The Dud Avocado
by Elaine Dundy
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
World travellers and Bon Vivants
The introduction to this book talks about how it's caught in a cycle of being forgotten and then rediscovered. I can see why. Sally Jay Gorce is a terrifically charming narrator: carefree and alive, but also naive, silly, and shallow. How else could she possibly get away with crying out "The world is wide, wide, wide, and I am young, young, young, and we're all going to live forever!" I spent a significant chunk of the book trying to decide if I wanted to kiss her or shake her.
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Read in January, 2008
This was on the "staff recommendations" at the library so I gave it a whirl. Sally Jay Gorce (love the name) makes a deal with her rich uncle when she's 13 or so: she'll stop trying to run away from home, and he'll foot the bill for two years of "total freedom" after she graduates from college. Of course she goes to Paris, has an affair with a diplomat who already has a wife and mistress, hangs out in avant-garde nightclubs, loses her passport, poses nude, becomes a very temp...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommended to Eleanor by:
Kahlilrecommends it for: American Francophiles
A temporary Art Handler with a degree in literature from Brown recommended this book to me. I picked it up because of the allure of the "American girl in Paris" narrative. While some credit this author with beginning "chick lit," the writer's voice is so strong and focused, it's not just witty for witticism sake. There's lines that continue to stick in my head, like her handbag landing "butter side down" and the contents spilling everywhere. Whenever I think abo...more
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Read in January, 2006
The Dud Avocado follows the adventures of one Sally Jay Gorce, an aspiring young American actress as she tries her best to live in the Paris of the late 1950s. In some ways, it's a shockingly modern book for those of us who are used to thinking of the 50s as being a very repressed and conservative decade, while in others it is most definitely antiquated. The dialogue in particular seems particularly odd; the idiosyncracies of American speech at that time are so unusual that it, at times, ...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommended to Sue by:
Lori recommends it for: fun-loving women
This book was a gift from my sister who usually has very good taste, and it did not disappoint. It was a really fun read, and I laughed out loud at more than one point. The protagonist is a young American woman who longs for adventure and whose wealthy uncle agrees to send her to Paris. She is somewhat of a precursor to a Bridget Jones-type character who gets into silly mishaps and chooses the wrong man, but Sally Jay is much more confident and has a healthier body image. What surprised me th...more
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Read in August, 2007
I picked this one up per Terry Teachout's recommendation - he's the drama critic for the Wall Street Journal, and also wrote an excellent biography of H.L. Mencken. This is a favorite of his, and I certainly wasn't disappointed - you'd be hard pressed to find a better light reading experience. It's an innocent abroad story - Sally Jay Gorce travels to Paris, pursues acting, loses her virginity, and does all the funny things you'd expect an inexperience girl to do in a foreign city. It's laugh...more
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Read in June, 2007
This is about an American girl in the 50s who is traveling in Paris. She's an aspiring actress. But it's sarcastic and smart enough that you don't feel like you are reading total chic-lit. The plot follows some of her love affairs, and I was definitely shocked, because this book is a little bit more racy than I would have thought. It was originally published in the late 1950s, so I guess I just expected it be more conservative. However, the way it reads is a little antiquated, I guess it's m...more
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Read in April, 2008
Reading despite (2002) promise not to read any more books about Americans in France. This one is self-conscious and hysterical. That, and, it's better than breaking my injunction against reading male authors.
If you think my running commentary on people is hilarious: you should read this book.
If you think my running commentary on people is mean or tiring: you should not read this book and should reevaluate our friendship.
Excerpt:
"'Anyhoo-- at this particular meeting the...more
If you think my running commentary on people is hilarious: you should read this book.
If you think my running commentary on people is mean or tiring: you should not read this book and should reevaluate our friendship.
Excerpt:
"'Anyhoo-- at this particular meeting the...more
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Read in January, 2008
This book should be required reading for any American youngster heading off to Europe to 'find themselves'. It's funny, it rings true, it's silly, and the heroine is exasperating but sooo real. The situations she gets herself into are wild, but believable. And the language and themes are so refreshing - it feels so very modern, even if it was written in the 50s. Some of the expressions made me want to run to wikipedia to look them up, but otherwise it's just so timeless. It was a bestseller when...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommended to Sara by:
NPRrecommends it for: Im not sure, but there are definitely a lot of people who would enjoy it, just not me.
