Dorothy Parker Stories

by Dorothy Parker

Dorothy Parker was known for her keen wit, cutting observation and sharply honest portrayal of human nature. Filled with the insight into people and their interactions that have made her stories so popular, this recording offers some of the finest examples of her craft. According to the Arizona Journal, "These capsules of satire...are perfect Parker, and Miss Booth is the perfect voice for them."

This omnibus was originally published in separate volumes under the titles:
Laments for the Living 1930
After Such Pleasures 1933

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Humor, Womens, American

386 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1933

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

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tenho tanta pena!
De me sentir inábil para transmitir a maravilha que é a escrita de Dorothy Parker - descrita como uma das pessoas mais inteligentes do mundo e também uma das mais tristes."

Com arte, subtileza e muita ironia, a autora cria personagens que vivem momentos e experiências humanas, cuja autenticidade me subjugaram de espanto e emoção.
Destaco sete dos dezoito contos desta colectânea os quais, pelo tema e pela forma como é descrito, me tocaram especialmente:
. Mr. Durant - "O homem mais grandioso da América". Um homem perfeito e generoso. Com uma vida perfeita; o emprego, a casa, a esposa, os filhos...
A amante que engravida e é despachada para bem longe...
O cão, que afinal é uma cadela e, por isso, abandonada...
Arrepiante!
Quem nunca conheceu, ou ouviu falar dos Mr. Durant desta vida? Que se protegem ciosamente, a qualquer custo e sem remorsos, das fêmeas, cujo cio, pode manchar a sua imagem e as suas vidas.
. Senhora com Uma Luz - quem nunca se cruzou com uma daquelas pessoas - amigos ou conhecidos - que quando nos vêm "caídos", muito generosamente, nos ajudam com conselhos e palavras consoladoras por forma a, rapidamente, nos "afundarem"?
. Que Pena - o casal que já não tem, nem nunca teve nada para conversar. O desespero e a náusea da rotina; saber o que o outro vai dizer, ou fazer, no momento seguinte. A angústia do silêncio da vida a dois...
Quem nunca se surpreendeu ao ouvir falar de um casal que se separa? Pois se eram tão felizes!
. A Cara de Cavalo - a crueldade, mascarada de generosidade.
Quem nunca cometeu o pecado de troçar de alguém que tem um rosto feio...?
. Coração de Manteiga - a senhora, cujo coração sensível tem de ser protegido das coisas e pessoas feias e tristes. A criada que se anula para que a sua senhora não sofra...
. Sentimentalismo - uma mulher abandonada, que recorda, até à alucinação, o passado que viveu com o seu amante.
É extraordinária a forma como a autora, através de um monólogo, consegue desnudar a alma de uma mulher em sofrimento por um amor perdido.
. Um Telefonema - uma mulher que espera um telefonema do seu amante. Apetecia-me transcrever, aqui, o conto completo...só um parágrafo, então:
"Ah, não deixes que a minha oração Te pareça demasiado pequena, Deus. Estás sentado aí em cima, tão branco e velho, com todos os anjos à Tua volta e as estrelas passando rapidamente por Ti. E venho eu com uma oração sobre um telefonema. Ah, não Te rias, Deus. É que Tu não sabes como é. Estás tão protegido, aí no Teu trono, com o remoinho azul sob os pés. Nada pode Tocar-te: ninguém pode torcer o Teu coração nas mãos. Isto é sofrimento, Deus, isto é um sofrimento perverso, perverso. Não me vais ajudar? Por amor ao Teu Filho, ajuda-me. Disseste que farias tudo o que Te fosse pedido em nome Dele. Oh, Deus, em nome do Teu único Filho muito amado, Jesus Cristo, nosso Senhor, deixa que ele me telefone agora."
Quem nunca se sentiu enlouquecer por amor?

Este livro, comprei-o por impulso. Abençoados impulsos que me permitem encontrar tesouros como este.

[Tosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's odd to me that I never read a Dorothy Parker story until last August. I read this book not all the way through, but every few months I would pick it up before falling asleep. A brilliant stylist. Still, I think I prefer other writers of that period a tad more. Robert Benchley comes to mind, but mostly due to his sense of surrealism than anything else. Parker is very journalistic in her apporach to the narrative. And the wit is... well one can't be better.

[Tânia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classificação: 3,5
Alguns contos interessantes, principalmente os iniciais, mas outros um pouco enfadonhos.

[Carla Remy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Big Blonde. It is long, novella length (Parker wrote poems, reviews, articles and short stories, no novels). Years ago, I read a collection of her stories called Laments For the Living. I remember I adored Here We Are, and that is included here. Still great, but actually they are all great.

[Kelli Oliver George · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read 5 of the stories in this book:
Big Blond
The Telephone Call
You Were Perfectly Fine
The Last Tea
Little Curtis

I enjoyed "Big Blond", "You Were Perfectly Fine" and "Little Curtis" the most. I think Parker said about everything she wanted to say in "Big Blond" (aging blond surfing through life via men and booze) but I really enjoyed "You Were Perfectly Fine", too (the morning after a night out partying, a couple discusses the foibles of the night prior. As the woman tells the man all the horrible things he did the night before, she keeps saying "You were perfectly fine!" when it was horrifyingly obvious that he was NOT. I laughed out loud at this one!)

[Juniperus · Rating 4 out of 5]

By now, most of you know that I’m not the biggest fan of short stories. A lot of them feel like sketches that shouldn’t have been published. Unfortunately, I’m at the stage of my film career where adapting a novel to a feature film is out of the question, so I’m forced to look for inspiration in short stories. I read a Dorothy Parker story in another collection called “The Standard of Living,” which inspired me so much that I wrote it into a script the very next day, and if approved by her estate, will be my next short. But as that story was my first encounter with her work, I decided to read a bit more for context and in case any other stories struck my fancy as potential short films.

Though none of the stories in this collection really met my criteria (highly visual, easy to film on a low budget) I still really enjoyed her craft. Parker’s short stories feel like vignettes, not sketches, and certainly not excerpts from a larger work. Rather, they’re excerpts from life. Perhaps this is why these stories didn’t annoy me the way most do, there’s always a feeling of conclusion at the end. The stories are rife with subtext: for example, “New York to Detroit” is completely heartbreaking even though it’s just one small moment under a microscope. “Arrangement in Black and White” is one of the funniest but with necessary social commentary woven into a stream-of-consciousness of a white woman who doesn’t know she’s racist. Every story, even if just a few pages long, always provides a beginning, middle, and end, and the characterization is so efficient yet so subtle that you feel like you know a character intimately after just a few sentences. Reading all of these stories at once was not the best experience, as they are all in similar milieus and concerning similar characters, and began to blend together. But this is a retrospectively curated collection, mostly of stories originally published in the New Yorker, and each one stands very much on its own.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dorothy Parker (1893 – 1967) was quite famous as a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table during the 1920s, along with a career as a critic and short story writer. This collection of her stories is quite representative of her best work, which can hold its own with the work of any other short story author; while many of her stories are set in the 1920s, they are not dated. (Do I need to mention that I love little Mrs. Parker?)


These stories include “Mr. Durant”, “The Wonderful Old Gentleman”, “Horsie”, “Big Blonde” and “From The Diary of a New York Lady”, but my personal favorites are her monologue short stories, or, rather, dialogue short stories, in which she is only talking to herself, such as “Just a Little One”, “A Telephone Call”, “The Waltz”, and “The Little Hours”. The author always has a fine turn of phrase, and neatly skewers whatever she aims at with great precision.

This edition is from Wing Books, published in 1992, and appears to be a reprint from a reprint (ad infinitum) of various of Parker’s short stories; but it is a nice looking book, with a nice cover, and still has good stories inside for one’s bedtime reading.

