I didn't know much about Dorothy Parker, besides a few of her famous bon mots, before I picked this book up, but I feel as though I know her much better now. This is not a happy book, but it's a funny book. The short stories in particular are well-told, and tend to run along the common themes of marriages and relationships gone wrong. The poems I found tedious after a while. The play and book reviews are very interesting, and I would have enjoyed reading more of them...Parker seems to have been a very intelligent and insightful reviewer.
The cover art on this Penguin Classics edition adds an extra element of enjoyment--the back cover and flaps are covered with cartoon men and women quoting lines from the stories and poems. This is a terrific collection from a talented but complicated writer.
The cover art on this Penguin Classics edition adds an extra element of enjoyment--the back cover and flaps are covered with cartoon men and women quoting lines from the stories and poems. This is a terrific collection from a talented but complicated writer.
