menfrommarrs's review
5.0
Adagio to Crescendo. 3 elevated to a 5. Probably all due to the audio version. Leaving Shirley Booth 'til last was brilliant! Can't imagine it any other way. Dorothy would be flabbergasted!
jessica_lam's review
5.0
I never knew I had a literary soulmate until now.
Known for her acerbic wit, Parker’s short stories are full of entertaining barbs and internal monologues that betray the thoughts of those navigating in high society. Parker paints vignettes of daily lives of the men and women from her era that encompasses their foibles, flaws, unrequited loves, overwhelming senses of ennui, and more. While known for her satire and wry humor, Parker also imbues a sense of humanity in her characters that make them endearing. Particularly effective are narrators she places to the side of the action so the reader (listener) experiences the one sided conversations or stray observations, such as in the end of “Such a Pretty Picture” that makes the scene drip with dramatic irony.
The performances in this audio collection were also fantastic. This is my first foray into audiobook fiction (long buses + developing motion sickness with reading = audiobooks!) and the ladies kept my full attention. In particular, Nixon brings a sleepy, dream-like softness to Big Blonde that perfectly fits the protagonist and Christine Baranski’s articulate, quick, and sharp tone perfectly matches the humorous reviews she covers (the Emily Post review is deliciously spiny).
Known for her acerbic wit, Parker’s short stories are full of entertaining barbs and internal monologues that betray the thoughts of those navigating in high society. Parker paints vignettes of daily lives of the men and women from her era that encompasses their foibles, flaws, unrequited loves, overwhelming senses of ennui, and more. While known for her satire and wry humor, Parker also imbues a sense of humanity in her characters that make them endearing. Particularly effective are narrators she places to the side of the action so the reader (listener) experiences the one sided conversations or stray observations, such as in the end of “Such a Pretty Picture” that makes the scene drip with dramatic irony.
The performances in this audio collection were also fantastic. This is my first foray into audiobook fiction (long buses + developing motion sickness with reading = audiobooks!) and the ladies kept my full attention. In particular, Nixon brings a sleepy, dream-like softness to Big Blonde that perfectly fits the protagonist and Christine Baranski’s articulate, quick, and sharp tone perfectly matches the humorous reviews she covers (the Emily Post review is deliciously spiny).
angarena's review
4.0
The actresses performing these Dorothy Parker stories are truly wonderful. Cynthia Nixon reading The Big Blonde, Christine Baranski reading Horsie and Alfre Woodard doing Dusk Before Fireworks are not to missed.
reneewrought's review
4.0
This collection was my first real introduction to Parker's work. I'd read poems of hers here and there but never her long-form fiction. The first story in this collection, "Big Blonde" is possibly Parker's best-known short story and read by an extremely capable and committed Cynthia Nixon. "Dusk Before Fireworks" is another, read by an imitable Alfre Woodard. There are a few other excerpts read by Christine Baranski as well as some of Parker's reviews for Vanity Fair and smaller pieces read by Shirley Booth.
All of the women reading for this collection are fantastic. They convey the sparkling wit that is surely the signature of Parker's style, while bringing a sincere well of emotion to the surface when called for. And there is so much feeling under the quippy verve of Parker's writing.
The longer stories are funny, engaging windows into life for certain middle-class white women in New York in the 1920s, but always threaded through with a sense of people chafing at the constraints put on them by society, even as they struggle to fit into them, or impose the same restraints on each other (or themselves). A sadness underscores it all, a sense of being trapped, or helpless frustration at being unable to do anything other than play by the rules. I was unsurprised to learn that Parker struggled with alcohol abuse and suicidal ideation in her life. Parker wrote with sharpness and humour, but the way she captured and conveyed that sense of being out of place, of struggling with what others expect you to be and losing sight of what you thought you wanted for yourself is what really continues to resonate.
All of the women reading for this collection are fantastic. They convey the sparkling wit that is surely the signature of Parker's style, while bringing a sincere well of emotion to the surface when called for. And there is so much feeling under the quippy verve of Parker's writing.
The longer stories are funny, engaging windows into life for certain middle-class white women in New York in the 1920s, but always threaded through with a sense of people chafing at the constraints put on them by society, even as they struggle to fit into them, or impose the same restraints on each other (or themselves). A sadness underscores it all, a sense of being trapped, or helpless frustration at being unable to do anything other than play by the rules. I was unsurprised to learn that Parker struggled with alcohol abuse and suicidal ideation in her life. Parker wrote with sharpness and humour, but the way she captured and conveyed that sense of being out of place, of struggling with what others expect you to be and losing sight of what you thought you wanted for yourself is what really continues to resonate.
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