Selected Readings from The Portable Dorothy Parker

Brings a much need perspective to early 20th century literature to show what women thought of their lives or what they thought they thought or what they thought they were supposed to think. Parker is brutally honest about the vulnerability of women's feelings, and sly about their hypocrisies. Her characters tend to be stuck; that is, there isn't much room in Parker's world for inner growth or maturation. Maybe that's a limitation of the short story form. Or maybe it's a challenge for the reader to reflect on.

I did not realize how great Dorothy Parker's poetry is. And I also did not realize how great, funny and clever her stories are.

I also realize I would not want her to talk about me behind my back.

I wish she would come back and write some movie scripts because they would have to be great.

She is a poet and writer of love and unhappiness, and too much to drink.

Darn it. I know she will come back and skewer me on her way back to Hollywood. Maybe she won't care about me...

Dorothy Parker was brilliant. No issue with the content.

But when the narrator gets another important 20th-century writer's name wrong -- in the foreword -- the annoyance lingers. "Wodehouse" is not pronounced with a long "o."

Grr!