The Dud Avocado (New York Review Books Classics)

by Elaine Dundy

To have an affair with a man, and one’s very first affair at that, just because he picks you up under rather romantic circumstances on the Champs Élysées, takes you to the Ritz and things, and above all, because you’re impressed with the fact that he has a wife and a mistress already, what could be more predictable?

“It’s difficult to know nowadays where adventure lies. There are no more real frontiers.

I came roaring out of the Middle West, you know, and my greatest ambition was to conquer—that’s how I saw it—to conquer New York; New York and the mysterious, civilized East.

new york wilderness

The more I see of the world the more I realize how much we are haunted by our childhood dreams.

As you may know, the Diplomatic Service does not pay very well even in its highest positions. Oh, we shouldn’t starve.

you're telling me!

Sometimes the only thing in the world that doesn’t bore me, is listening to bores. Sometimes.

To find someone to giggle with I place just below finding someone to flirt with and just above the ability to knit.

Probably true