The Dorothy Parker Audio Collection

by Dorothy Parker, Christine Baranski (Narrated by), Alfre Woodard (Narrated by)

A variety of work from one of the most quotable of all twentieth-century authors—the inimitable Dorothy Parker

Author, poet, screenwriter and outstanding member of the legendary Algonquin Round Table, Dorothy Parker was known for her quick wit, keen observations, and remarkable insight into the human condition. Regarded as brilliant, but known to be an alcoholic and often depressed, Parker’s work pushes all buttons at once: humor, anger, love, pity and everything in between…she pulled no punches, writing with pure, unadulterated passion; her work is timeless and as pertinent to today’s society as it was to that of the time she wrote.

Among the gems included in this collection are her first published short story, Such a Pretty Little Picture and her O. Henry Award winner Big Blonde, several other short stories, and, unlike other audio collections, some of her work, including her 1918 New Yorker piece on Tolstoy’s play Redemption and a 1927 Vanity Fair review of Emily Post’s Ettiquette./

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Audiobook, Classics, Essays, Humor, Adult Fiction

Audio CD

First published June 1, 2004

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

Dorothy Parker was an American writer, poet and critic best known for her caustic wit, wisecracks, and sharp eye for 20th century urban foibles. From a conflicted and unhappy childhood, Parker rose to acclaim, both for her literary output in such venues as The New Yorker and as a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table. Following the breakup of the circle, Parker traveled to Hollywood to pursue screenwriting. Her successes there, including two Academy Award nominations, were curtailed as her involvement in left-wing politics led to a place on the Hollywood blacklist.
Dismissive of her own talents, she deplored her reputation as a "wisecracker." Nevertheless, her literary output and reputation for her sharp wit have endured.

Reviews

[Cookie M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this, especially with the wonderful reading by Cynthia Nixon, Alter Woodard, Christine Baranski and Shirley Booth.
My life would've been a little bleaker without Ms. Parker showing me how emptier it could have been on Park Avenue.

[Jessica Semler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't believe I waited this long to check out Dorothy Parker. Hilarious, witty, clever. Spiritual mother of Amy Sherman Palladino. Parker's writing style is truly the blueprint for Gilmore Girls. I say that with appreciation!

[Suz · Rating 4 out of 5]

4+

I don't understand how I made it to 60 without knowing who Dorothy Parker is. This woman is my spirit animal.

This collection of short stories/novellas fairly well wreaks of the issues of the time that have become timeless issues, told in a wickedly ascerbic wit and with a forthrightness that leaves one a bit uncomfortable and simultaneously feeling seen. I should have known when I fell across her little poem called Sanctuary (the first of her existence I learned of) that was published in 1931:

My land is bare of chattering folk;
The clouds are low along the ridges,
And sweet’s the air with curly smoke
From all my burning bridges.

And of course the narrators! Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, Alfre Woodard, Shirley Booth all exceptionally easy to fall into.

I'll read more of this.

[George P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quality of the stories ranges from three to five stars. Her stories were mostly about people with flawed characters. Nearly everyone has flaws so we should be glad Dorothy Parker didn't write a story about us.
My favorite was Cynthia Nixon performing "Just a Little One". Alfre Woodward's stories were well done also. Shirley Booth's voice was too old for the stories she did, in my opinion, though she did them well.

[Pearl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Five stars for Dorothy Parker, three stars for this collection. The reason this took me literally a year to finish, is that one of the stories depressed me so much that I actually couldn’t continue listening to it. The narrators in this are fine, some are even great, but there’s one who consistently sounds to old for the character she’s portraying and it breaks the mood a little (I’m not being ageist! Some of the stories have a cruelty that is literally only possible in youth, and it was super jarring).

On the whole I enjoyed this, especially the short story the dinner party playing a game, and the story about the poor woman visiting the rich one. I’ll definitely pick up the portable Dorothy Parker for her insane turns of phrase. What a treasure of a woman.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Truly interesting short stories and reviews - I’m interesting in reading more written by Dorothy Parker. I found her commentary both witty and amusing. This was a pretty good introduction to her work.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great, insightful collection; very much a look at attitudes, choices, structures, of/for women at that time. My only complaint was that what appeared engaging and insightful for the first few pieces, felt less so after so many stories around similar subjects.

[Karrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haven’t experienced Parker before and I think this is a great intro, but I feel she is surely of her time. Her acerbic dialogue and quick tongue would have been unique then and now seem almost common.

I particularly liked the story Etiquette , where she takes on Emily Post.

[Almeta · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot recommend this audio collection enough. It is available from audible, but it may also be available for download from your local library system, or available in CD format. 16 stories or reviews ranging from 55 minutes (Big Blonde) to 4 minutes (a review of Tolstoy's play, Redemption). The reviews are all read by Christine Baransky, and she imbues them with a delicious flair. Parker reviews Emily Post's guide to etiquette as one would review a novel, taking great umbrage with the thin characterizations and unimaginative names. Baransky also reads the devastating "Horsie" and "The Game", a withering story of a cocktail party game of charades that tries desperately to ignore the elephant in the room. Alfre Woodard gets to shine reading the stories "Dusk Before Fireworks", "But the One on the Right", and "The Bolt Behind the Blue". Woodard does wonders with these pieces about jealousy, chagrin, resentment, and social graces. (On a personal note, Alfre Woodard was a regular at a movie theater I worked at in Santa Monica, and she was so fabulous, a petite woman with a big personality and wry humor. Her film/TV roles don't usually utilize that part of her the way her readings do in this collection.)
Cynthia Nixon reads what is perhaps Parker's most famous story, the O.Henry Award-winning "Big Blonde", in addition to "Diary of a New York Lady" and "Just a Little One" and "Such a Pretty Little Picture". Nixon is adept at bringing out the pathos and quiet tragedy in these stories.
To round out this already fantastic collection there are four brief pieces read by Shirley Booth, of "Come Back Little Sheba" and "Hazel" fame. She can be funny and tragic with just a slight adjustment in her voice. Some may say that her readings were more theatrical, and I agree, but in the most masterful meaning of the word. These were the greatest treat of all.

[Joy H. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Added 1/11/14.
I recently borrowed this collection from our public library. It contains short stories and book reviews written by Dorothy Parker.

One of the pieces I listened to is a review which Parker wrote of Emily Post's advice book, Etiquette. Parker's review is a priceless put-down of all the snooty social rules recommended by Emily Post. Parker was a master at biting sarcasm. In this case, the sarcasm is exquisite! I loved it. You can read Parker's piece here:
http://grammar.about.com/od/classices...
Enjoy! :)

1/23/14 - I finished listening to this collection. At first the stories and articles are amusing but after a while the sarcasm gets old.

[Sandy Nawrot · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd been hearing about Dorothy Parker for ages from my blogging friends. Ms. Parker is an American poet and satirist who is known to have basically invented snark, was very sarcastic and witty, aiming most of that attitude towards the human condition in the early 20th century. She even wrote some screenplays, including "A Star is Born" and was nominated for a couple of Academy Awards.
According to a little research, it looks like she definitely stirred things up in her day, being blacklisted from Hollywood, being fired from Vanity Fair, having multiple marriages and affairs resulting in a pregnancy and abortion. When she died of a heart attack in 1967, she left her entire estate to Martin Luther King Jr. much to the distress of her executor. Back in that time, she must have made heads spin! LOL! It makes me laugh thinking about her stirring the pot.

But she definitely has a dark side, and this comes out in her works here. She writes of depression and attempted suicide, boring dinner parties with dull men, airhead women only concerned with a broken fingernail, a rather mean-spirited game of charades...her stories are definitely NOT uplifting, not that I require sunshine and roses. I imagine in real life a little bit of Dorothy Parker went a long way. I'm just throwing that out there in case you, as a reader, are looking for light-hearted humor. This is not that book. I also felt that the spirit of her work didn't translate well on audio.