[João · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ouvi falar pela primeira vez da Dorothy Parker num podcast do The New Yorker (a "bíblia" anglo-saxónica do conto) e fiquei logo muito interessado. Pesquisei um pouco e descobri que a Dorothy Parker era considerada uma das grandes contistas do século XX. Quando me apareceu esta coletânea em português, não resisti e comprei logo... e não me arrependi nada (apesar da tradução não ser das melhores). Trata-se de um conjunto de excelentes contos, muitíssimo bem escritos, muito serenos e perspicazes, com um sentido de humor e de crítica social sempre presente, mas muito subtil. São pequenas histórias, quase sempre de mulheres, sobre pequenas coisas aparentemente irrelevantes, apontamentos do dia a dia, um telefonema, uma visita social, sem finais inesperados, moralistas ou empolgantes, mas que nos deixam a pensar ou a sentir um doce prazer de viver.

[Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore Dorothy Parker, adore adore adore. Whether it's such an agreeable edge of things as in "The Short Story, Through The Ages", or an apropos nod to Tolstoy's "All happy families are alike..." as in "The Wonderful Old Gentleman", the racist's "I swear I'm not racist, but" as in "Arrangement In Black and White", the heartbreaking saga of "Horsie", or the fit of laughter that accompanies "The Waltz" or "The Little Hours"; Parker's just GOT it. It's human and you can see it, one of the best combinations I can look for in a read.

[Li Sian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I keep thinking about that thing where, if Dorothy Parker had been on Twitter, she would have been cancelled in under a day. That was... exactly how I felt reading her short stories. One of them is delightful and canny. Ten in a row and you start to think, 'good lord, don't you ever write about anything new??'

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dorothy Parker is so clever, and with such a great point of view. It is simultaneously fun to laugh at the idiots she writes about, and embarrassing to see yourself in them.

[Harper J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

This collection of “America’s greatest wit” Dorothy Parker’s stories is a real mixed bag, as short story anthologies tend to be. It’s immediately evident how she earned this moniker, as her dialogue is never anything less than acerbic and astute, with even the most minute characters feeling eminently recognizable as someone we’ve all met. However, these droll, tongue-in-cheek stories start to feel incredibly one-dimensional after a while. Parker never strays from a scope that is upper middle-class (lower higher-class?), white, and pretentious as hell. Though this is certainly a sect of the populace that deserves lampooning (arguably the most), one can’t shake the feeling that if this is what Parker focuses on, the axiom of “write what you know” might be a bit self-damning for her. IE, the interpersonal dynamics are familiar and relatable, but the incessant aesthetic of cosmopolitanism never feels like a criticism specifically of these exploitative, privileged narratives for their own sake; this is bourgeoise-on-bourgeoise riffing, not a rallying cry for working-class rebuke of snobby trust-fund kids.

However, this was *most* apparent and unflattering in her shorter stories; her longer-form stories, while still adhering to the basic principle of “haha rich people be snobby silly billies,” show a genuinely rich tapestry of emotion and depth that the other ones with many literally unnamed characters don’t even hint at. “Big Blonde,” “Horsie,” “Dusk Before Fireworks,” and “Sentiment” are especially compelling, showing that Parker was capable of much more than flat, stagnant characters with no dynamic development, but snappy dialogue. Unfortunately, it seems Ms. Parker had to pay the bills like so many of us, and leaned into this reputation as a wise-cracker so as to not lose her brand appeal. The psychoanalyst in me could say much about this, but instead I’ll suffice with tentatively recommending this book, mainly for those who are interested in curios of the twenties and thirties, particularly if one is also sick of the unintelligible modernist dreck that defined the period.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

