scholar and to the those who have just stumbled over her reputation for the first time.

I recommend it!

Eileen Forster Keck
Director, Robert Benchley Society ... Read more

Book Description

Author, poet, drama critic, book reviewer, screenwriter and outstanding member of the legendary Algonquin Round Table, Dorothy Parker was known for her quick wit, keen observations, and remarkable insight into the human condition. Regarded as brilliant, but widely known to be an alcoholic and often depressed, Parker's work pushes all buttons at once: humor, anger, love, pity and everything in bewteen...she pulled no punches, writing with pure, unadulterated passion; her writing is timeless and as pertinent to today's society as it was to that of the time she wrote.

Book Description
Using selected and arranged passages Barry Day tells the life of Dorothy Parker. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Dorothy's Irreverence
I enjoyed reading Dorothy Parker's view of life which was colored by her childhood in New York.It's almost a defense of hers against the lack of love she received and the wrong choices she made during the speakeasy era.My mother was a "flapper" and this book helped me pick up on the spirit of those times.It's hard to tell which words of Dorothy's I should take seriously and which are part of her wonderful sense of humor. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Thin line between witt and menace
Its fascinating to read interesting book about quitte anoying character: supposedly sharp and witty Dorothy Parker was not one of the most loved persons between her contemporaries and at the end she was left alone because nobody had energy to deal with her.Leslie Frewin wrotte very interesting biography: he is clearly fascinated with his subject but he is not covering her weknesses under the rug and althought its said that nobody ever knew real Dorothy Parker,somehow the picture of insecure woman who had protect herself with sarcasm and menacing jokes eventually emerges from these pages.Parker could be funny occasionally but it gets tiresome after some time - people who are loved and find their satisfaction in life dont have a need to critisize everything under the sun,and Parker had her share of "issues" - yes,she was life & soul of the party,but nobody really wanted her around after the party was finished.Frewin gives clear picture of jet-set in 1920's and some of the characters in the background (Lillian Helman,Hemingway,F.Scott Fitzgerald) are as fascinating and important as the main subject. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

She didn't wear glasses/ they made many passes
In this book it ispossible to learn much more about Dorothy Parker than most people I believe will ever want to know. Somewhere in the middle I began to feel that I was just giving too much time to a personality which certainly was worthy of some interest, but perhaps not that much.
Keats does a very good job of explaining where Parker (nee Rothschild) came from , and why she hungered for dialogue with others yet was always quite alone. She was the daughter of a wealthy Jewish industrialist and a non- Jewish mother of Scottish background who passed away before Parker ever came to know her. Parker was not liked by her step-mother and her father too farmed her out most of the time.She was given a strict Catholic education which she deplored and rebelled against. Emotional warmth real love was not part of her childhood. She had no Jewish education and apparently no real knowledge of much Jewish. Later in life however she became active in anti- Nazi causes.
Parker was married or rather connected with for twenty- nine years with her second husband Allan Campbell who was also like her half- Scottish and half- Jewish.
Parker became famous for her Algonquin Round Table wit,for her witty and often acidly pessimistic verses, for her short stories, for her book- reviews in the "New Yorker" in which she displayed a special excellence at demolishing the pretentions of others. She was like many small town people who come to the Big City , a fiercely loyal New Yorker who suffered in the years she and Campbell were on the Coast writing mediocre screenplays for Hollywood.At one point she was one of the most famous writers in America, and there is no denying her very tough and quick wit, her ability to condense in a line or two the definition of a situation, a mood.
A small woman only five feet tall with piercingly beautiful dark eyes she was much pursued, much admired, and much lover-ed , if that is the word. She deeply loved Charles MacArthur later the husband of Helen Hayes, but for him she was just one of many. Her disappointments in many ways led her to at least two suicide attempts, and one of her best known poems from which the title of this book is taken.
All the fun, the wit, the good times, the drinking, the effort at pretending that they were not taking themselves too seriously of the Round- Tablers seems quite meretricious now. Keats often compares Parker with Hemingway and seems to feel they have something like equal weight as short- story writers. Though Hemingway was not a very nice person in general, and was a bit cruel to Parker at one point the truth he is a great short story- writer a major figure in the American Literary Tradition. Parker is much less than that.
There is something however touchingly, painfully sad about her life. The loneliness was always with her even when the crowd was applauding and her witticisms were being celebrated everywhere.

Check Your Sources
John Keats is belittlingly sexist in his treatment of Dorothy Parker in his biography, saying hideous things like, "what they [Parker's friends] failed to realize was that Dorothy Parker was like all other women in one terrifyingly simple respect," without further explanation, and calling his subject "little Miss Parker" throughout. To make matters worse, Keats did not properly check sources, and as a consequence committed grave factual errors in the work. For example, he talks about Dorothy's four years at Miss Dana's finishing school, when Parker only attended the school for a year. The list of mistakes continues.

Don't buy it!
Horribly partial male-chauvanistic telling of Dorothy Parker's life - embarrassingly dated. As Dorothy would have said, this is not a biography to be cast aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force!

A Compassionate Look at a Tragi/Comic Life
We learn in this book that Dorothy Parker's great talent was the ability to see both the tragic and comic in any situation simultaneously.She abhorred pretense and skewered pretenders mercilessly, herselfincluded.

During the good times, she fell into bouts of despair and triedto commit suicide a couple of times.During the bad times, later, shedrank too much and allied herself with progressive causes, facing theMcCarthy inquisition with courage and grace.

This book is at its bestwhen it allows us to feel the constant strain of contradictions in Ms.Parker's life, at its worst when it occasionally strays into preachiness ather excesses, hardly necessary, as the excesses carried with them their ownpunishments.

All in all, an enlightening glimpse of a thoroughly uniquelady.

A wonderful biography of Dorothy Parker
I'm glad my father had a copy of this book in his library - I'm sorry to see that it's gone out of print. It's a really good biography of Mrs. Parker - and, one of the best features, has an extensive bibliography atthe end, rife with other titles that simply beg to be read. ... Read more

Book Description
Dorothy Parker was known for her keen wit, cutting observation and sharply honest portrayal of human nature. Filled with the insight into people and their interactions that have made her stories so popular, this recording offers some of the finest examples of her craft. According to the Arizona Journal, "These capsules of satire...are perfect Parker, and Miss Booth is the perfect voice for them." ... Read more

Product Description
PENGUIN PAPERBACK. ISBN 0141180226. OUT OF PRINT ... Read more

Book Description

Author, poet, screenwriter and outstanding member of the legendary Algonquin Round Table, Dorothy Parker was known for her quick wit, keen observations, and remarkable insight into the human condition. Regarded as brilliant, but known to be an alcoholic and often depressed, Parker's work pushes all buttons at once: humor, anger, love, pity and everything in between ... she pulled no punches, writing with pure, unadulterated passion; her work is timeless and as pertinent to today's society as it was to that of the time she wrote.

Customer Reviews (1)

Actors who can't read
Ok, I LOVE Dorthy Parker but this CD set is hard to listen to.The chick from sex in the city starts it off and LOST me in 10 minutes.Sounds like she could use some read-out-loud lessons.
I guess these stories just don't "read" well out loud.
I suggest reading the books yourself. ... Read more