My Little Blue Dress (Paperback)

~ (Author) "LIKE A LOT of little girls back then in that part of the world I viewed the future with a certain lack of enthusiasm, though..." (more)
Key Phrases: nasty armchair, undersea dome, little blue dress, Bruno Maddox, Hayley Iskender, Mark Clark (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his first novel, Maddox, a former Spy magazine editor, concocts a hilariously off-the-wall satire of the memoir. The book tells the story of a young man, coincidentally named Bruno Maddox, who's taken it upon himself to recount the life story of an unnamed woman who was born on January 1, 1900. The brilliantly funny spoof begins as a classic chronicle of a long life, flush with the standard 20th-century memoir elements of war-torn England, 1920s Paris and suburban 1950s America. Bruno succeeds in presenting a merry little memoir (though he does include a few telling details that indicate that he is fabricating much of the woman's life): his unnamed protagonist discovers that she's prettier and more articulate than the other girls in her English village, moves to Paris (where she snorts cocaine with Henry Miller) and becomes a tea server at a military research facility during WWII. At this point, though, Bruno, who's crazily racing to finish the book, abruptly changes format and flashes forward to the end of her life. Now she's a decrepit old woman living in New York's Chinatown, composing a diary full of anecdotes of her glorious past and her caretaker is none other than a lovesick, aspiring writer named Bruno Maddox. Maddox's writing is purposely uppity, but the kitschy, honest overtones communicate a very witty take on love and life.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Imagine a situation in which a man is forced to write the memoir of a 100-year-old woman under extremely rushed circumstances, and you have the opening premise of this self-consciously postmodern novel. The first few chapters are amusingly filled with silly anachronisms, and the "author's" attitudes about her breasts and casual sex serve as wry commentary on the differences between the sexes. Unfortunately, this chronological narrative is abandoned, and the novel turns into the dismal diary of the elderly woman, dying in an apartment in New York City and being cared for by a young man named surprise! Bruno Maddox. Eventually, even this story line is stripped away as Bruno the narrator takes over in his desperate pursuit of girlfriend Hayley. However contrived it sounds, the unpolished, fake-memoir idea is really quite ingenious, allowing awkward sentences, typos, and ignorance of historical fact to become integral to the novel's structure. Among Bruno's ramblings are some entertaining asides on irony in modern fashion and urban life. Maddox is a former editor of SPY Magazine, and his bio makes interesting reading more so than parts of his book. For comprehensive modern fiction collections. Reba Leiding, James Madison Univ. Lib., Harrisonburg, VA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (March 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142000485
• ISBN-13: 978-0142000489
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,310,860 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for all veterans of the 20th century., May 8, 2001

By	Miguel Sancho (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Little Blue Dress (Hardcover)

As you'll remember, the last hundred years were boutfifully ripe with subjects for satire. Unfortunately, scores of overpaid memoirists have built careers by taking everything so damned seriously -- and we, the reading public, only enabled them with our indulgence.

To the rescue comes Maddox's first novel. Mordantly witty, mechanically unique, and -- this is the important part -- entirely NOT BORING, "My Little Blue Dress" delivers a hilarious and transparently fraudulent traipse down one smelly centegenarian's memory lane. After the "true" author is revealed, readers are also treated to a dead-on skewering of present day New York and all its vanities (a delight for anyone who loves, or loves to hate, the city). Along the way Maddox manages to make some insightful cultural commentary; thanfully his playful pacing and style prevent the text from degenerating into another steaming pile of theses.

This is a very good book. If enough thoroughly mediocre novels come out, we will one day be calling it a great book, an important book. If enough of us do that, someone will oneday launch a Maddox Studies Program at a small liberal arts college. Hopefully it will happen soon enough that Maddox will be around to make fun of them too.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Silly fun, April 25, 2001

By	Eileen Galen (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: My Little Blue Dress (Hardcover)

This is a terrifically ridiculous and clever novel that had me laughing out loud often. The conceit - a barely-managed 'memoir' of someone other than the memoirist - is ingenious. Who hasn't had a great idea that just wouldn't work out? This one, in Maddox's hands, allows for plenty of room for antics on several levels. The narrator is one of those people who has read so much, and thought about a lot of things, and his mind is buzzing. He contrives (at first) to write in a voice not his own. He sustains the invention for brief spates. He can't sustain the voice, and he knows it at times. He collapses, then perseveres. Repeatedly but not tediously, he nearly runs away with himself.

Maddox inserts himself into the life span of his not-at-all believable heroine when you would expect it, as well as when you might not. (Think of a puppy who cannot stay away from the action for long.) Since he knows his heroine insufficiently, subplots and diversions intrude. There's a sort of manic braininess here. This is an unpretentious romp, uncynical and a bona fide comic novel. It's utterly original and a lot of fun.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Zany and original, September 23, 2002

By	"throughwithamazon" (Huntington, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Bruno Maddox takes the unsuspecting reader on a wild ride in "My Little Blue Dress" with surprises at every turn. It is absolutely essential to read this book to the very last page, or you might miss a nuance or two. The author ridicules himself by placing himself center stage in this absurdist story. This is one of the most original stories I've had the pleasure to enjoy in a long time.

The story is immediately surprising, as the five-year-old apparent narrator uses a vocabulary far more extensive than that of a lot of adults I know. So the reader is immediately clued in on something unusual. The narrator goes on to use language and make references that don't quite fit the time frame of the narrative, providing further clues. Still more clues are placed expertly along the the way, but never enough for the reader to determine precisely what is going too soon. One such clue comes early in the story in the form of advice from the narrator's grandfather.

This is a must-read if you enjoy absurdist quirky stories that leave many questions unanswered to the last chapter. Judging by the reaction from other readers, "My Little Blue Dress" isn't for everyone.