Customer Reviews

Dud Avocado

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(34)
3 star:		(25)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

The narrator of this story, Sally Jay, seems to have a lot in common with that other literary single-girl (pre-Bushnell days) Holly Golightly. She manages to combine innocence and world-weariness, rolling with her situation, no matter how chaotic it becomes. If anything, Sally Jay is Holly's older, slightly tougher sister. A young woman who has been running away all her life, gets the chance to run away to Paris thanks to an avuncular uncle, and lives a pink-haired bohemian existence, trying to experience life to the full - affairs with older men, hanging out with artists, nights at the Ritz followed by dingy student cafes. In the odd beginning chapter (it feels like you have missed an introductory chapter, and it takes awhile before you feel like you know what is going on) she meets a boy/man she has always had a crush on, and her chaotic life becomes even messier. One of her descriptions of him - `I didn't know anyone he'd actually been wrong about - except of course me, but then as we know I am totally incomprehensible to everyone including myself' is shown by the end to be sadly true.

This is a well-written book - cleverly hiding its sinister elements in the light and deft descriptions Sally Jay gives of her life. You feel that sometimes she is trying to kid herself and the reader that really, everything's going to be all right. This is a genuinely entertaining read that still manages to encompass some big themes - the search for happiness and acceptance; making priorities in life; disillusionment and what it can do to temperament. Sally Jay is sure to stay with this reader for a long time.

Elaine Dundy's book will have you laughing out loud at protagonist Sally Jay Gorce's Parisian misadventures. From the first page, Sally Jay's intelligent, somewhat addled but wildly sarcastic voice entices the reader as she relates her exploits as a young American actress in Paris, complete with stories of drunken carousing, falling in and out of love, dancing in gay bars, dining with aristocrats, coldly sizing up her spoiled Ivy League expatriate friends, and losing her passport along with her temper, among other madcap doings. Just goes to show that, 40 years ago, (who knew?) Americans in Paris were drinking, smoking, sleeping around, staying out all night and hankering for new experiences. This well-written, very entertaining book will be a real eye-opener for readers who think that America in the 1950s was populated exclusively with straight-laced, Ozzie-and-Harriet types.

It isn't often that you can read something which qualifies as both a modern feminist classic and makes you laugh out loud. I loved the descriptions of early 20-th century Paris, could sympathise with the heroine's cads and catastrophes. This is a book to read if you want to walk on the bohemian side. For anyone who's ever walked around in evening dress the morning after.

Years ago, I came across this book at Blackwell's bookshop in Oxford and absolutly devoured it. I let my mother borrow it, an aunt, several friends and then lost my copy in the mix of it all. Since I was then living in NYC, it was impossible to come by a copy so I ended up buying about 10 copies and giving them as gifts to friends over the years. Dundy's prose isn't remarkable, but her youthful expression, her ways of seeing the artistic world surrounding her, the blissful madness of a young twenty-year-old alone in Paris all make this a tresure. Find a copy. Share it.

The Dud Avocado was published more than 50 years ago to much acclaim, and then apparently, it vanished from view. Over the years it was re-published only to fade again. The Preface by Terry Teachout explains all this, and by the way, this is the most tepid introduction to a book. Reading it makes you not want to read the book. Question to author, why on earth would you permit such a Preface in YOUR book?

Fifty years ago the adventures of Sally Jay Gorce, the heroine, would have dazzled the reader. After all, this was pre-Women's Lib, pre-birth control pill and everything else that revolutionized women's place in society in the 1970's. Here was a daring young woman--only 18 years old--living in Paris on her own, and experimenting with Life in an uninhibited way. Of course this included taking lovers, in fact starting with a married Italian diplomat who also had a mistress. No social mores bounded her. Whatever she wanted she got, whatever she chose to dress (pre-hippie era) she wore. All this in an era so repressed that TVs in America would not show married couples sharing a bed.

To a repressive society of 1950's America, this heroine was unique. She embodied the spirit and guts to do things that most women would not even verbalize. No wonder this book was so successful. It was a herald of things to come, though no one knew the extent of those changing values. When Society's values changed and women were able to live free unrepressed lives, to younger generations, the adventures of the Dud Avocado's heroine would not have struck that same chord.

Ms.Teachout warns us in the Preface that if we do not find this book hilarious, then we have no sense of humor. It is not hilarious by today's standards. It is poignant in places and filled with insights. But funny? Not really.

The heroine is reminiscent of Holly Golightly (Breakfast at Tiffany's) or even in today's terms, Bridget Jones. But in today's terms, this book offers nothing new. It is a "been there, done that" experience that is very dated, and dare I say, boring?

In the last chapter, the author herself tries to analyze why this book keeps getting re-published. It is a mystery to me. It belongs on some College List of must-read books about an era before Feminism, but it lacks what is appealing for a generation 50+ years later.

I had a hard time getting into this book. I wouldn't describe it as bad, but for some reason it was just difficult to get into.

Sally Jay Gorce is a lightheaded American on a coming-of-age sort of vacation in Paris, funded by her wealthy uncle. The descriptions of surrounding areas were pretty good - the cafes, the city sights, the people, etc, but it got to be a bit annoying to actually be in the narrator's head. Normally I love to be able to get inside the main character's head and get an in-depth first hand account of what s/he is thinking. Not this time, though. After I got about one-third into the story, I was seriously wishing the author would stop putting me into Sally Jay Gorce's thoughts - the pain of reading her thought process was just too much. She goes off into these tangents that have nothing to do with the original thought and then, when the reader is actually getting interested in the side tangent, Sally Jay snaps back to the present situation, leaving the reading wondering "huh?!"

