The Dud Avocado (Virago Modern Classics)

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Take one zippy, curious, 21-year-old American named Sally Jay, just out of college. Drop her in the middle of Paris' Left Bank. Add an Italian diplomat, an American theatrical director , a couple of painters and a white slave trader. Mix until all bubbles. The result: a delightful few hours of sparkling reading entertainment. Summing up: Froth and frolic.

Book Genre: 20th Century, American, Classics, Coming Of Age, Cultural, Fiction, France, Humor, Literary Fiction, Literature, Novels, Travel, Young AdultI soon realized that one of the most important things to find while working in theater was someone to giggle with. To find someone to giggle with I place just below finding someone to flirt with and just above the ability to knit. Those are the only three things to do while waiting to go on. Oh, and crosswords of course, if you can bear them. Anything else breaks the spell.” And here's where the Greek Tragedy part comes in. For my question was answered, and answered before I had time to put the button hook on the question mark, by the arrival of Lila, the old, old flame of Larry, on the arm of Teddy, the old, old flame de moi. A habituée of New York nightclubs from the age of 15, she met the exiled Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, who wished to be taught how to jitterbug. [3] An honors graduate from Sweet Briar College in Sweet Briar, Virginia, she studied acting at the Jarvis Theatre School in Washington [4] with future star actors Rod Steiger, Tony Curtis and others, and in the Dramatic Workshop was taught by Erwin Piscator. [3] The Dud Avocado opens with our beautiful and hapless heroine—imagine the panache of Holly Golightly crossed with the naive knowingness of Holden Caulfield—wandering one September morning through Paris in an evening dress. A smart, funny classic about a young and beautiful American woman who moves to Paris determined to live life to the fullest.

The Dud Avocado follows the romantic and comedic adventures of a young American who heads overseas to conquer Paris in the late 1950s. Edith Wharton and Henry James wrote about the American girl abroad, but it was Elaine Dundy’s Sally Jay Gorce who told us what she was really thinking. When people asked Dundy how autobiographical the book was, she'd say, "all the impulsive, outrageous things my heroine does, I did. All the sensible things she did, I made up." Think Daisy Miller with a dash of Fear of Flying; My Sister Eileen with a soupçon of Sex and the City; Anita Loos crossed with Allen Ginsberg." -- The Philadelphia Inquirer

In October 1993, seven years after Private Eye had pointed out the similarities, Jilly Cooper admitted that sections of her first two novels, Emily and Bella, were plagiarised from The Dud Avocado, but said that it was not deliberate. [3] Summary [ edit ] Lccn 2007010955 Ocr ABBYY FineReader 11.0 Ocr_converted abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.6 Ocr_module_version 0.0.13 Openlibrary OL18002109M Openlibrary_edition

I only did it,' I said, 'now this is going to be the truth, Teddy, I only did it because it seemed to be the glamorous thing to do at the time. It was my ideal of glamour.” Gelder, Lawrence Van (September 26, 1997). "Shirley Clarke Is Dead at 77; Maker of Oscar-Winning Film". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved March 12, 2020. T]wo Americans re-encountering each other after a certain time in a foreign land are supposed to clamber up their nearest lampposts and wait tremblingly for it all to blow over.” Tynan disapproved of Dundy's writing vocation despite having forecast success, [6] because it distracted attention from himself; Dundy, however, had seen it as a means to save their marriage. Around this time, Tynan started to insist on flagellating his wife, with the threat of his own suicide if she refused. [1] [7] Drugs, alcohol, and extramarital affairs by both parties resulted in the marriage becoming fraught, and it was dissolved in 1964. In 1962, she was a writer for the BBC's satirical That Was the Week That Was. Dundy attempted to cure herself of addictions from 1968 to 1976, [3] though according to her daughter, she struggled with drugs and alcohol for half a century. Dundy lived mainly in New York after her divorce. [7] In addition to novels and short stories, Dundy wrote for The New York Times. She wrote books on the actor Peter Finch, [8] the city of Ferriday, Louisiana, [9] and Elvis Presley. [10] If you take the stone of an avocado, Stefan rhapsodizes, and put it in water - just plain water - in just three months, anywhere, any place in the world, up comes a sturdy little plant of green leaves.The Dud Avocado gained instant cult status on first publication and remains a timeless portrait of a woman hellbent on living. I had to tell someone how much I enjoyed The Dud Avocado. It made me laugh, scream, and guffaw (which, incidentally, is a great name for a law firm).” —Groucho Marx Dundy's controlling father insisted she live at home while in New York, but she calculated that her monthly allowance would allow her to live in Paris for a short time. [3] At the end of World War II, she traveled to Europe, first to live in Paris, France, dubbing French films, [1] then settled in London, where she performed in a BBC radio play. In 1950, she met the theater critic Kenneth Tynan, and two weeks later, they began living together. They married on January 25, 1951, had a daughter Tracy (born May 12, 1952, London), and became part of the theatrical and film elite of London and Hollywood.

One of the funniest books I've ever read; it should be subtitled Daisy Miller's Revenge." --Gore Vidal I’m a little surprised this was set in the late 1950’s, this sort of sexual freedom normally goes hand and hand with the 1970’s. But then again this is France and they have a stereotypical reputation for being progressive. I don’t know enough about social behaviours of the time, especially in Paris but I can’t help but think this novel pretty accurate. The Dud Avocado did have a very authentic feel to it. It’s an unusual novel but it was well worth the experience.Through the haze of late nights and smoke filled rooms it takes a while to figure out Sally Jay is in fact an aspiring actress, trying to break into the business through some associates of hers, She is living in the city of lovers thanks to some loot donated to her precisely for this purpose by her kindly Uncle Roger, who apparently understands her "predilection for being continually on the wing". Theirs is a no-strings-attached deal. For this she spends two years doing exactly as she pleases, in a great place to do what she whats to do, Uncle Roger's sole request is that, when her trip is over, she will return and tell him all about it. That's it! No wonder she is so excitable and fruity! The gayest and most cheerful novel about Americans in Paris I have read…a dazzling performance–as light as a champagne bubble, as continuously attention-getting as a juggler keeping seven swords in the air at the same time.”— The New York Times She says some pretty unpleasant things to people from time to time. But there are two things I noted about this statement. One is that young people really did feel like this well into the late ‘60s. And secondly that some of her circle did have ‘dark sinister motives’ for their actions, as Sally Jay found out later.