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Biography of Dorothy Parker.Behind the wisecracks was a wealth of private sadness. ... Read more

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Few writers can match Dorothy Parker when she delivers wicket punch lines and drops sharply ironic phrases into place with an almost audible click. Her stories are delightful demonstrations of the social satire that earned her an acclaimed position in American literature. ... 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

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CLUES! *please?*
I am trying to find out a clue about Lemony Snicket's 12th book. When was this book written? ... Read more

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8.1" * 5.2". Black cloth hardcover. ... Read more

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Parker's quips and light verse have become embedded in the American literary landscape. In these selected stories is the chance to draw on her insight into the social and emotional realities of life. 2 cassettes. ... Read more

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"There they were, without a word to say to each other."
Dorothy Rothschild Parker's malicious wit, mordant humor, and cynicism are brilliantly revealed in this audiotape narrated by Elaine Strich.With a gravelly voice appropriate for the wearied New York lives she portrays, Strich imbues "Big Blonde" and a host of other stories with attitudes of the late 1920s through the early 1940s, showing the arrogance of men in relation to women, the voluntary subservience of the women, and the shallow goals of socially conscious people whose primary concern is recognition by each other.

"Big Blonde," her most famous story, describes how Mrs. Morse, a large blonde woman, finds happiness in her recent marriage and homemaking, only to find her husband becoming less interested in her as she becomes more domestic and less "exciting."Mrs. Morse's downward spiral into drink and an eventual suicide attempt parallel Parker's own life."Too Bad" tells of the Weldons, an upscale couple who seem to have a perfect marriage, except that they can no longer find anything to say to each other, largely because the wife has become a bore."Song of the Shirt" tells of a wealthy woman of "great heart," who volunteers to sew hospital robes for wounded soldiers but is unable to help the unemployed mother of a polio-stricken child.

"Mr. Durant" continues the emphasis on the arrogance of men, as the title character has an affair with a naïve employee who becomes pregnant and loses her desirability."Diary of a New York Lady" details the shallow social activities, the theatre going, and the repetitive parties of a woman with too little to do.The funniest, most tongue-in-cheek story, "The Garter," tells of a character named Dorothy Parker who is stranded on the couch at a major party because her garter has broken and she can't get up without losing her stocking.

Parker adds much ironic humor to these stories of failure.She is cruelly critical of women who let men determine their destinies, mocking both their pretensions and their lack of imagination, but she also recognizes that they have little choice and few opportunities to escape their lot.Equally critical of men, she finds their interest in women selfish and often limited to the bedroom.Sardonic, ironic, and cruelly observant, Parker creates tragedies masquerading as social comedies and comedies of almost unbearable pathos.Mary Whipple

Revealed the good old days weren't so good.
I often think we spend so much of our time wishing we lived in a kindler, gentler time -- a time past when things were simpler.Dorothy Parker's stories made me realize that life is life and it ain't easy, no matter whatthe year.The reader's smoky voice is perfect for the collection.As shetold each tale, I felt as if she were reaching right into my chest andclenching my heart in her brightly-manicured grip.The stories arerevealing. I found myself haunted by "Mr. Durant" daysafterward.I can say that I came away from this collection changed in someway.How, precisely, I cannot say.It is too soon to tell, since I justfinished the last story yesterday.I do recommend them, however, if onlyto show readers of this day how very different life in Dorothy Parker'sday. ... Read more

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leftover food, leftover cash; don't throw it out
This Dorothy Parker (she's not the one from the Round Table) will entertain you and save you lots of dough. She goes a mite overboard about not throwing anything out, but her recipes are right on. Waste not, want not and eat high off the hog. Parker's advice on kitchen equipment is sound and practical. Her list of all the things you do not need, and what you can use instead, is priceless. Not only will your eat well for less, but in the chapter entitiled Everything Under the Kitchen Sink are instructions for making your own cleaning aids, cosmetics, and surpising uses for your household tools. I'm no great chef, but I tried many of her more than 200 recipes (I didn't try them all because we do not eat pork or shellfish) and even if you have two left hands they work, as do all her other ideas. The first chapter alone will repay the cost of the book and then some. ... Read more

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Good biography of a fascinating person
I first became familiar with D'Arcy McNickle through his two novels-The Surrounded and Wind from an Enemy Sky.I did not know that despite his lack of a college degree, he was also a respected anthropologist; he was the right-hand-man to John Collier during his tenure as head of the BIA; he was asked to chair the new Anthropology Dept. at a University; and he was instrumental in organizing some of the programs which led to the pan-Indian movement and activism of the seventies.

Dorothy Parker does a very good job of covering the life of this fascinating and highly respected man.While she had ample information to draw from regarding his professional life, there was scant information regarding his personal life.Even though McNickle kept a diary and wrote many letters duringhis lifetime, he made little reference to his personal relationships. Happily Parker respects this. Certainly a life that included two failed marriages and a possible affair, not to mention estrangement from his nuclear family, might have led other authors to go "digging for dirt."Instead Parker engages in some slight speculation, simply to flesh things out, but she does not dwell on these aspects.

If there is a fault here, however, it is that Parker perhaps focuses too much on the positive.For example, one would wonder why a person who tried to represent Indians in a White world would not have had some doubts regarding the Indian Reorganiztion Act, or some questions as to the way it was implemented.Also, while McNickle became known as an authority on Indian issues, he actually spent very little time living as an Indian.He basically went from the boarding school into a life of government work, and spent very little time on the reservation.While this does not necessarily detract from his accomplishments, I would have liked Parker to address these issues more.

Over all,however, this is a book worth reading, both for the way it is written, and the person it is about. ... Read more

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A ten-year-old Irish boy looks forward to being the man in the tower responsible for sighting the salmon as they come upstream. ... Read more