she was one of the most celebrated wordsmiths of her generation, and yet I'd barely read more than a sentence at a time from her. This collection of short stories seems to have been culled from magazines published before 1933, thus all the liquor imbibed in it (and there is a considerable amount) is of the bootleg variety. Men and women together and apart (and often apart when they are together) is her grand theme.
Parker didn't write deep works of literature, but she did write exquisitely observed if often cynical miniature episodes. A young woman waits for a phone to ring. Another can't fall asleep and argues with things she's read. A family waits for its patriarch to pass away upstairs. A woman meets a famous actress, is disillusioned thus causing her to fall more deeply in love with her own little life and husband, until she gets home and realizes it's not so good, either. A young man is excited to meet a young woman who can't stop speaking the few French phrases she knows because she just got back from Paris. A cad gets a girl pregnant and pays for her abortion. You know, the fun stuff.
The slang and language is of the Roaring 20s, but the emotions and truths don't seem to be that different after 100 years. Parker knew the ways in which language could be stretched sometimes beyond obvious or intentional meanings, and her humor was always at least partially filled with sadness for the lack of connection.

[Jon S · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing. I had read two Dorothy Parker stories, "But The One On The Right" and "The Telephone Call." Both were examples of interior monologue in the book Points of View (5 stars, if you enjoy reading about the craftsmanship of writing). The first was entertaining, the second not so much. Unfortunately, Dorothy Parker Stories is filled with more like the second and few like the first.

What I knew of the author was her celebrated wit. We have a cocktail napkin with an example:

I like to have a martini,
Two at the very most,
Three I'm under the table,
Four I'm under my host.

I'd also read where some snarky woman had paused to let her walk through a doorway first, saying, "Age before beauty." Without missing a beat Parker retorted, "Pearls before swine" and breezed through the doorway. Little of that wit is on display in this collection, just a lot of stories comprised mainly of dialogue between a weak, clingy woman and either a heartless cad or a bored and boring husband.

We bought this book when we were decorating because it has a yellow spine and we wanted colorful books, not the monotone white monstrosities you see for sale in furniture stores. Well, it's back on the shelf under the television, yellow and often overlooked, as seems appropriate.

[Jerry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh, it’s so easy to be sweet to people before you love them.

If this had been John Smith instead of Dorothy Parker I would not have gone past the first ten percent. But Parker is such a cultural icon that I thought it worthwhile to learn more about her writing. There are clever lines hidden here and there throughout the inner monologues, which of course Parker is known for. They’re often somewhat incongruous given the rest of the monologue, however.

Almost all of the stories are told either through constant dialogue or a dialogue-ish inner monologue. The people conducting the dialogues or monologues aren’t so much flawed as authorialy stupid. It’s difficult to tell for certain given the distance between when these were written and now, but Parker seems to be very politically correct in her denigration of certain people.

Her targets appear to be all of a similar class or two, but it was difficult for me to recognize what class that was; so much space is taken by clever vitriol there’s none left for description. My sense is that it’s the people on the edges of her own intellectual circle who she thinks are too gauche to be intellectual. Sort of a nouveau-vivant flapper class. Parker seems very much in line with the views of her time and clique (although, in her defense, she may have been a source of those views).

Much of it appears to take place in the teens and twenties; prohibition sometimes gets mentioned, but (like Fitzgerald’s heroes) never gets in the way of drinking.

These stories are extremely repetitive. Their dialogue is mostly the same throughout the stories, and the vapidity of the characters is very similar from story to story. At times her inner monologues reminded me of Wynona Ryder’s Lydia in Beetlejuice.

In some cases, even complete conversations seem nearly the same in multiple stories; women seem to be fixated on the merits of men’s neckties, for example.

Every once in a while her cardboard characters transcend her vitriol and reach for real insight into human existence; Parker invariably recognizes this and undermines it with some silly and pointless knife-twist at the end.

That said, this was fascinating for its glimpse into the culture of the era and how the literati of the Algonquin era saw it.

“I do it in defense, I suppose, Hobie. If I didn’t say nasty things, I’d cry. I’m afraid to cry; it would take me so long to stop.”

