I was underwhelmed. "Big Blonde" was great, but many of the stories felt formulaic, cranked out and dated. The essays, reviews and letters were better, but even there, after awhile they became repetitious.

I enjoyed the author's reviews of plays, musicals, and books quite a bit, and also her letters. Her short stories were fine, although I hated every story that was told in the first person narrative aside from "Mrs. Hofstadter on Josephine Street". The poetry I mostly skipped, not because of any lack on the author's part but because poetry doesn't do anything for me; I just end up bored. ( )

Writing a review for Mrs. Parker's Potable Dorothy Parker is a little difficult because she was a critique herself. I'll start this by giving a little background to who Mrs. Parker was and why I think she is an important female writer to read. Dorothy Parker is known to some people as a writer for several magazines and famous for her one liners like "What fresh hell is this?" However, like most writers she did so much more then just make witty comments. She was a "feminist" too, said so herself. She worked damn hard to get were she wanted in life and said what she wanted without caring what others thought. Plus there aren't many woman writers in her day that I can think of who wrote for magazines or even Hollywood movies. You don't necessarily need to actually read her stuff unless you get interested in her life, but I still think she is someone people should know about, especially people who call them self a feminist.

Overall I love Mrs. Parker's work. She's one of those writers that I think can write about New York City well (although this is coming from a boy from Vermont that visits NYC about once a year). I also like her word choice too. She never overthought about a story, but she was great with dialogue and setting up a scene. Though this sampler of a book contains a variety of things, I think the things that stood out from the others stuff were her poems and her book reviews over her short stories. Her stories as she points out were mostly serious, but for me they were also for a time I never lived during to full understand. Her poems on the other hand were dark and funny or sometimes both. Only Dotty could make a joke about listing reasons not to kill yourself.

Mrs. Parker's non-fiction stuff is maybe some of the best stuff in this collection. Not only is it telling on her options on this, but it's were you see her famous witty side. I was dying when she started to write about the Beats. Basically she hated them. She wished she could like there writing because it was good, but she hated them as people. Honestly I have to agree with her, although I like some of there stuff, I wouldn't like them as people. She also hated Hollywood, more the directors and behind the scenes stuff. She was a writer tying to make it in Hollywood and gave up because the people weren't very nice to script writers.

Has much as she was bitchy about some stuff, you will find some odd things she adored too. She was a big fan of Dashiell Hammett. She liked Jonh Updike's first book that I just read and apparently we had the same thoughts. She was also a fan of the Winnie-the-Pooh books. Made me smile because I read them as an adult for the first time and enjoyed them, just was embarrassed to tell people I was reading them. She also claim Ernest Hemingway was one of the greats American short story writers (but didn't care for his novels) and she though Truman Capote could master any style of writing. I think if you wanted to pass her seal of approval you had to write out of passion, not for fun. She states in a interview they included that she didn't care for many female writers (even though she was a feminist) and especially fantasy because she though "writing for fun" wasn't what people should do in her day. In a way I have to agree with this too. Too many times I see passion left out of writing, however I have to disagree because sometimes writing is fun if you enjoy it enough.

I really like Mrs. Parker, but I know already some people wouldn't like her because she wouldn't like them. Sorry Beat lovers you not welcome in he circle of friends. Also if you can take an joke, I wouldn't read her stuff either. She not really offensive (actually she is more progressive for her time) but she had a dark sense of humor...hence the poem about suicide I mentioned earlier. However, read Dorothy Parker like look back in time a woman who said what she wanted and worked her ass off to make it anywhere.

What fresh hell is this? Why Mrs. Parker, you are a hell of a good writer. ( )

The best being the best. This would be my desert island book. I never get sick of Parker's witty poetry and short stories. Having this book is like having a witty friend around who is always ready with a cocktail. I am not exaggerating when I say that if I could only read one book for the rest of my life if would be this one. ( )

"And if, somewhere in that process, you part with a certain amount of sanity, doubtless you are better off without it. There is too much sense in this world anyway."

So much, which would be baller if most of it was entertaining - alas. The poetry is abysmal (which she admits during a later-in-life interview, she wasn't contradicted). Short stories are where she shines, sometimes: The Lovely Leave; Mr. Durant; The Waltz; Song of the Shirt, 1941; A Telephone Call; Soldiers of the Republic; Too Bad; Big Blonde; Lady with a Lamp. Love her one-sided conversations/quasi-monologues and her portrayal of the perfect woman throughout - "Men like a good sport" (all satire, of course). Also enjoyed her review of Redemption by Leo Tolstoi and her Introduction: The Seal in the Bedroom and Other Predicaments by James Thurber. Reading while depressed was a perk, I fear even less would have resonated otherwise.

"Ah, the sun's coming out! It's going to be a lovely day, after all. Isn't that the meanest thing you ever saw in your life?" ( )