This was very disappointing to me, as I'd recently read that David Sedaris had proclaimed "Selected Stories" by Dorothy Parker read by Elaine Stritch was his favorite audiobook. (This audio was recorded in 1995, but did not exist in digital form until Sedaris made this statement, at which time Penguin remastered them.) I figured, if that audio was Sedaris's favorite, this must be amazing too, right? I consider Sedaris's audios sublime so his recommendation carries a lot of weight with me. Well this audio was not amazing.

The stories are narrated by Cynthia Nixon, Christine Baransky, Alfre Woodard and Shirley Booth. These are all amazing actresses, but when they are matched up with Parker's characters' almost stream-of-consciousness rambling and hysterics, it comes out as crazy and shrill. I was listening out loud while I was doing something in the kitchen, and my son come in all wide-eyed and asked "what the hell is THAT, it sounds awful". My answer was "yeah well it's satire". But he wasn't wrong. I will give Sedaris's recommendation a shot, but my excitement has been tempered.

[Unbridled Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beginning with Parker’s award winning story ‘Big Blonde’, this collection is an excellent compilation of this prolific writer’s work. This first story allows a glimpse of what it means to be a woman living a liberated life in the late 1920’s. Parker has a knack for pulling the threads of her character’s life apart to expose the undercurrent of sadness that runs beneath the surface. Her women are from all walks of life, but she especially enjoys women of means. Some are simply bored, others lonely and others so rich and self absorbed they mistaken self-indulgence as their life’s purpose, and Parker pokes fun of them all.

I’ve always been a fan of Dorothy Parker ever since I discovered ‘The Waltz’ in an English lit textbook recovered from our attic. I read it as a monologue in 8th grade English and was enamored with the quick wit of Parker as she compliments and flirts with her dance partner outwardly, but shares her TRUE feelings of his dancing as a private aside to the reader. Shirley Booth’s rendition of ‘The Waltz’ in this collection far surpasses most audio readings I’ve heard. Her voice drips with sarcasm as she captures the narrators frustration beautifully.

All the readers do an excellent job becoming Parker’s characters. Whether it’s a rich, spoiled debutante or a sad, lonely nurse, their narrations are authentic and believable. As a listener, I found myself alternately laughing out loud one moment and then gripped with sadness the next. I highly recommend this collection! Just sit back, put your headphones on and prepared to be entertained.

[Michael Friedman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly, these stories and reviews do not stand the test of time. Dorothy Parker was one of the great wits of America’s Twentieth Century. She was the woman who said, “Brevity is the soul of lingerie" and "I require three things in a man. He must be handsome, ruthless, and stupid." When asked to use the word horticulture in a sentence she said, "You can lead a whore to culture, but you can't make her think." How can you not love her? Here we have a series of short stories about mostly women who do not work, have maids and servants and are not happy. While that may have sparked humor during the depression or into the Truman Administration, it is now dull, uninteresting and, worst of all, not funny. The one bright spot was her review of plays she did not like including George Bernard Shaw’s “Getting Married.” Her disdain for the writing and her behavior at the theaters is wonderful, albeit very short and only a few pages in this otherwise disappointing book. I look forward to reading more of her columns as opposed to her seemingly endless short stories where only one side of a two-person conversation is commonly written. A woman dancing with a person she does not like, a woman unsuccessfully trying to commit suicide in a meaningless marriage, a man who doesn’t like his wife or his daughter considering leaving, and on and on. The use of hard liquor by virtually everyone is a common theme, but one wonders what, if anything, it adds to these stories.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

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).

[Michele Cacano · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read these stories before. I believe I got something different out of the experience of hearing them read. All the readers were engaging, but Christine Baranski may be my favorite voice here. She matches Dorothy's attitude.

Cynthia Nixon read wonderfully, as well, appropriately matched in New York sensibilities. Alfre Woodard's deep and lyrical voice brought depth and nuance to those stories that I may have missed in my own reading.

Lastly, the vintage icon of Shirley Booth read a few. Gosh, I could just fall into these lines, forgetting where I am. But, none of Booth's were started with spoken titles, which threw me a bit. I had to check the screen to see where we were. And, I have to admit, ending this collection with Booth's impassioned reading of The Telephone Call left me feeling rather depressed.