The Sexes: 2.5
Mr. Durant: 2.0
Just a Little One: 1.5
New York to Detroit: 2.0
The Wonderful Old Gentleman: 1.5
The Mantle of Whistler: 2.5
A Telephone Call: 3.0
You Were Perfectly Fine: 2.0
Little Curtis: 1.0
The Last Tea: 2.0
Big Blonde: 2.5
Arrangement in Black and White: 1.0
Dialogue at Three in the Morning: 1.25
Horsie: 2.25
Here We Are: 1.0
Too Bad: 1.5
From the Diary of a New York Lady: 2.0
The Waltz: 1.75
Dusk Before Fireworks: 2.75
The Little Hours: 2.0
Sentiment: 2.0
A Young Woman in Green Lace: 2.0
Lady with a Lamp: 2.0
Glory in the Daytime: 1.5

[Sam Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm embarrassed I only heard of Dorothy Parker for the first time from the 2018 movie Can you Ever Forgive Me, and figured I'd pick up a sample to see what the fuss was about. I loved this book. Surprisingly brisk read for a robust collection. 20+ short stories from the prohibition era dealing with sexism, racism, classism, depression (not the 'great' one, just the regular kind), alcoholism, marriage, dating, and other human failings, usually from the dramatically ironic perspective of wealthy New Yorkers. Economical prose drips with dark humor and the occasional unexpected emotional gut punch. Bonus points for colorful 1920's slang. Highlights on opposite ends of the seriousness spectrum are "Big Blonde" and "Here We Are", and of course a total outlier from the collection, "the little hours."

[David Doel · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first exposure to Dorothy Parker was hearing her quip after being told Calvin Coolidge had died, "How could they tell?" That was likely my inspiration for buying this book. The cover of this tome says, "24 of the best stories ever written by one of America's legendary wits." I don't think these to be anywhere near the best stories ever written, even if we limit the contenders to those written by America's legendary wits."

In fact, I found only one story to be worth the time to read it and that was the very last story in the volume, "Glory in the Daytime." I suffered a lot making it to that story. This is a book that's hard NOT to put down.

Someone must like these stories because the Goodreads' score is over 4 stars. I felt overly generous giving it 2 stars.

[Brad McKenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

It should have been obvious to me that a person known for her one-liners, wouldn't be great a writing longer-form stories. That's not to say I didn't care for all of the short stories in this collection, just most of them. Most of the stories that were just dialog I didn't find witty, nor did they really go anywhere. There was a lot of cynical and depressing stories as well. But there were a couple of stories, near the end, that I very much enjoyed.

"The Waltz" was great. Full of wit and hyperbole. What I expected of her.

"The Little Hours" is another good one. It's about going to bed too early and now you can wake up in the wee hours and your thoughts run on and on and on and…

[Selah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of these stories were too cynical to be truly funny - they were the kind of funny that makes you squirm a little because it’s too close to the truth of life. “The Waltz” And “The Little Hours” are two of the funniest things I’ve ever read in my life! They deserve all the stars!

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a unique true and stylish voice. Some absolute gems in this collection. Incisive perception on human nature, particularly its capacity for pretense and self destruction.

[Allyson Roche]

queen of wit

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

not my typical genre

[Arghred · Rating 4 out of 5]

The venerable Dorothy Parker is weirdly topical. "Mr. Durant" could have been written in the last year as a well-observed MeToo story.

[Pedro Bello · Rating 3 out of 5]

tem alguns momentos muito bons

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

While a few were more interesting and displayed some shockingly modern ideas, the stories all had the same structure and characters, which caused them all to blend together.

[Mafalda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Realmente n ha mlhr descricao para isto do q os contos mais perturbantes e ao mesmo tempo impressionantes. Quem a descreveu desta maneira pela primeira vez sabe o q diz..

[Bristol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow some of these cut me to the bone

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick read but the problem with social commentary from past ages is that you kind of had to be there. I'm sure these stories were biting at the time, but now they feel insubstantial and bland

[Amanda Del Brocco · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked a few of these stories a lot and others just didn’t age well.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this, obviously. The back of the book calls her 'one of the 20th century's greatest wits' and that's accurate. I loved the stories that are essentially long, meandering monologues for some of life's most recognisable characters.