I read half of this book and decided I didnt like it enough to finish. I couldnt get into the protagonista, Sally Jay. It was recommended on NPR and I really thought I'd love this story of a 20 something living it up in Paris, but it wasnt funny enough, or sweet enough, or Francophille enough, or inspiring, informative, educational, insightful enough to make me want to finish. Basically, I wasn't invested in the characters and I didnt feel like I was getting anything out of it. If this sounds li...more
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Read in October, 2007
I hesitate to use the word "charming" but then again that just sums this baby up. Who doesn't want to read about a neurotic young wanna-be-actress living it up in Paris? Written in the late 1950s, Sally Jay Gorce manages to feel contemporary thanks to her I'll-sleep-with-whomever-I-want-thank-you-very-much-and-yes-I-prefer-to-spend-the-majority-of-my-life-getting-drunk-and-living-with-a-hangover. She'd be a personal hero if she wasn't so naive and sometimes painfully self-concious a...more
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Read in August, 2007
I was prepared to give this a slightly lower rating (goodreads has got me thinking in stars) until the last forty or so pages, which are fabulous, probably perfect. How often can you say that? There's a description of a martini I had to write down. Well, okay, here it is: "We had dry martinis; great wing-shaped glasses of perfumed fire, tangy as the early morning air." Maybe I'm an alcoholic, but doesn't that sound great? Plus it's set off in its own paragraph. This story of a fun-lovi...more
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Read in February, 2008
recommended to Teri by:
bas bleu
I think Elaine Dundy is a brilliant writer. That being said, I don't know if I can recommend this book to anyone. It took me about 50 pages to decide I did indeed like it, even with the great writing. The story is strange to me at times. I liked it more as I continued on. Still I don't know if it will appeal to any of my friends. It was written in 1958 and I am sure a very wild book for the time. Groucho Marx and Laurence Olivier were fans of this book. If that says anything.
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Read in August, 2007
I tried really hard to like this book, but I found the main character really annoying. She's frivolous with money, plays hard to get in a really unproductive way, is totally self-absorbed, and desperately tries (and fails) to fit into the young artsy paris scene. I couldn't finish the book. I tried to do it, but months dragged on, and I finally resigned myself to the fact that it wasn't going to happen.
I never made it to the part that explains what a dud avocado actually is, so if you have t...more
I never made it to the part that explains what a dud avocado actually is, so if you have t...more
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Read in October, 2007
1950's chick lit! completely reframed my idea of what the 1950's were like - or at least, what they were like for this particular character, living a loose life in Paris. a very fast and fun read. to be fair, it kind of falls apart at the end, and the disastrous ending/betrayal that is hinted at doesn't really have the impact that it ought. but it was still great and made me realize that OF COURSE people were sleeping around and getting drunk and social climbing in the 1950's - why should it...more
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Read in January, 2008
I went to a movie once, and watched a dumb girl make a long series of bad decisions. This book is a bit like that. People make a big deal out of this book being one of the 'undiscovered treasures' of American literature. While I enjoyed it, and it was a smart, snappy little read, I failed to find it hilarious or particularly sympathetic. Get your stuff together, Sally Jay Gorce. You'd be more interesting if you were a little less oblivious and self-absorbed.
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Read in March, 2008
I didn't know anything about this book when I picked it up. Initially, I thought it was a modern novel, but when I turned the first page, I went back to the publishing date. It was an "oh gee golly" type phrase (and the fact that my edition was printed with an old fashioned typeface) that sealed the deal. Yup, this was a chick lit novel written in the 1950s. It's fun, goofy and pretty darn silly...a summer-read kind of book. Enjoyable enough but hardly memorable.
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This is a pretty good novel dealing with a (very) young girl making her mark romantically in Paris during the late 50's. Elaine Dundy's background is quite interesting. She was married to theater critic icon Kenneth Tynan as well as wriing a much admired biography on Elvis and his mother.
I met her briefly during a reading for "The Dud Avocado," and she sort of strikes me a a Louise Brooks type of character. Super book smart, lived a great life, and sexy.
I met her briefly during a reading for "The Dud Avocado," and she sort of strikes me a a Louise Brooks type of character. Super book smart, lived a great life, and sexy.
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
single women in their 20s or anyone who has ever been a single woman in her 20s.
This book is so much fun. The main character is a young American woman who spends a year living in Paris where she has many adventures and misadventures. It took me a few pages to get into it but then I really loved it. I was almost finished with this book before I found out that it was written in the 1950s! It's feels like it could have been written in 2007 (except for the suspicious lack of cell phones and internet which is what eventually tipped me off).
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Read in October, 2007
I love the sassy voice of Sally Jay Gorce, Dundy's wide-eyed American in Paris in the the 1950s-- she could teach the drippy heroines of most of today's chick-lit a thing or two. However beneath what seems to be a light-hearted romp with Sally Jay as she determines to throw herself into the bohemian Left Bank lifestyle lurks a darker thread. The sudden sinister turn of events jars but the book is a breathless, compelling read throughout.
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