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The Dud Avocado (New York Review Books Classics)
by Elaine Dundy
from NYRB Classics
Customer Reviews:
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Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0 
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Revival Rejoice
Thanks to The New York Review of Books, this relevant gem has been revived.
The ageless battle of Yin and Yang in a feminine framework is pleasantly portrayed by the author.
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Overripe Fruit 
First, let me say this book is written very well. It's a fluid read, and the descriptions of Paris and the bistro regulars are so vivid I felt I'd been there. Many of the observations of human nature are dead on the money.
That being said,in this age of Turner Classics and cable TV, I felt like I was seeing a re-run. What must have been a unique read in the 50's is now a bit of same old, same old. Holly Golightly redux.
Sally Jay Gorse, the heroine, is -- as one character describes Americans -- an... more info
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Ex-pat chick adventures in Paris et al...
There ain't too many ex-pat chicks out there forging their own way in foreign countries. To do this successfully like our heroine Sally Jay Gorce did, one must have inner toughness and a bit of zanyness. It has been said somewhere that female ex-pats have a freewheeling love life; to do this successfully one must have innate degage (one of my favorite French words from The Dud Avocado. It means detachment). Sally Jay's handling of ole European dog, Teddy, is classic ex-pat chick behavior: use 'em and abuse... more info
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Wit in the Pit
Too many books are weak lemonade; a few, straight bourbon with no chaser. Elaine Dundy's "The Dud Volcano" is a bottle of chilled Champagne: invigorating, light, irresistibly sippible. Its picaresque heroine, Sally Jay Gorce, is no prude, though certainly no whore. She's a hoot: a fully realized character whose narrative voice immediately grabbed my attention and never let go until the very last (hilarious) word. I've no idea if Paris in the 1950s was anything as the book describes, but Ms. Dundy makes me... more info
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