This story takes place in the 1950s, so the reader needs to be prepared for that. Normally I enjoy such books - I even put on my "Paris Accordian Classics of the 1930s and 40s" CD, just to get into the proper mood and setting of the book - but it was still hard to do. The dated language combined with the lack of a steady stream of thought from the main character made this book less than the dazzling romp in Paris that I was expecting.

This book was, at best, kind of interesting.

The Dud Avocado tells the story of Sally Jay Groce, fresh out of college and ready to live life to it's fullest in Paris. Once in Paris, she goes "more native than the natives" trying to cram as much "living" as she can in two short years. Sally Jay's attempts to live it up lead her into many roles, from mistress to actress to homebody, and she embraces every role with gusto--usually with disastrous results.

Dundy's fifty-year-old classic is fresh and witty, and sometimes a bit racy, and her prose is as close to perfection as one can find. Add this to Sally Jay, a protagonist so alive and real, and it is easy to see why this book gained such a following upon publication.

Here is an excerpt from chapter 3, one of my favorite bits, to give an example of the delicious flavor of the Dud Avocado:

"At eleven o'clock that night, in one of my dangerous moods--midnight-black, excited and deeply dreading (as opposed to one of my beautiful midnight-blue ones, calm but deeply excited), my nerves strung taut to singing, I arrived at the Ritz, only to discover all over again what a difficult thing this was to do. I tended to loose my balance at the exact moment that the doorman opened the cab door and stood by in his respectful attitude o f"waiting." I have even been known to fall out of the cab by reaching and pushing against the handle at the same time that he did. But this time, however, I had disciplined myself to remain quite, quite still, sitting on my hands until the door was opened for me. Then, burrowing into my handbag, which suddenly looked like the Black Hole of Cacutgta, to find the fare, I discovered that I needed a light. A light was switched on. I needed more than a light, I needed a match or a flashlight or special glasses, for I simply couldn't find my change purse, and when I did (lipstick rolling on the floor, compact open and everything spilled--passport,m mirror, the works) I couldn't find the right change. We were now all three of us, driver, doorman and I, waiting to see what I was going to do next. I took out some bills, counted them three times in the dark until I was absolutely certain that I had double the amount necessary, and then pressed it on the driver, eagerly apologizing for overtipping. Overcome with shyness I nodded briefly in the direction of the doorman and raced him to the entrance. I just won. Panting and by now in an absolute ecstasy of panic I flung myself at the revolving doors and let them spin me through. Thus I gained access to the Ritz."

I guffawed out loud so often throughout the Dud Avocado; I read parts aloud to my husband; I laughed at and cried with Sally Jay. . . in short, I lived this book. It was pure joy to read, and one that I will certainly read a second time.

The Dud Avocado is the story of Sally Jay Gorse, a young American woman living the high life in 1950s Paris. From cafes to nightclubs to art shows and the theatre, Sally Jay takes her reader on an intimate tour of her life.

I wasn't keen on this book. It's written in a chatty, breathless tone, which was entertaining at first. But about a hundred pages in, the chattiness became almost senseless, irritating babbling. It would have been a better book had the narrator interspersed her story with some witty insights; but sadly, she's not bright enough for that. Sally Jay has a few genuinely funny moments in this novel (the disastrous dinner with Teddy, Larry, the Comtessa, and cousin John comes to mind), but they come at the expense of the other, lesser characters, who become caricatures as portrayed by the narrator. In addition, the book is very, very dated; I imagine some of the things Sally Jay did were shocking fifty years ago, but they're a little passé now.

In The Dud Avocado Elaine Dundy writes about Sally Jay Gorce's "adventures" in Paris during the mid-20th century.

What I Appreciated:

- I applaud Dundy for writing about a feisty woman during a time where women weren't necessarily supposed to be this way.

- The cast of characters is amusing, everyone from the bed-ridden neighbor hospitalized for TB to European beatniks to Sally's various lovers.

What Made the Book Seem Longer Than 255 Pages:

- The writing is average (and the plot doesn't make up for it).

- The narration often gets boring; she really truly does the same thing day, after day.

- Sally Jay can be quite annoying; she wants to be seen an independent woman, yet constantly expects men to pay for her, entertain her and take care of her.

- The ending is ridiculous; I don't want to ruin it for anyone, but it is infuriatingly contrived.

I have a hard time recommending this book. The story and writing just really aren't worth the time. I think it is quite dated, therefore perhaps more appropriate for an older crowd that can relate to this time period.

I wanted to like this book--travel, romance, a light-hearted, liberated American girl--what's not to like? But it wore me down fast. I just didn't find the image of a young, very hung over American girl stumbling about in Paris "the morning after" in a bedraggled evening dress very funny. Our heroine, Sally Jay Gorce, is totally clueless in a sad sort of way. And although I suspect her flip dismissal of a near-rape is a relic of the time, I just couldn't pass over it as lightly as she did. I have to admit that I got 80% through this book and then just couldn't pick it up again. I can't recommend it.