The Portable Dorothy Parker (1944)

Dorothy Parker was famous for her satirical wit, a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table, and one of the earliest writers for the New Yorker. She was once arrested for protesting the execution of the murderers Sacco and Vanzetti. Later, she pursued screenwriting in Hollywood and was later blacklisted there for her involvement in left-wing politics. She was married three times, twice to the same man; and had four suicide attempts, none successful. After her death, her ashes lay for 21 years on a shelf at a funeral home and then in the office of a Wall Street law firm, before she was finally buried at the headquarters of the NAACP. Parker loved one-liners and word play, and this is a compilation of short stories, magazine articles, letters, interviews, book and theater reviews, and poetry written by Parker over a period of roughly 60 years.

Although Parker deplored the idea of writing “like a woman,” in her short fiction she often focused on themes that women frequently write about. Her short stories tend to focus on the relationships between the sexes, and the differences that arise out of relationships between men and women. She was really good at watching people and listening to them, which is how she can write an entire story in dialogue and still get her message across by implication. Two of my favorite stories among the ones collected here are “Big Blonde,” the story of a young woman’s alcoholic decline (based on personal experience, which makes all the more powerful); and “The Game,” in which a young married couple have a dinner party at which a game (resembling Charades), innocent at first, is played. This last story highlights the fact that there’s a hidden meaning (or multiple meanings) for every action.

But her stories don’t really capture what Dorothy Parker might have been like as a person; for that, you have to look at her other works for that famous, biting wit. In her book reviews, Parker reviews not only the book but the author as well (“Dashiell Hammett is as American as a sawed-off shotgun.”). Even when she’s trying to review other people, Parker is pretty self-deprecatory; so she’ll interject her reviews and articles with personal anecdotes that poke fun at her own age, for example. I love an author who can roll with the punches, so to speak, and someone who can make fun of themselves gets extra points with me. In all, this collection is an impressive representation of the oeuvre of Dorothy Parker’s work, life, and personality. ( )

How many times have I seen bon mots attributed to Dorothy Parker? I thought I'd enjoy reading more of what she had written. Evidently, she was quite the wit in her day.

Turns out anything she wrote that was witty, I had already read!

I enjoyed a few of her short stories, especially the ones that were written during the War...and guess what?: her husband was serving overseas. The ring of authenticity was, well, to write as she did, authentic.

In a few of the reviews she wrote I think I saw the hint of what made her current "back in the day." Unfortunately, humor doesn't always wear well. Her "letters" were dreadfully boring....not understanding fully the intended audience nor to what she was alluding. Evidently her son suffered from Tuberculosis. The scourge of her day, and becoming one in ours, too.

All in all, it is one of those books where I can say, "I'm glad I read it," but am happy to never need to read it again. A good book to put in the guest room bookcase.... ( )

Dorothy Parker is one of my short story idols. Readers who prefer action over rumination may find her stories dull and forgettable, but for the people watchers and neutral cynics, her writing is the cream of the character-driven crop. I can't read too many of them at once, however, because her deadpan descriptions of less-than-perfect people are, while humorous, also pretty depressing. Four stars because the last half of this edition consists of outdated reviews instead of more wit-infused gold. ( )

Dorothy Parker is one of those writers I've heard about long before I've actually read their work. The lady definitely lives up to her reputation as a master of language and wit. The picture she paints of early 20th Century New York is fascinating, but her constant theme of irony and heartbreak gets tiresome after a while. So I took my time perusing this 544 page volume of poems and short stories. I'm debating whether to keep it or not. On one hand, I don't see myself pulling it off the shelf too often, but on the other, a short cutting poem might be just the thing to spice up an otherwise drab day.
--J. ( )

Most of the books she reviewed in this collection I've never heard of, so I didn't do much more than skim a couple. And I thought her short stories were nothing special and I ended up forgetting most of them a couple days after I'd read them. However, her poems are some of the best I've ever read and they're all right there at your fingertips in this volume, and I think that that makes this book worthy of four stars. ( )