Review: The Last Days of Dorothy Parker by Marion Meade

 

The Last Days of Dorothy Parker: The Extraordinary Lives of Dorothy Parker and Lillian Hellman and How Death Can Be Hell on Friendship by Marion Meade is the story of much of Dorothy Parker's adult life in brief including her death and what became of her remains. As such it also touches on the others in her life: husband, friends, acquaintances. Much though is dedicated to Lillian Hellman and her roll in Dottie's life and thereafter.

Lilly considered herself Dottie's best friend. And they were close friends even though there was an age difference of about a decade. The age difference caused problems towards the end of Dottie's life though because of Lilly's vain type of personality and her inability to see a friend in such shape as Dorothy had achieved.

Honestly, I expected more about the relationship between Dottie and Lilly and less on the history of Dorothy overall. It was still interesting to me because I had not read a biography of Dorothy before. I can understand that the history was needed to place things in perspective. And especially needed towards the end to show Lilly's character.

It's important that you read the afterword if you read the book. It explains why some of the detail seems to be rather scant.

It's a good book, but a little dry. I liked it, but I didn't love it. I'm not sure what if anything the author could have done to improve it given what she had to work with. It's a must read if you are a Dorothy Parker fan, especially if you haven't read a biography yet. But, don't expect it to be full of wit and bon mots. It is pretty much just the facts m'aam. The author leaves the quotations from works to books such as the Portable Dorothy Parker, an edition she edited. If you like this book, or want to read further about Dorothy Parker, you may want to check out the author's other full biography of her entitled, Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell Is This?

I gave this book 3 stars out of 5. Good, but not great.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Teaser Tuesday: The Last Days of Dorothy Parker by Marion Meade

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of  Should Be Reading.

Anyone can participate. just do the following.

Rules:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t  give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! 

This week is a second teaser from The Last Days of Dorothy Parker by Marion Meade. 

My sentences come from about 60% into the book starting at location 1167:

 "For a valid reason, Lilly described Dottie as a reluctant memoirist: often enough she had been overheard saying that rather than write her story she would cut her throat with a dull knife."

(on writing a autobiography) ..."she had tried, "but it doesn't come." One reason it didn't come was her speed. For a slow paced writer who joked she put down five words and erased seven, the completion of a full length book on any subject was virtually impossible."

It's funny, but until I read this I never pictured the witty lady having any trouble writing down anything after her bon mots and certainly not something as easy for her to tell as the story of her life. So, live and learn. 

What book is your teaser from this week? Give us a taste or a link in the comments. And thanks for stopping by!

Teaser Tuesday: The Last Days of Dorothy Parker by Marion Meade

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of 

Should Be Reading.

Anyone can participate. just do the following.

Rules:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t  give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week's teaser comes from The Last Days of Dorothy Parker - The Extraordinary Lives of Dorothy Parker and Lillian Hellman and How Death Can Be Hell on Friendship by Marion Meade. This book was published May 27, 2014 by Penguin Classics.

The teaser comes from about 7% into the Kindle Version, location 138. S.J. Perelman describing Dottie's entrance at a 1932 cocktail party he happened to be attending.

As befitted one of Manhattan's all-stars, she was tricked out in a soigne black Lanvin outfit, feathered toque, and opera-length gloves, and immediately made every woman in the place look like a frump. Her condition, as he charitably described it, was "visibly gassed."

Besides her wit and some other things, at that time in her life she was famous for her drinking to excess. 

So, What's your teaser this week? Leave a link in the comment below, or if you don't have a blog, leave your teaser. I look forward to hearing from you.