Customer Reviews

Complete Stories (Penguin twentieth century classics)

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And I thought I knew all of the short story writers who write good social satire, especially about the Battle of the Sexes. Do you like John Updike's dissonant couples the Maples? John Cheever's middle-class suburban sashayings? John O'Hara's accounts of evil-propelled mis-treatments and non-treatments? Ring Lardner's tales of hamfisted bunglings? Katherine Mansfield's dry-point etchings of looming males and tendril-like females?

To these I can now add Dorothy Parker--whom I discovered only last month after enjoying the above social-critics for decades. A sharp-tongued journalist, Parker wrote in New York City in the 1920's through the 1950's. She's a key addition to the "fruit salad" of these writers--call her a lime, perhaps--small, tart, acid but somehow quenching our thirst for the truth however tangy?

Parker precisely pinpoints interpersonal shipwrecks. Marriage is--what happens. Often it's like this:

In "New York to Detroit," on the telephone, a man mechanically shoves a desperate woman out of his life. The bad connection aids his "misunderstandings" of her frantic pleas.

In "Here We Are," a just-married couple travel by train to their New York City honeymoon hotel. But we see already the stress-fractures of immature overreactions, and how out of them starts to ooze the lava of hatred which will surely melt down (or burn out) the marriage soon.

In "Too Bad," women are perplexed, even astonished, that the Weldons separated. Such an ideal couple! Except Parker eavesdrops us into the couple's typical evening at home. Its genteel vacancy, polite non-communication, and quiet distancing tell the tale.

Is Parker too crude a caricaturist? Heavy on the satire, too bitter personally? True, her women seem simplified: helplessly-hysterical, nice-nice faceless patseys or creampuffs, captives of bland routines--and of men. Her men similarly seem generic males-of-the-species, "blunt bluff hearty and...meaningless," conventionally-whiskered and all, chauvinistically-insensitive if not cruel. Okay... But if it's overdone, why do I feel I have known and seen these people, or traces of them, often, and not in New York of the 1920's-1950's either?

Dorothy Parker had a style of writing all her own, and this book is a perfect introduction to her work. (I also suggest you buy the companion book of her poetry). To me, the best part of the book by far is the second half, which contains essays where she describes people in different settings, and comments on their habits and mannerisms sarcastically and subtly - if you are a big fan of dry humor (such as W. C. Fields and Robert Benchley), as I am, then you will find this book to be worth its weight in gold for these essays alone. The stories, however, are of a different tone; some are witty, some are poignant, some are downright depressing. This collection does, however, show Parker at her best - it shows her range and her depth, her ability to comment on issues which were considered unmentionable at the time (such as suicide, alcoholism, child abuse, abortion, infidelity), and her distaste for the artificial and the egotistical. My favorite essays are probably "A Dinner Party Anthology" and "Our Tuesday Club"; favorite story of all time is "Lolita" (NOT the basis for the movie, in case you don't know; anyone with a romantic bone in his/her body will love it). Wonderful work by an American original who should have been included in all those lists that were circulating at the close of 1999 of "100 most influential / important women of the century" (instead of the likes of Marilyn Monroe or Madonna).

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.

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.

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.

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.

Ms. Parker's collection of short stories are modern and funny. Many of the dialogues detailed in her works can still be heard uttered today between men and women.

Before there was Carrie Bradshaw writing her column for Sex And the City, there was Dorothy Parker. As early as the 1920's Parker was writing sexy, sardonic, stilletto-tipped stories about the battle of the sexes for such respected magazines as Vogue and Vanity Fair. In Parker's ascerbic world, the women usually come across looking obsessive, silly, and shallow; but the men, shown usually as either clueless or feckless, don't fare very much better.

Although many of the stories in The Complete Stories of Dorothy Parker were written during the Depression or other difficult economic times, most of Parker's characters are well-heeled and tend to worry more about where to find the perfect martini than whether they can make their mortgage payments. The women in many of her stories obsess about their weight, their social status, even their wall coverings,with the same intensity that others might reserve for high moral or ethical questions. But in some of these stories there are women facing genuinely emotional struggles.

For example, in "Horsie", Parker is able to describe the life of quiet desperation lived by a lonely woman who has spent all her life serving the needs of the privileged "bright young things" who make fun of her behind her back. In "The Big Blonde" Parker carefully crafts a story of a blowsy blonde woman who is never allowed to express any sadness or regret to her numerous male companions; but instead is continually exhorted to be a "good sport" and look on the bright side.

One of Parker's most famous stories is "A Telephone Call", in which within just a few pages she manages to perfectly capture the frantic, compulsive behavior and thoughts of a woman, desperate to hear from her lover. You know the woman is dying to call the man, struggling not to, and will inevitably give in, much to her detriment. It's tense, excrutiating, and very real.

Parker was often on the side of the underdog, so much so that in the 50's her association with various worker's groups landed her on the blacklist for "unamerican activities." Yet she continued to work and to aim her pen at all that she considered foolish, vain, and selfish in American society, particularly the upper classes and the idle rich. Reading her collected stories is great fun, like overhearing a rather tart-tongued guest offer blistering attacks on a smug, conceited hostess. You wish you could think of such bon mots yourself, but the next best thing is stifling a guilty giggle when you hear someone else say them!

Publishers Weekly: I will likely never read your magazine after reading your review of Dorothy Parker's Complete Stories. I had never really intended to--but now, after that awful, sophistic review of one of the best American short story writers of the 20th Century, I can be certain that the words you print hold absolutely no weight. How truly embarrassing for your publication.

Dorothy Parker: a phenomenally talented short story and verse writer, and one of the most powerful feminists of her time. She fought racism and sexism--unlike some of her contemporaries like Hemingway and Fitzgerald, who abetted it--and was one of few during the 20's and 30's to write about such taboo topics as abortion ("Mr. Durant"). In 1929, she won the first place O. Henry Award for her short story "Big Blonde," and her story, "Here We Are," has been duly collected in The Best American Short Stories of the Century, edited by John Updike. Also notable: her poetry collections Enough Rope and Sunset Gun were both bestsellers, an unprecedented accomplishment for poetry in general.

It is such a delight to read the works of Dorothy Parker. She has such a unique way of looking at life. She makes the most mundane things humorous because she is so realistic in her views.