Listening to Dorothy's stories this way only made clearer the insecurities and fears that the author, herself, must've lived with. She led a sad life, and sadness is a theme throughout this collection - stories of disloyalty, loneliness, unrequited love, strained friendships, and even grief.

Still, I'd listen again.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hadn’t read any of Dorothy Parker’s writing before now, other than some of the witty quips for which she is so famous. Since I’m about to read Marion Meade’s biography of Dorothy, I figured I should sample some of her work. It felt a bit like travelling back to another time.

Journey with me back to New York during the Jazz Age and mingle with people, both rich and not so rich, all of them depressed and cynical. Attend their parties and have some cocktails as you mix. Listen to their clever banter while they pretend they’re not miserable. Get out before someone kills herself.

Some of the selections in this publication are complete stories while others seem like nothing more than little snippets, samples of her writing. They served the purpose well of acquainting me with her style. I suspect, even before reading the biography, that she was not a very happy person.

The woman could write. I enjoyed it.

[Jill Hanson carrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first ready Dorothy Parker's stories back in my 20's and just loved her caustic, witty, sardonic tales about relationships and practices of her day. Now listening to this audio collection in my 50's, I still love it but am blown away that these stories were so close to 100 years ago and her voice in them is so timeless! Cynthia Nixon, Christine Baranski, and Alfre Woodard are among the readers and they all do a fantastic job. These stories give glimpses into what social life was like way back when, and they are funny and sad and everything in between. One thing I love about Dorothy Parker is that she used to write as a critic back in the 1920's and even though she was very popular, she was fired for not being afraid to tell it like it is, which is also a hallmark of my reviews!

[Renee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Based on what little I know of Dorothy Parker and her work, this is not the best collection. The readers were terrific but I found many of the stories to be disingenuous. Many were one sided conversations
- either in the subject's head or with another person where the portrayed woman was a sniveling, weak and basically pitiful person who was at the mercy of a male or her own significant shortcomings. Parker had a very dark side and this collection captured what I hope is all and there are no others!

[Bree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dorothy Parker is one of those writers I've heard about all my life but never read. Each story begins in one direction and then spirals, usually down. The narrators are superb, but the characters are calculating, boozy, cynical, pathetic, or boorish, people with whom I wouldn't spend five minutes. While I'll acknowledge Parker's writing prowess—particularly her gift for sarcasm—the enjoy-ability factor was low.

[Sheri Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories and reviews...I liked some more than others. One can see how Dorothy Parker is credited with inventing snark. Her reviews were particularly snarky. The lack of any status or respect and the dependence upon men the women in her short stories had was heartbreaking, even if accurate for the time. The lack of any status or respect—and the dependence upon men—the women in her short stories had was heartbreaking, even if accurate for the time.

[Nancy Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected to like this more than I did. The narrating actresses, especially Shirley Booth, were very good, but the stories did not stand the test of time for me. They never seemed to go deeper than snide descriptions of pathetic women. I think I prefer my Dorothy Parker in very small doses, preferably one-liners.

[Patricia Willers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent and worthwhile audiobook. It amazed me again and again how relevant it felt. There are many stories, written in a variety of different styles. I found myself going back and listening to some of them immediately, just to experience the purpose of the tale one more time.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved everything about this audio book. The selected writings include some reviews as well as fictional works. The narration was well done by a talented group of female performers. I only wonder why it took me so long to explore the works of the much quoted Ms. Parker.

[David Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are wonderful short stories that were perfectly performed by highly recognizable and talented voices. The only thing better than enjoying Parker's wit is imagining what it must have been like to enjoy it in the era in which she wrote.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 3.5, really.
Many of the stories show Parker's razor-sharp wit, and it is fun to feel the periods in which they are set. But man, are they depressing! Especially when you consider Parker's own battles with alcohol and depression....

[Jenn Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

<3

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun collection of stories full of wit and sarcasm.

[Mady · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are excellent portraits of mostly neurotic, jealous, frustrated, drunk women!

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not much I haven't read before, but I still enjoyed it.